Deborah Raffin, actress, 59
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Deborah Raffin, an actress who ran a successful audiobook company with the help of her celebrity friends, has died. She was 59.
Raffin died Wednesday (Nov. 21) of leukemia at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, her brother, William, told the Los Angeles Times. She was diagnosed with the blood cancer about a year ago.
Raffin, the daughter of 20th Century Fox contract player Trudy Marshall, had roles in movies such as “Forty Carats” and “Once Is Not Enough.” She also starred in television miniseries, most notably playing actress Brooke Hayward in “Haywire” and a businesswoman in “Noble House,” based on the James Clavell saga set in Hong Kong.
She and her then-husband, music producer Michael Viner, launched Dove Books-on-Tape in the mid-1980s, which blossomed into a multimillion-dollar business. The company’s first best-seller was Stephen Hawking’s opus on the cosmos entitled “A Brief History of Time.”
Raffin’s job was getting celebrities to provide voices for some of the books. Among them were the nonfiction bestsellers “Anatomy of an Illness” and “The Healing Heart,” both by Norman Cousins and read by Jason Robards Jr. and William Conrad, respectively.
Raffin also compiled celebrities’ Christmas anecdotes for a 1990 book, “Sharing Christmas,” which raised money for groups serving the homeless. It included stories from Margaret Thatcher, Kermit the Frog and Mother Teresa.
Raffin and Viner sold the company in 1997 and the couple divorced eight years later. Viner died of cancer in 2009.
Raffin is survived by her two siblings, William and Judy Holston; and a daughter, Taylor Rose Viner.
Services are set for Sunday in Culver City.
------------------------------------------
Jeff Kaye, broadcaster/voice actor (NFL Films), 75
John F. Morrison/Philadelphia Daily News
Jeff Kaye, born Martin Krimski in Baltimore, winner of four Emmy Awards for broadcasting, whose radio career surged in Boston and Buffalo, N.Y., died of cancer Friday (Nov. 16) at the age of 75.
Kaye first made his mark at Boston's WBZ, where from 1961-65 he hosted the drive time program as well as a Sunday night folk music program. While at WBZ, Kaye brought back live folk radio performances – and presented at the Newport Folk Festival where Bob Dylan’s now legendary electric guitar performance took place.
Kaye also had a stint at WKBW in Buffalo, New York before heading to work for NFL Films in 1985. After legendary NFL Films narrator John Facenda died in 1984, Jeff became the voice of NFL Films, lending his own sonorous baritone to the pro-football features of the Mount Laurel, N.J.-based company.
"I can say to this day, when I look at some of the shows Jeff narrated over the years, I am still fascinated by the way he told a story," said Kevin McLoughlin, director of post-production for NFL Films.
Jeff's voice was a familiar presence in Philadelphia for some 30 years, yet hardly anybody knew his name. For years, it was his voice that announced the news broadcast on WPVI-TV, Channel 6: "Action News, the Delaware Valley's leading news program."
He also did voice-overs for Phillies games and commercials, advertising products and services ranging from Budweiser to NJ Transit. In Buffalo, Jeff became something of a legend in 1968 when he scripted and produced his own version of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" as program director of WKBW-AM, WPVI's Capital Cities sister station.
The broadcast wasn't as terrifying as Orson Welles' version in 1938, but it still scared the pants off many listeners with its realistic-sounding reporting by actual WKBW staffers of a supposed Martian invasion.
Jeff was a popular boss in Buffalo. Sandy Beach, a former WKBW staffer, said Jeff "had such class, style, and talent. He encouraged us to 'go for it' every time we were on the air. He recognized, hired and nurtured talent."
In the early '80s, Jeff moved to WHEN Radio in Buffalo, before coming to Philly and NFL Films, where he worked with the late Harry Kalas. Jeff almost lost his voice in 1996 when a cancerous tumor was found on his left vocal cord. However, the growth was successfully removed, and he returned to the air.
His first broadcasting job was in Providence, R.I., after his service in the Air Force, where he was a meteorologist. He retired in 2006.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Suzanne; three daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren.
2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Moderators: The People's DJ, David Paleg
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Larry Hagman, actor, 81
Lynn Elber/Associated Press
J.R. Ewing was a business cheat, faithless husband and bottomless well of corruption. Yet with his sparkling grin, Larry Hagman masterfully created the charmingly loathsome oil baron — and coaxed forth a Texas-size gusher of ratings — on television's long-running and hugely successful nighttime soap, "Dallas."
Although he first gained fame as nice guy Capt. Tony Nelson on the fluffy 1965-70 NBC comedy "I Dream of Jeannie," Hagman earned his greatest stardom with J.R. The CBS serial drama about the Ewing family and those in their orbit aired from April 1978 to May 1991, and broke viewing records with its "Who shot J.R.?" 1980 cliffhanger that left unclear if Hagman's character was dead.
The actor, who returned as J.R. in a new edition of "Dallas" this year, had a long history of health problems and died Friday due to complications from his battle with cancer, his family said.
"Larry was back in his beloved hometown of Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved the most. Larry's family and closest friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday," the family said in a statement that was provided to The Associated Press by Warner Bros., producer of the show.
The 81-year-old actor was surrounded by friends and family before he passed peacefully, "just as he'd wished for," the statement said.
Linda Gray, his on-screen wife and later ex-wife in the original series and the sequel, was among those with Hagman in his final moments in a Dallas hospital, said her publicist, Jeffrey Lane.
"He brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously. He was an original and lived life to the fullest," the actress said.
Years before "Dallas," Hagman had gained TV fame on "I Dream of Jeannie," in which he played an astronaut whose life is disrupted when he finds a comely genie, portrayed by Barbara Eden, and takes her home to live with him.
Eden recalled late Friday shooting the series' pilot "in the frigid cold" on a Malibu beach.
"From that day, for five more years, Larry was the center of so many fun, wild and sometimes crazy times. And in retrospect, memorable moments that will remain in my heart forever," Eden said.
Hagman also starred in two short-lived sitcoms, "The Good Life" (NBC, 1971-72) and "Here We Go Again" (ABC, 1973). His film work included well-regarded performances in "The Group," ''Harry and Tonto" and "Primary Colors."
On Friday night, Victoria Principal, who co-starred in the original series, recalled Hagman as "bigger than life, on-screen and off. He is unforgettable, and irreplaceable, to millions of fans around the world, and in the hearts of each of us, who was lucky enough to know and love him."
Ten episodes of the new edition of "Dallas" aired this past summer and proved a hit for TNT. Filming was in progress on the sixth episode of season two, which is set to begin airing Jan. 28, the network said.
There was no immediate comment from Warner or TNT on how the series would deal with Hagman's loss.
In 2006, he did a guest shot on FX's drama series "Nip/Tuck," playing a macho business mogul. He also got new exposure in recent years with the DVD releases of "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Dallas."
The Fort Worth, Texas, native was the son of singer-actress Mary Martin, who starred in such classics as "South Pacific" and "Peter Pan." Martin was still in her teens when he was born in 1931 during her marriage to attorney Ben Hagman.
As a youngster, Hagman gained a reputation for mischief-making as he was bumped from one private school to another. He made a stab at New York theater in the early 1950s, then served in the Air Force from 1952-56 in England.
While there, he met and married young Swedish designer Maj Axelsson. The couple had two children, Preston and Heidi, and were longtime residents of the Malibu beach colony that is home to many celebrities.
Hagman returned to acting and found work in the theater and in such TV series as "The U.S. Steel Hour," ''The Defenders" and "Sea Hunt." His first continuing role was as lawyer Ed Gibson on the daytime serial "The Edge of Night" (1961-63).
----------------------------------
Hector "Macho" Camacho, boxer, 50
Lance Pugmire/L.A. Times
Hector “Macho” Camacho, a former three-division boxing champion who had 88 professional fights against a who’s who of legendary opponents stretching from Ray Mancini (whom he defeated in 1989) to Oscar De La Hoya (who beat him by decision in 1997), has died. He was 50.
Camacho was pronounced dead today (Nov. 24), after being shot in the head four days earlier while seated in a car outside a bar in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Camacho’s condition deteriorated before his family opted to take him off life support.
Another man in the car, who had nine bags of cocaine in his possession, was also shot and immediately declared dead, according to the Associated Press.
Camacho, known for wearing outlandish trunks ranging from a leopard loin cloth to others adorned with lights or tassels, well understood the importance of selling a fight and employing some mental warfare.
Before fighting Mancini, he said, “I never did nothing to the character. How can he dislike a good-looking guy like me? It's jealousy. He can't even be in the same room with me because he knows he can't beat me mouth-to-mouth.”
Camacho’s theatrics were combined with an admirable desire to take on the best opponents possible. He faced the likes of Freddie Roach, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Rafael “Bazooka” Limon, Felix Trinidad, Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. His overall record was 79-6-3.
----------------------------------
Frank Dycus, Nashville songwriter, 72
Peter Cooper/The Tennessean
Nashville songwriter Frank Dycus, who penned country music hits including George Strait’s “Unwound” and “Marina del Ray” and George Jones’ “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair,” died Friday (Nov. 23) after years of failing health. He was 72.
“He was a great writer, who came from nothing and carved out a life for himself through his own thoughtfulness,” said Jim Lauderdale, who wrote Mark Chesnutt’s No. 1 country hit “Gonna Get a Life” with Dycus.
His first hit came in 1970, when George Morgan took “Lilacs and Fire” to No. 17 on the Billboard country singles chart. Dycus wrote songs throughout the 1970s, with no great commercial success. But a friendship with Dean Dillon led to co-writes “Unwound” and “Marina del Ray,” both top 10 country hits for Strait in the early 1980s. He had heart bypass surgery in 1987 and spent more than two years away from songwriting, but he returned in earnest in the 1990s.
Jones’ 1992 recording of “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair” was not a top 20 hit, but it served as a memorable statement of purpose that has remained in Jones’ concert set list. And in the 1990s, Dycus struck up a songwriting partnership with Lauderdale that resulted in chart hits for Gary Allan and Doug Supernaw and in Dycus’ only chart-topping single, Chesnutt’s “Gonna Get a Life.”
“He was a real hillbilly poet, with a great sensibility and a way with words,” Lauderdale said. “He was a wise person and a deep thinker. I’m sure going to miss him, and a lot of other people will, too.”
Lynn Elber/Associated Press
J.R. Ewing was a business cheat, faithless husband and bottomless well of corruption. Yet with his sparkling grin, Larry Hagman masterfully created the charmingly loathsome oil baron — and coaxed forth a Texas-size gusher of ratings — on television's long-running and hugely successful nighttime soap, "Dallas."
Although he first gained fame as nice guy Capt. Tony Nelson on the fluffy 1965-70 NBC comedy "I Dream of Jeannie," Hagman earned his greatest stardom with J.R. The CBS serial drama about the Ewing family and those in their orbit aired from April 1978 to May 1991, and broke viewing records with its "Who shot J.R.?" 1980 cliffhanger that left unclear if Hagman's character was dead.
The actor, who returned as J.R. in a new edition of "Dallas" this year, had a long history of health problems and died Friday due to complications from his battle with cancer, his family said.
"Larry was back in his beloved hometown of Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved the most. Larry's family and closest friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday," the family said in a statement that was provided to The Associated Press by Warner Bros., producer of the show.
The 81-year-old actor was surrounded by friends and family before he passed peacefully, "just as he'd wished for," the statement said.
Linda Gray, his on-screen wife and later ex-wife in the original series and the sequel, was among those with Hagman in his final moments in a Dallas hospital, said her publicist, Jeffrey Lane.
"He brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously. He was an original and lived life to the fullest," the actress said.
Years before "Dallas," Hagman had gained TV fame on "I Dream of Jeannie," in which he played an astronaut whose life is disrupted when he finds a comely genie, portrayed by Barbara Eden, and takes her home to live with him.
Eden recalled late Friday shooting the series' pilot "in the frigid cold" on a Malibu beach.
"From that day, for five more years, Larry was the center of so many fun, wild and sometimes crazy times. And in retrospect, memorable moments that will remain in my heart forever," Eden said.
Hagman also starred in two short-lived sitcoms, "The Good Life" (NBC, 1971-72) and "Here We Go Again" (ABC, 1973). His film work included well-regarded performances in "The Group," ''Harry and Tonto" and "Primary Colors."
On Friday night, Victoria Principal, who co-starred in the original series, recalled Hagman as "bigger than life, on-screen and off. He is unforgettable, and irreplaceable, to millions of fans around the world, and in the hearts of each of us, who was lucky enough to know and love him."
Ten episodes of the new edition of "Dallas" aired this past summer and proved a hit for TNT. Filming was in progress on the sixth episode of season two, which is set to begin airing Jan. 28, the network said.
There was no immediate comment from Warner or TNT on how the series would deal with Hagman's loss.
In 2006, he did a guest shot on FX's drama series "Nip/Tuck," playing a macho business mogul. He also got new exposure in recent years with the DVD releases of "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Dallas."
The Fort Worth, Texas, native was the son of singer-actress Mary Martin, who starred in such classics as "South Pacific" and "Peter Pan." Martin was still in her teens when he was born in 1931 during her marriage to attorney Ben Hagman.
As a youngster, Hagman gained a reputation for mischief-making as he was bumped from one private school to another. He made a stab at New York theater in the early 1950s, then served in the Air Force from 1952-56 in England.
While there, he met and married young Swedish designer Maj Axelsson. The couple had two children, Preston and Heidi, and were longtime residents of the Malibu beach colony that is home to many celebrities.
Hagman returned to acting and found work in the theater and in such TV series as "The U.S. Steel Hour," ''The Defenders" and "Sea Hunt." His first continuing role was as lawyer Ed Gibson on the daytime serial "The Edge of Night" (1961-63).
----------------------------------
Hector "Macho" Camacho, boxer, 50
Lance Pugmire/L.A. Times
Hector “Macho” Camacho, a former three-division boxing champion who had 88 professional fights against a who’s who of legendary opponents stretching from Ray Mancini (whom he defeated in 1989) to Oscar De La Hoya (who beat him by decision in 1997), has died. He was 50.
Camacho was pronounced dead today (Nov. 24), after being shot in the head four days earlier while seated in a car outside a bar in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Camacho’s condition deteriorated before his family opted to take him off life support.
Another man in the car, who had nine bags of cocaine in his possession, was also shot and immediately declared dead, according to the Associated Press.
Camacho, known for wearing outlandish trunks ranging from a leopard loin cloth to others adorned with lights or tassels, well understood the importance of selling a fight and employing some mental warfare.
Before fighting Mancini, he said, “I never did nothing to the character. How can he dislike a good-looking guy like me? It's jealousy. He can't even be in the same room with me because he knows he can't beat me mouth-to-mouth.”
Camacho’s theatrics were combined with an admirable desire to take on the best opponents possible. He faced the likes of Freddie Roach, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Rafael “Bazooka” Limon, Felix Trinidad, Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. His overall record was 79-6-3.
----------------------------------
Frank Dycus, Nashville songwriter, 72
Peter Cooper/The Tennessean
Nashville songwriter Frank Dycus, who penned country music hits including George Strait’s “Unwound” and “Marina del Ray” and George Jones’ “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair,” died Friday (Nov. 23) after years of failing health. He was 72.
“He was a great writer, who came from nothing and carved out a life for himself through his own thoughtfulness,” said Jim Lauderdale, who wrote Mark Chesnutt’s No. 1 country hit “Gonna Get a Life” with Dycus.
His first hit came in 1970, when George Morgan took “Lilacs and Fire” to No. 17 on the Billboard country singles chart. Dycus wrote songs throughout the 1970s, with no great commercial success. But a friendship with Dean Dillon led to co-writes “Unwound” and “Marina del Ray,” both top 10 country hits for Strait in the early 1980s. He had heart bypass surgery in 1987 and spent more than two years away from songwriting, but he returned in earnest in the 1990s.
Jones’ 1992 recording of “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair” was not a top 20 hit, but it served as a memorable statement of purpose that has remained in Jones’ concert set list. And in the 1990s, Dycus struck up a songwriting partnership with Lauderdale that resulted in chart hits for Gary Allan and Doug Supernaw and in Dycus’ only chart-topping single, Chesnutt’s “Gonna Get a Life.”
“He was a real hillbilly poet, with a great sensibility and a way with words,” Lauderdale said. “He was a wise person and a deep thinker. I’m sure going to miss him, and a lot of other people will, too.”
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Marvin Miller, former Major League Baseball Players Association Head, dies at age 95
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/86821 ... er-dies-95
NEW YORK -- Marvin Miller, the soft-spoken union head who led baseball players in a series of strikes and legal battles that won free agency, revolutionized sports and made athletes multimillionaires, died Tuesday. He was 95.
Miller died at his home in Manhattan at 5:30 a.m., said his daughter Susan Miller. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in August.
When the definitive history of sports in the 20th century is written, a mediocre recreational tennis player named Marvin Miller will be listed alongside Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan as the most transformational figures, writes Lester Munson. Story
"All players -- past, present and future -- owe a debt of gratitude to Marvin, and his influence transcends baseball," current union head Michael Weiner said. "Marvin, without question, is largely responsible for ushering in the modern era of sports, which has resulted in tremendous benefits to players, owners and fans of all sports."
In his 16 years as executive director of the Major League Players Association, starting in 1966, Miller fought owners on many fronts, winning free agency for players in December 1975. He may best be remembered, however, as the man who made the word "strike" stand for something other than a pitched ball.
"I think he's the most important baseball figure of the last 50 years," former commissioner Fay Vincent said. "He changed not just the sport but the business of the sport permanently, and he truly emancipated the baseball player -- and in the process all professional athletes. Prior to his time, they had few rights; at the moment, they control the games."
MLB's revenue has grown from $50 million in 1967 to $7.5 billion this year. At his last public speaking engagement, a discussion at New York University School of Law in April marking the 40th anniversary of the first baseball strike, Miller maintained free agency and resulting fan interest contributed to the revenue increase.
"I never before saw such a win-win situation my life, where everybody involved in Major League Baseball, both sides of the equation, still continue to set records in terms of revenue and profits and salaries and benefits," Miller said. "You would think that it was impossible to do that. But it is possible, and it is an amazing story how under those circumstances, there can be both management and labor really winning."
Miller, who retired and became a consultant to the union in 1982, led the first walkout in the game's history 10 years earlier. On April 5, 1972, signs posted at major league parks simply said: "No Game Today." The strike, which lasted 13 days, was followed by a walkout during spring training in 1976 and a midseason job action that darkened the stadiums for seven weeks in 1981.
Baseball had eight work stoppages through 1995 but has labor peace since then. Meanwhile, labor turmoil has engulfed the other major U.S. pro leagues.
"Marvin exemplified guts, tenacity and an undying love for the players he represented," NFL players' union head DeMaurice Smith said. "He was a mentor to me, and we spoke often and at length. His most powerful message was that players would remain unified during labor strife if they remembered the sacrifices made by previous generations."
Slightly built and silver-haired with a thick, dark mustache, Miller trained as an economist and was anything but passive in his dealings with baseball owners.
"Marvin Miller was a highly accomplished executive and a very influential figure in baseball history," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "He made a distinct impact on this sport, which is reflected in the state of the game today, and surely the major league players of the last half-century have greatly benefited from his contributions."
Former commissioner Peter Ueberroth said Miller should be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame "without question."
"He changed the game of baseball," Ueberroth said. "He was very tough, but he was very fair in the end."
Miller's ascension to the top echelon among sports labor leaders was by no means free from controversy among those he represented. Players from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, California Angels and San Francisco Giants opposed his appointment as successor to Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Robert Cannon, who had counseled them on a part-time but unpaid basis.
Miller overcame the opposition, however, due in part to his personality.
"Some of the player representatives were leery about picking a union man," Hall of Fame pitcher and former U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, a member of the screening committee that recommended Miller, remembered in a 1974 interview. "But he was very articulate ... not the cigar-chewing type some of the guys expected."
Miller recalled that owners "passed the word that if I were selected, goon squads would take over the game. They suggested racketeers and gangsters would swallow baseball. The players expected a `dese, dem and dose' guy. The best thing I had going for me was owner propaganda."
When Miller made a tour of spring training camps in 1966, seeking support from the players, some coaches and managers who were members of the association at that time heckled him and disrupted his sessions.
"A lot of players figured that anyone the owners disliked that much couldn't be all bad," former club owner Bill Veeck said.
Miller was elected by a vote of 489-136 on April 15, 1966. Baseball had entered a new era, one in which its owners would have to bargain with a union professional.
The owners made it clear that Miller's election would bring an end to their financial contributions to the association, which had been formed in 1954 because players were disenchanted with the way their pension plan was being administered. Miller insisted he would have asked for the change in any event.
"I told them that if they wanted to make any real headway, they'd have to adopt an independent stance," Miller said.
The players' association consisted of a $5,400 kitty and battered file cabinet when Miller took the reins shortly after calling baseball's minimum salary of $7,000 "unreasonably low."
Today the biggest stars earn up to $32 million a season, the average salary is more than $3 million and the major league minimum is $480,000
Baseball salaries increased by nearly 500 percent under Miller's leadership, more than three times the rate at which manufacturing workers' wages rose.
Yet baseball's Hall of Fame repeatedly refused to vote him in.
"I and the union of players have received far more support, publicity, and appreciation from countless fans, former players, writers, scholars, experts in labor management relations, than if the Hall had not embarked on its futile and fraudulent attempt to rewrite history," Miller said after falling one vote shy in December 2010. "It is an amusing anomaly that the Hall of Fame has made me famous by keeping me out."
Miller's legacy -- free agency -- represented the most significant off-the-field change in the game's history. He viewed the reserve clause that bound a player to the team holding his contract as little more than 20th century slavery.
"I had seen some documents in my life, but none like that," Miller said in 1966 after reading a Uniform Player's Contract.
He decided the reserve clause had to be tested. It was, when outfielder Curt Flood, traded by St. Louis, refused to report to Philadelphia in 1969.
Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the validity of the reserve clause by a 5-3 vote, keeping intact baseball's antitrust exemption.
Still, the die was cast when Justice Harry Blackmun, in his majority opinion, wrote that baseball's exemption from ordinary law was an "aberration" that had survived since the court ruled for the game in 1922. The reserve clause would not survive its next test.
In 1975, Los Angeles pitcher Andy Messersmith and Montreal pitcher Dave McNally, with Miller orchestrating the attack, did not sign contracts and their teams invoked baseball's so-called renewal clause. That gave the team the right to renew a player's contract without his approval.
Players argued there could only be a one-time renewal, while management said the renewal could be invoked in perpetuity.
Arbitrator Peter Seitz sided with the players on Dec. 23, 1975. The owners appealed his decision in federal court, saying the reserve system was not subject to arbitration. Two months later, U.S. District Judge John Watkins Oliver upheld Seitz's decision, and teams then went to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also upheld Seitz.
In negotiations later that year, the sides agreed to a labor contract that allowed players with six years of major league service to become free agents. Free agency became a reality nearly 100 years after the first players were put under contract.
"Marvin possessed a combination of integrity, intelligence, eloquence, courage and grace that is simply unmatched in my experience," said Donald Fehr, a successor to Miller as union head.
"Without question, Marvin had more positive influence on Major League Baseball than any other person in the last half of the 20th century."
Miller was born in New York, the son of a salesman in the heavily organized garment district. His mother was a school teacher. He studied economics at Miami (Ohio) University and New York University.
He entered the labor field in 1950 as an associate director of research for the United Steelworkers Union. In 1960, he was promoted to assistant to union president David McDonald. When McDonald lost a hotly contested election to I.W. Abel, Miller began looking for a new job.
He and his wife Terry, the parents of two grown children, carefully considered their options, and Miller accepted the directorship of the players' association even though he had some reservations at the time. In fact, he thought his union image had "put some of them off."
"I was surprised when they called me back and asked me to stand for election," Miller said.
In the end, Miller's reputation as a hard worker won over the players, many of whom considered him the consummate professional.
"Baseball is my racket," Pete Rose said. "When it comes to negotiating ... that's Marvin's racket."
Terry Miller died in October 2009. In addition to his daughter, Miller is survived by son Peter Miller and grandson Neil Satoru Miller. Susan Miller said her father, like her mother, wanted his body donated to research at Mount Sinai Hospital. She said the family had not decided whether there would be a service.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/86821 ... er-dies-95
NEW YORK -- Marvin Miller, the soft-spoken union head who led baseball players in a series of strikes and legal battles that won free agency, revolutionized sports and made athletes multimillionaires, died Tuesday. He was 95.
Miller died at his home in Manhattan at 5:30 a.m., said his daughter Susan Miller. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in August.
When the definitive history of sports in the 20th century is written, a mediocre recreational tennis player named Marvin Miller will be listed alongside Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan as the most transformational figures, writes Lester Munson. Story
"All players -- past, present and future -- owe a debt of gratitude to Marvin, and his influence transcends baseball," current union head Michael Weiner said. "Marvin, without question, is largely responsible for ushering in the modern era of sports, which has resulted in tremendous benefits to players, owners and fans of all sports."
In his 16 years as executive director of the Major League Players Association, starting in 1966, Miller fought owners on many fronts, winning free agency for players in December 1975. He may best be remembered, however, as the man who made the word "strike" stand for something other than a pitched ball.
"I think he's the most important baseball figure of the last 50 years," former commissioner Fay Vincent said. "He changed not just the sport but the business of the sport permanently, and he truly emancipated the baseball player -- and in the process all professional athletes. Prior to his time, they had few rights; at the moment, they control the games."
MLB's revenue has grown from $50 million in 1967 to $7.5 billion this year. At his last public speaking engagement, a discussion at New York University School of Law in April marking the 40th anniversary of the first baseball strike, Miller maintained free agency and resulting fan interest contributed to the revenue increase.
"I never before saw such a win-win situation my life, where everybody involved in Major League Baseball, both sides of the equation, still continue to set records in terms of revenue and profits and salaries and benefits," Miller said. "You would think that it was impossible to do that. But it is possible, and it is an amazing story how under those circumstances, there can be both management and labor really winning."
Miller, who retired and became a consultant to the union in 1982, led the first walkout in the game's history 10 years earlier. On April 5, 1972, signs posted at major league parks simply said: "No Game Today." The strike, which lasted 13 days, was followed by a walkout during spring training in 1976 and a midseason job action that darkened the stadiums for seven weeks in 1981.
Baseball had eight work stoppages through 1995 but has labor peace since then. Meanwhile, labor turmoil has engulfed the other major U.S. pro leagues.
"Marvin exemplified guts, tenacity and an undying love for the players he represented," NFL players' union head DeMaurice Smith said. "He was a mentor to me, and we spoke often and at length. His most powerful message was that players would remain unified during labor strife if they remembered the sacrifices made by previous generations."
Slightly built and silver-haired with a thick, dark mustache, Miller trained as an economist and was anything but passive in his dealings with baseball owners.
"Marvin Miller was a highly accomplished executive and a very influential figure in baseball history," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "He made a distinct impact on this sport, which is reflected in the state of the game today, and surely the major league players of the last half-century have greatly benefited from his contributions."
Former commissioner Peter Ueberroth said Miller should be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame "without question."
"He changed the game of baseball," Ueberroth said. "He was very tough, but he was very fair in the end."
Miller's ascension to the top echelon among sports labor leaders was by no means free from controversy among those he represented. Players from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, California Angels and San Francisco Giants opposed his appointment as successor to Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Robert Cannon, who had counseled them on a part-time but unpaid basis.
Miller overcame the opposition, however, due in part to his personality.
"Some of the player representatives were leery about picking a union man," Hall of Fame pitcher and former U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, a member of the screening committee that recommended Miller, remembered in a 1974 interview. "But he was very articulate ... not the cigar-chewing type some of the guys expected."
Miller recalled that owners "passed the word that if I were selected, goon squads would take over the game. They suggested racketeers and gangsters would swallow baseball. The players expected a `dese, dem and dose' guy. The best thing I had going for me was owner propaganda."
When Miller made a tour of spring training camps in 1966, seeking support from the players, some coaches and managers who were members of the association at that time heckled him and disrupted his sessions.
"A lot of players figured that anyone the owners disliked that much couldn't be all bad," former club owner Bill Veeck said.
Miller was elected by a vote of 489-136 on April 15, 1966. Baseball had entered a new era, one in which its owners would have to bargain with a union professional.
The owners made it clear that Miller's election would bring an end to their financial contributions to the association, which had been formed in 1954 because players were disenchanted with the way their pension plan was being administered. Miller insisted he would have asked for the change in any event.
"I told them that if they wanted to make any real headway, they'd have to adopt an independent stance," Miller said.
The players' association consisted of a $5,400 kitty and battered file cabinet when Miller took the reins shortly after calling baseball's minimum salary of $7,000 "unreasonably low."
Today the biggest stars earn up to $32 million a season, the average salary is more than $3 million and the major league minimum is $480,000
Baseball salaries increased by nearly 500 percent under Miller's leadership, more than three times the rate at which manufacturing workers' wages rose.
Yet baseball's Hall of Fame repeatedly refused to vote him in.
"I and the union of players have received far more support, publicity, and appreciation from countless fans, former players, writers, scholars, experts in labor management relations, than if the Hall had not embarked on its futile and fraudulent attempt to rewrite history," Miller said after falling one vote shy in December 2010. "It is an amusing anomaly that the Hall of Fame has made me famous by keeping me out."
Miller's legacy -- free agency -- represented the most significant off-the-field change in the game's history. He viewed the reserve clause that bound a player to the team holding his contract as little more than 20th century slavery.
"I had seen some documents in my life, but none like that," Miller said in 1966 after reading a Uniform Player's Contract.
He decided the reserve clause had to be tested. It was, when outfielder Curt Flood, traded by St. Louis, refused to report to Philadelphia in 1969.
Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the validity of the reserve clause by a 5-3 vote, keeping intact baseball's antitrust exemption.
Still, the die was cast when Justice Harry Blackmun, in his majority opinion, wrote that baseball's exemption from ordinary law was an "aberration" that had survived since the court ruled for the game in 1922. The reserve clause would not survive its next test.
In 1975, Los Angeles pitcher Andy Messersmith and Montreal pitcher Dave McNally, with Miller orchestrating the attack, did not sign contracts and their teams invoked baseball's so-called renewal clause. That gave the team the right to renew a player's contract without his approval.
Players argued there could only be a one-time renewal, while management said the renewal could be invoked in perpetuity.
Arbitrator Peter Seitz sided with the players on Dec. 23, 1975. The owners appealed his decision in federal court, saying the reserve system was not subject to arbitration. Two months later, U.S. District Judge John Watkins Oliver upheld Seitz's decision, and teams then went to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also upheld Seitz.
In negotiations later that year, the sides agreed to a labor contract that allowed players with six years of major league service to become free agents. Free agency became a reality nearly 100 years after the first players were put under contract.
"Marvin possessed a combination of integrity, intelligence, eloquence, courage and grace that is simply unmatched in my experience," said Donald Fehr, a successor to Miller as union head.
"Without question, Marvin had more positive influence on Major League Baseball than any other person in the last half of the 20th century."
Miller was born in New York, the son of a salesman in the heavily organized garment district. His mother was a school teacher. He studied economics at Miami (Ohio) University and New York University.
He entered the labor field in 1950 as an associate director of research for the United Steelworkers Union. In 1960, he was promoted to assistant to union president David McDonald. When McDonald lost a hotly contested election to I.W. Abel, Miller began looking for a new job.
He and his wife Terry, the parents of two grown children, carefully considered their options, and Miller accepted the directorship of the players' association even though he had some reservations at the time. In fact, he thought his union image had "put some of them off."
"I was surprised when they called me back and asked me to stand for election," Miller said.
In the end, Miller's reputation as a hard worker won over the players, many of whom considered him the consummate professional.
"Baseball is my racket," Pete Rose said. "When it comes to negotiating ... that's Marvin's racket."
Terry Miller died in October 2009. In addition to his daughter, Miller is survived by son Peter Miller and grandson Neil Satoru Miller. Susan Miller said her father, like her mother, wanted his body donated to research at Mount Sinai Hospital. She said the family had not decided whether there would be a service.
"It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much." - Yogi Berra
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jag
- Member
- Posts: 820
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2002 2:57 pm
Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Mickey “Guitar” Baker, one of the great session men of early rock ‘n’ roll and the famous male voice on the classic “Love Is Strange,” died Nov. 27 in Toulouse, France. He was 87.
Baker became a major star in the 1950s, particularly after he and Sylvia Vanderpool collaborated on the sultry “Love Is Strange.”
The song featured a spoken exchange that began with Baker saying, “Sylvia … How you call your lover boy?” and Vanderpool responding, “C’mere, Lover Boy!”
It had a major revival three decades later when it was lip-synched by Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey during a famous seduction scene in the film “Dirty Dancing.”
Baker was better known in the music business for his session work, which included thousands of songs in the 1950s, most of them on rhythm and blues labels like Atlantic, King and Savoy.
He played on seminal recordings like “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” by Ruth Brown, “Money Honey” by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” by Ike and Tina Turner and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” by Joe Turner.
Born in Louisville, Ky., MacHouston Baker was put in an orphanage at the age of 11 and kept running away, finally ending up in New York.
He was hanging out at pool halls on 26th St. when he decided to become a musician.
He wanted to play the trumpet and become a jazzman like Charlie Parker, but his $14 savings would only buy him a guitar at the local pawn shop.
He took lessons on and off while teaching himself the guitar, and he fell into blues recordings after meeting Pee Wee Crayton.
He formed his own combo in the late 1940s, but primarily did session work. In the mid-1960s he moved to France, where he remained for the rest of his life.
He did little further recording, but wrote an instruction book, “The Complete Course in Jazz Guitar,” which has remained in print for more than 50 years.
Baker became a major star in the 1950s, particularly after he and Sylvia Vanderpool collaborated on the sultry “Love Is Strange.”
The song featured a spoken exchange that began with Baker saying, “Sylvia … How you call your lover boy?” and Vanderpool responding, “C’mere, Lover Boy!”
It had a major revival three decades later when it was lip-synched by Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey during a famous seduction scene in the film “Dirty Dancing.”
Baker was better known in the music business for his session work, which included thousands of songs in the 1950s, most of them on rhythm and blues labels like Atlantic, King and Savoy.
He played on seminal recordings like “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” by Ruth Brown, “Money Honey” by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” by Ike and Tina Turner and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” by Joe Turner.
Born in Louisville, Ky., MacHouston Baker was put in an orphanage at the age of 11 and kept running away, finally ending up in New York.
He was hanging out at pool halls on 26th St. when he decided to become a musician.
He wanted to play the trumpet and become a jazzman like Charlie Parker, but his $14 savings would only buy him a guitar at the local pawn shop.
He took lessons on and off while teaching himself the guitar, and he fell into blues recordings after meeting Pee Wee Crayton.
He formed his own combo in the late 1940s, but primarily did session work. In the mid-1960s he moved to France, where he remained for the rest of his life.
He did little further recording, but wrote an instruction book, “The Complete Course in Jazz Guitar,” which has remained in print for more than 50 years.
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jag
- Member
- Posts: 820
- Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2002 2:57 pm
Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck, whose pioneering style in pieces such as "Take Five" caught listeners' ears with exotic, challenging rhythms, has died. He was 91.
Brubeck died Wednesday morning of heart failure after being stricken while on his way to a cardiology appointment with his son Darius, said his manager Russell Gloyd. Brubeck would have turned 92 on Thursday.
Brubeck had a career that spanned almost all American jazz since World War II. He formed The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 and was the first modern jazz musician to be pictured on the cover of Time magazine — on Nov. 8, 1954 — and he helped define the swinging, smoky rhythms of 1950s and '60s club jazz.
The seminal album "Time Out," released by the quartet in 1959, was the first ever million-selling jazz LP, and is still among the best-selling jazz albums of all time. It opens with "Blue Rondo a la Turk" in 9/8 time — nine beats to the measure instead of the customary two, three or four beats.
A piano-and-saxophone whirlwind based loosely on a Mozart piece, "Blue Rondo" eventually intercuts between Brubeck's piano and a more traditional 4/4 jazz rhythm.
The album also features "Take Five" — in 5/4 time — which became the Quartet's signature theme and even made the Billboard singles chart in 1961. It was composed by Brubeck's longtime saxophonist, Paul Desmond.
"When you start out with goals — mine were to play polytonally and polyrhythmically — you never exhaust that," Brubeck told The Associated Press in 1995. "I started doing that in the 1940s. It's still a challenge to discover what can be done with just those two elements."
After service in World War II and study at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., Brubeck formed an octet including Desmond on alto sax and Dave van Kreidt on tenor, Cal Tjader on drums and Bill Smith on clarinet. The group played Brubeck originals and standards by other composers, including some early experimentation in unusual time signatures. Their groundbreaking album "Dave Brubeck Octet" was recorded in 1946.
The group evolved into the Quartet, which played colleges and universities. The Quartet's first album, "Jazz at Oberlin," was recorded live at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1953.
Ten years later, Joe Morello on drums and Eugene Wright on bass joined with Brubeck and Desmond to produce "Time Out."
In later years Brubeck composed music for operas, ballet, even a contemporary Mass.
In 1988, he played for Mikhail Gorbachev, at a dinner in Moscow that then-President Ronald Reagan hosted for the Soviet leader.
"I can't understand Russian, but I can understand body language," said Brubeck, after seeing the general secretary tapping his foot.
In the late 1980s, Brubeck contributed music for one episode of an eight-part series of television specials, "This Is America, Charlie Brown."
His music was for an episode involving NASA and the space station. He worked with three of his sons — Chris on bass trombone and electric bass, Dan on drums and Matthew on cello — and included excerpts from his Mass "To Hope! A Celebration," his oratorio "A Light in the Wilderness," and a piece he had composed but never recorded, "Quiet As the Moon."
"That's the beauty of music," he told the AP in 1992. "You can take a theme from a Bach sacred chorale and improvise. It doesn't make any difference where the theme comes from; the treatment of it can be jazz."
In 2006, the University of Notre Dame gave Brubeck its Laetare Medal, awarded each year to a Roman Catholic "whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity."
At the age of 88, in 2009, Brubeck was still touring, in spite of a viral infection that threatened his heart and made him miss an April show at his alma mater, the University of the Pacific.
By June, though, he was playing in Chicago, where the Tribune critic wrote that "Brubeck was coaxing from the piano a high lyricism more typically encountered in the music of Chopin."
More acclaim came his way when it was announced that he would be a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors at a ceremony in late 2009.
Brubeck told the AP the announcement would have delighted his late mother, Elizabeth Ivey Brubeck, a classical pianist who was initially disappointed by her youngest son's interest in jazz. (He added that she had lived long enough to come to appreciate his music.)
Born in Concord, Calif., on Dec. 6, 1920, Brubeck actually had planned to become a rancher like his father. He attended the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) in 1938, intending to major in veterinary medicine and return to the family's 45,000-acre spread.
But within a year Brubeck was drawn to music. He graduated in 1942 and was drafted by the Army, where he served — mostly as a musician — under Gen. George S. Patton in Europe. At the time, his Wolfpack Band was the only racially integrated unit in the military.
In an interview for Ken Burns' PBS miniseries "Jazz," Brubeck talked about playing for troops with his integrated band, only to return to the U.S. to see his black bandmates refused service in a restaurant in Texas.
Brubeck and his wife, Iola, had five sons and a daughter. Four of his sons — Chris on trombone and electric bass, Dan on drums, Darius on keyboards and Matthew on cello — played with the London Symphony Orchestra in a birthday tribute to Brubeck in December 2000.
"We never had a rift," Chris Brubeck once said of living and playing with his father. "I think music has always been a good communication tool, so we didn't have a rift. We've always had music in common."
Brubeck died Wednesday morning of heart failure after being stricken while on his way to a cardiology appointment with his son Darius, said his manager Russell Gloyd. Brubeck would have turned 92 on Thursday.
Brubeck had a career that spanned almost all American jazz since World War II. He formed The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 and was the first modern jazz musician to be pictured on the cover of Time magazine — on Nov. 8, 1954 — and he helped define the swinging, smoky rhythms of 1950s and '60s club jazz.
The seminal album "Time Out," released by the quartet in 1959, was the first ever million-selling jazz LP, and is still among the best-selling jazz albums of all time. It opens with "Blue Rondo a la Turk" in 9/8 time — nine beats to the measure instead of the customary two, three or four beats.
A piano-and-saxophone whirlwind based loosely on a Mozart piece, "Blue Rondo" eventually intercuts between Brubeck's piano and a more traditional 4/4 jazz rhythm.
The album also features "Take Five" — in 5/4 time — which became the Quartet's signature theme and even made the Billboard singles chart in 1961. It was composed by Brubeck's longtime saxophonist, Paul Desmond.
"When you start out with goals — mine were to play polytonally and polyrhythmically — you never exhaust that," Brubeck told The Associated Press in 1995. "I started doing that in the 1940s. It's still a challenge to discover what can be done with just those two elements."
After service in World War II and study at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., Brubeck formed an octet including Desmond on alto sax and Dave van Kreidt on tenor, Cal Tjader on drums and Bill Smith on clarinet. The group played Brubeck originals and standards by other composers, including some early experimentation in unusual time signatures. Their groundbreaking album "Dave Brubeck Octet" was recorded in 1946.
The group evolved into the Quartet, which played colleges and universities. The Quartet's first album, "Jazz at Oberlin," was recorded live at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1953.
Ten years later, Joe Morello on drums and Eugene Wright on bass joined with Brubeck and Desmond to produce "Time Out."
In later years Brubeck composed music for operas, ballet, even a contemporary Mass.
In 1988, he played for Mikhail Gorbachev, at a dinner in Moscow that then-President Ronald Reagan hosted for the Soviet leader.
"I can't understand Russian, but I can understand body language," said Brubeck, after seeing the general secretary tapping his foot.
In the late 1980s, Brubeck contributed music for one episode of an eight-part series of television specials, "This Is America, Charlie Brown."
His music was for an episode involving NASA and the space station. He worked with three of his sons — Chris on bass trombone and electric bass, Dan on drums and Matthew on cello — and included excerpts from his Mass "To Hope! A Celebration," his oratorio "A Light in the Wilderness," and a piece he had composed but never recorded, "Quiet As the Moon."
"That's the beauty of music," he told the AP in 1992. "You can take a theme from a Bach sacred chorale and improvise. It doesn't make any difference where the theme comes from; the treatment of it can be jazz."
In 2006, the University of Notre Dame gave Brubeck its Laetare Medal, awarded each year to a Roman Catholic "whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity."
At the age of 88, in 2009, Brubeck was still touring, in spite of a viral infection that threatened his heart and made him miss an April show at his alma mater, the University of the Pacific.
By June, though, he was playing in Chicago, where the Tribune critic wrote that "Brubeck was coaxing from the piano a high lyricism more typically encountered in the music of Chopin."
More acclaim came his way when it was announced that he would be a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors at a ceremony in late 2009.
Brubeck told the AP the announcement would have delighted his late mother, Elizabeth Ivey Brubeck, a classical pianist who was initially disappointed by her youngest son's interest in jazz. (He added that she had lived long enough to come to appreciate his music.)
Born in Concord, Calif., on Dec. 6, 1920, Brubeck actually had planned to become a rancher like his father. He attended the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) in 1938, intending to major in veterinary medicine and return to the family's 45,000-acre spread.
But within a year Brubeck was drawn to music. He graduated in 1942 and was drafted by the Army, where he served — mostly as a musician — under Gen. George S. Patton in Europe. At the time, his Wolfpack Band was the only racially integrated unit in the military.
In an interview for Ken Burns' PBS miniseries "Jazz," Brubeck talked about playing for troops with his integrated band, only to return to the U.S. to see his black bandmates refused service in a restaurant in Texas.
Brubeck and his wife, Iola, had five sons and a daughter. Four of his sons — Chris on trombone and electric bass, Dan on drums, Darius on keyboards and Matthew on cello — played with the London Symphony Orchestra in a birthday tribute to Brubeck in December 2000.
"We never had a rift," Chris Brubeck once said of living and playing with his father. "I think music has always been a good communication tool, so we didn't have a rift. We've always had music in common."
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unchoopfan
- Member
- Posts: 209
- Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2003 10:52 am
Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Ed Cassidy, drummer/co-founder of Spirit, 89
(UltimateClassicRock.com) - Ed Cassidy, the drummer for the jazz-influenced 1960s and ’70s classic rock band Spirit, died Thursday (Dec. 6) in San Jose after a bout with cancer. He was 89.
Notable for his shaved head, head-to-toe black wardrobe and massive drum kit, Cassidy was considered very influential on other drummers of the ’60s rock era.
Cassidy, who was some 25 years older than the other members of Spirit, wasn’t always a rock ’n’ roll drummer. He spent the ’50s working primarily in jazz in California, playing with such historically important performers as Art Pepper, Roland Kirk and Gerry Mulligan. He played with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder briefly in a band called Rising Sons before forming a new group, the Red Roosters, in 1965. That group comprised Cassidy, his stepson Randy California on guitar, Mark Andes on bass, and singer Jay Ferguson.
Changing their name to Spirit with the addition of keyboardist John Locke, that ensemble created a sound that was an amalgam of jazz, hard rock, and psychedelic influences. Signed by ’60s L.A. music impresario Lou Adler, the group released their self-titled debut album in 1968. They followed it up with ‘The Family That Plays Together’ later that year, which featured their highest-charting single, ‘I Got a Line on You.’
In 1969 they toured successfully with a then-little-known band called Led Zeppelin as their opening act, and their impact on the new group was substantial; Cassidy often performed his live drum solo with his bare hands, which reportedly influenced John Bonham’s performance on ‘Moby Dick,’ while Jimmy Page reportedly began using a theramin to alter the tone of his guitar after seeing Randy California doing it on stage. Many fans and critics have noted the similarities between Spirit’s song ‘Taurus‘ and the intro to Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ which appeared several years after.
After the release of their landmark fourth album, 1970′s ‘Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus,’ the original lineup of Spirit fell apart. Cassidy would continue with the group through various lineups over the course of decades until Randy California’s untimely drowning death in Hawaii in 1997. After that he continued to play with surf musician Merrell Fankhauser until he retired from performing. In later years he was also involved in acting, appearing in ’2010′ and ‘The Escape Artist’ on the big screen, and twice in minor roles on the television soap opera ‘General Hospital.’
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John Silva, TV engineer (KTLA-TV)/news pioneer, 92
(HuffingtonPost.com) - John Silva, the Los Angeles television engineer who won Emmy Awards for creating helicopter news coverage in 1958, has died in Southern California at 92.
Silva was the chief engineer for KTLA-TV when he outfitted a rented Bell helicopter with a TV camera to create a flying TV studio. The station broadcast live aerial coverage of major news events, including earthquakes, fires and freeway calamities.
Silva had to persuade KTLA executives to spend $40,000 on broadcast equipment that might not have worked. Then, he had to get a ton of TV equipment down to 368 pounds so the helicopter could lift off the ground.
----------------------------------------
Reinhold Weege, TV writer/producer, 62
(Hollywood Reporter) - Reinhold Weege, creator of the daffy 1980s sitcom Night Court, which ran for nine seasons on NBC and earned seven Emmy Awards and 31 nominations but never the big comedy prize, has died. He was 63.
Weege, who before Night Court wrote and produced for ABC’s Barney Miller -- another lovable Manhattan-set sitcom set in the world of the law -- died Dec. 1 of natural causes in La Jolla, Calif., a family spokeswoman told The Hollywood Reporter.
Night Court, which starred the youthful Harry Anderson as night-shift judge and Mel Torme fan Harry Stone and John Larroquette as lecherous assistant district attorney Dan Fielding, began as a midseason replacement and ran from 1984-92. It was a top 10 show in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Night Court anchored an early "Must See TV” Thursday comedy lineup for NBC, which opened with The Cosby Show, followed by Family Ties and Cheers.
With Weege receiving a writing credit on 105 of the comedy’s 193 episodes, Night Court received best comedy series Emmy nominations in 1985, 1987 and 1988 -- losing out to Cosby, The Golden Girls and The Wonder Years, respectively. Weege captured his first Emmy nom in 1979 when Barney Miller was up for best comedy series but lost to Taxi.
A native of Chicago, Weege also wrote for the TV adaptations of M*A*S*H and Semi-Tough as well as for Fish, the Barney Miller spinoff that starred Abe Vigoda. He created the short-lived sitcom Park Place, which was set in a legal aid clinic and starred Harold Gould and Alice Drummond, and wrote and directed TV's Nikki and Alexander, with Tim Matheson and Irena Ferris.
(UltimateClassicRock.com) - Ed Cassidy, the drummer for the jazz-influenced 1960s and ’70s classic rock band Spirit, died Thursday (Dec. 6) in San Jose after a bout with cancer. He was 89.
Notable for his shaved head, head-to-toe black wardrobe and massive drum kit, Cassidy was considered very influential on other drummers of the ’60s rock era.
Cassidy, who was some 25 years older than the other members of Spirit, wasn’t always a rock ’n’ roll drummer. He spent the ’50s working primarily in jazz in California, playing with such historically important performers as Art Pepper, Roland Kirk and Gerry Mulligan. He played with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder briefly in a band called Rising Sons before forming a new group, the Red Roosters, in 1965. That group comprised Cassidy, his stepson Randy California on guitar, Mark Andes on bass, and singer Jay Ferguson.
Changing their name to Spirit with the addition of keyboardist John Locke, that ensemble created a sound that was an amalgam of jazz, hard rock, and psychedelic influences. Signed by ’60s L.A. music impresario Lou Adler, the group released their self-titled debut album in 1968. They followed it up with ‘The Family That Plays Together’ later that year, which featured their highest-charting single, ‘I Got a Line on You.’
In 1969 they toured successfully with a then-little-known band called Led Zeppelin as their opening act, and their impact on the new group was substantial; Cassidy often performed his live drum solo with his bare hands, which reportedly influenced John Bonham’s performance on ‘Moby Dick,’ while Jimmy Page reportedly began using a theramin to alter the tone of his guitar after seeing Randy California doing it on stage. Many fans and critics have noted the similarities between Spirit’s song ‘Taurus‘ and the intro to Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ which appeared several years after.
After the release of their landmark fourth album, 1970′s ‘Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus,’ the original lineup of Spirit fell apart. Cassidy would continue with the group through various lineups over the course of decades until Randy California’s untimely drowning death in Hawaii in 1997. After that he continued to play with surf musician Merrell Fankhauser until he retired from performing. In later years he was also involved in acting, appearing in ’2010′ and ‘The Escape Artist’ on the big screen, and twice in minor roles on the television soap opera ‘General Hospital.’
----------------------------------------
John Silva, TV engineer (KTLA-TV)/news pioneer, 92
(HuffingtonPost.com) - John Silva, the Los Angeles television engineer who won Emmy Awards for creating helicopter news coverage in 1958, has died in Southern California at 92.
Silva was the chief engineer for KTLA-TV when he outfitted a rented Bell helicopter with a TV camera to create a flying TV studio. The station broadcast live aerial coverage of major news events, including earthquakes, fires and freeway calamities.
Silva had to persuade KTLA executives to spend $40,000 on broadcast equipment that might not have worked. Then, he had to get a ton of TV equipment down to 368 pounds so the helicopter could lift off the ground.
----------------------------------------
Reinhold Weege, TV writer/producer, 62
(Hollywood Reporter) - Reinhold Weege, creator of the daffy 1980s sitcom Night Court, which ran for nine seasons on NBC and earned seven Emmy Awards and 31 nominations but never the big comedy prize, has died. He was 63.
Weege, who before Night Court wrote and produced for ABC’s Barney Miller -- another lovable Manhattan-set sitcom set in the world of the law -- died Dec. 1 of natural causes in La Jolla, Calif., a family spokeswoman told The Hollywood Reporter.
Night Court, which starred the youthful Harry Anderson as night-shift judge and Mel Torme fan Harry Stone and John Larroquette as lecherous assistant district attorney Dan Fielding, began as a midseason replacement and ran from 1984-92. It was a top 10 show in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Night Court anchored an early "Must See TV” Thursday comedy lineup for NBC, which opened with The Cosby Show, followed by Family Ties and Cheers.
With Weege receiving a writing credit on 105 of the comedy’s 193 episodes, Night Court received best comedy series Emmy nominations in 1985, 1987 and 1988 -- losing out to Cosby, The Golden Girls and The Wonder Years, respectively. Weege captured his first Emmy nom in 1979 when Barney Miller was up for best comedy series but lost to Taxi.
A native of Chicago, Weege also wrote for the TV adaptations of M*A*S*H and Semi-Tough as well as for Fish, the Barney Miller spinoff that starred Abe Vigoda. He created the short-lived sitcom Park Place, which was set in a legal aid clinic and starred Harold Gould and Alice Drummond, and wrote and directed TV's Nikki and Alexander, with Tim Matheson and Irena Ferris.
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David Paleg
- Member
- Posts: 1024
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:43 pm
- Location: Cross Lanes, WV, Earth. Solar System, Milky Way
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar dies at 92
Dec 12, 2:31 AM (ET)
By MUNEEZA NAQVI and RAVI NESSMAN
NEW DELHI (AP) - With an instrument perplexing to most Westerners, Ravi Shankar helped connect the world through music. The sitar virtuoso hobnobbed with the Beatles, became a hippie musical icon and spearheaded the first rock benefit concert as he introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over nearly a century.
From George Harrison to John Coltrane, from Yehudi Menuhin to David Crosby, his connections reflected music's universality, though a gap persisted between Shankar and many Western fans. Sometimes they mistook tuning for tunes, while he stood aghast at displays like Jimi Hendrix's burning guitar.
Shankar died Tuesday at age 92. A statement on his website said he died in San Diego, near his Southern California home with his wife and a daughter by his side. The musician's foundation issued a statement saying that he had suffered upper respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week.
Dec 12, 2:31 AM (ET)
By MUNEEZA NAQVI and RAVI NESSMAN
NEW DELHI (AP) - With an instrument perplexing to most Westerners, Ravi Shankar helped connect the world through music. The sitar virtuoso hobnobbed with the Beatles, became a hippie musical icon and spearheaded the first rock benefit concert as he introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over nearly a century.
From George Harrison to John Coltrane, from Yehudi Menuhin to David Crosby, his connections reflected music's universality, though a gap persisted between Shankar and many Western fans. Sometimes they mistook tuning for tunes, while he stood aghast at displays like Jimi Hendrix's burning guitar.
Shankar died Tuesday at age 92. A statement on his website said he died in San Diego, near his Southern California home with his wife and a daughter by his side. The musician's foundation issued a statement saying that he had suffered upper respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week.
"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work."
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David Paleg
- Member
- Posts: 1024
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:43 pm
- Location: Cross Lanes, WV, Earth. Solar System, Milky Way
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Bar code's co-inventor N. Joseph Woodland dies, 91
Dec 13, 7:17 PM (ET)
By EMERY P. DALESIO
(AP) This undated family photo taken in the 1950s shows bar code co-inventor N. Joseph Woodland. ...
Full Image
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Norman Joseph Woodland, the co-inventor of the bar code that labels nearly every product in stores and has boosted productivity in nearly every sector of commerce worldwide, has died. He was 91.
Woodland died Sunday in Edgewater, N.J., from the effects of Alzheimer's disease and complications of his advanced age, his daughter, Susan Woodland of New York, said Thursday.
Woodland and Bernard Silver were students at what is now called Drexel University in Philadelphia when Silver overheard a grocery-store executive asking an engineering school dean to channel students into research on how product information could be captured at checkout, Susan Woodland said.
Full story at Iwon / AP News.
Dec 13, 7:17 PM (ET)
By EMERY P. DALESIO
(AP) This undated family photo taken in the 1950s shows bar code co-inventor N. Joseph Woodland. ...
Full Image
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Norman Joseph Woodland, the co-inventor of the bar code that labels nearly every product in stores and has boosted productivity in nearly every sector of commerce worldwide, has died. He was 91.
Woodland died Sunday in Edgewater, N.J., from the effects of Alzheimer's disease and complications of his advanced age, his daughter, Susan Woodland of New York, said Thursday.
Woodland and Bernard Silver were students at what is now called Drexel University in Philadelphia when Silver overheard a grocery-store executive asking an engineering school dean to channel students into research on how product information could be captured at checkout, Susan Woodland said.
Full story at Iwon / AP News.
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unchoopfan
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Ryan Freel, MLB player (Reds, Cubs, Royals), 36
(ESPN.com/ESPN News Services) - Ryan Freel, who played for five teams over an eight-year major league career, was found dead in his Florida home Saturday (Dec. 22) as a result of a self-inflicted shotgun wound, Jacksonville police said. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said they were treating the 36-year-old Freel's death as a suicide.
Freel, who grew up in Jacksonville, last played in the majors in 2009 when he played for four organizations.
In June he had been named the baseball coach at St. Joseph Academy in Jacksonville, but the Florida Times-Union reported that he later backed out of the job.
The former utility player's best stretch came with the Cincinnati Reds from 2004-06 when he stole 110 bases over the three seasons. He played a career-high 143 games and hit .277 with 28 RBIs in 2004.
On Twitter, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, who played with Freel from 2006-08, reacted with sadness to his former teammate's passing.
"#RIP?? to my friend & great teammate #RyanFreel! Really hurt by his passing! You'll never will be forgotten," he wrote.
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Lee Dorman, bassist (Iron Butterfly, Captain Beyond), 70
(L.A. Times) - Lee Dorman, bassist for the psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, was found dead Friday (Dec. 21) in a vehicle outside his Laguna Niguel home, died of natural causes, the Orange County coroner's office said Saturday. No autopsy is planned for Dorman, 70, who was part of the band when it recorded "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," a 17-minute heavy metal track that caught the attention of the counterculture market. The album of the same name stayed on the national sales chart for 2-1/2 years, and a three-minute version was a top 40 hit.
Iron Butterfly was formed in San Diego in 1966 and recorded an album before Dorman joined a revised lineup that included guitarist Erik Braunn, keyboardist and singer Doug Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy. In 1968, the group recorded "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," a 17-minute heavy metal track that "was nothing short of a pop monument," The Times said in 1988, "the song of the moment" that caught the attention of the counterculture market. The album stayed on the national sales chart for 2-1/2 years and a three-minute version was a top 40 hit.
By the 1970s, another guitarist, Larry Reinhardt, had joined Iron Butterfly. When the band soon broke up, Dorman and Reinhardt formed Captain Beyond with Rod Evans from Deep Purple and other musicians.
Captain Beyond recorded three albums that reflected rock, heavy metal and jazz influences, and scored something of an FM hit with the song "Sufficiently Breathless." Without Dorman, a new version of Iron Butterfly formed in 1974 and recorded albums without commercial success. Dorman was born in 1942 in St. Louis and had long suffered from heart problems, which ended his music career, according to the All Music Internet database.
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Jimmy McCracklin, blues musician/songwriter, 91
(Oakland Tribune/Jim Harrington) - Legendary bluesman Jimmy McCracklin, one of the Bay Area's most accomplished musicians, died Thursday (Dec. 20) in San Pablo after a lengthy battle with multiple health problems. He was 91.
The singer-songwriter-pianist will be best remembered for the hit 1957 single "The Walk," a tune that influenced countless other musicians, as well as for being one of the primary architects of West Coast Blues. The longtime Richmond resident spent nearly 70 years in the blues game and wrote literally hundreds of songs.
"He was absolutely one of America's greatest songwriters," says Ronnie Stewart, president of Bay Area Blues Society and the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame. "So many artists covered Jimmy McCracklin, because he was the man." Indeed, the list of top-name artists who recorded or performed McCracklin songs ranges from blues greats like B.B. King to soul stars such as Otis Redding to hip-hop queens Salt-N-Pepa. Bob Dylan cited McCracklin as a personal favorite, while many of the biggest forces in the British Invasion, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, were reportedly inspired by his work.
McCracklin was born August 13, 1921 -- at least that's the commonly accepted date, although the bluesman was known for arguing that it was incorrect. He was raised in St. Louis and joined the Navy in 1938. After World War II, he moved to Richmond and quickly become immersed in Bay Area's thriving blues scene. He backed B.B. King, L.C. Robinson and other top performers at local clubs -- most notably, Club Savoy, which McCracklin would later immortalize with his 1963 tune "Club Savoy" (better known as "Savoy's Jump").
He made his recording debut in 1945 and establish himself as a major force in the blues game in the '50s, thanks in large part to "The Walk." The rollicking, piano-driven composition, which now ranks as a blues standard, hit No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 7 on the pop chart.
"The Walk" was such a sensation that even racial barriers couldn't stop it. McCracklin performed the single on "American Bandstand," which many authorities list as the first time a black artist played on Dick Clark's popular TV show.
McCracklin continued to find success on the charts through the '60s, with such notable tunes as "Just Got to Know" (No. 2 on the R&B charts) and the Lowell Fulson co-authored "Tramp" (a hit for both Otis Redding and Carla Thomas in 1967). In the '70s, he ran San Francisco's Continental Club and hosted such acts as Big Joe Turner and Etta James. He also remained active on the touring scene, where he inspired legions of younger blues artists.
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Frank Pastore, MLB Pitcher (Reds, Twins)/talk radio host, 55
(Detroit Free Press) - Frank Pastore, a former major league pitcher who became a popular Christian radio show host, has died. He was 55.
Southern California radio station KKLA, which aired Pastore's show, said on its website that he died Monday (Dec. 17), nearly a month after he was critically injured in a motorcycle accident. Pastore had been in a coma since a car collided with his motorcycle Nov. 19. The accident came hours after he pondered the risk of motorcycle riding on his daily radio show, in which he discussed the possibility of life after death.
Pastore pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1979-85 and for the Minnesota Twins in 1986. After baseball, he obtained a master's degree in philosophy at Biola University and became a radio host.
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Willie Ackerman, drummer (Willie Nelson), 73
(CMT.com) - Famed drummer William Paul "Willie" Ackerman died Thursday (Dec. 13) in Nashville. He was 73. Both a studio and a touring musician, the Nashville-born Ackerman also spent time as staff member of the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw staff bands. Perhaps his oddest credit came when he was picked to play on what would prove to be jazz great Louis Armstrong's last album, a collection of country standards. He can be heard on such classic recordings as Marty Robbins' "El Paso," Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses" and throughout Tom T. Hall's 1976 tribute to bluegrass music, The Magnificent Music Machine. Among the other artists he performed and/or recorded with are Flatt & Scruggs, Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Jim Reeves, Hank Snow, Jimmy Martin, Steve Young and Don Gibson.
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Gil Friesen, entertainment executive (A&M Records, Classic Sports Network), 75
(The Hollywood Reporter) - Gil Friesen, the first employee at Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ legendary A&M Records, who later executive produced movies including The Breakfast Club, has died. He was 75.
Friesen, who also co-founded the Classic Sports Cable Network, which was sold to ESPN in 1997, died Thursday (Dec. 13) at his home in Brentwood after a long battle with leukemia, said his wife, Janet.
A native of Pasadena, Friesen began his career as a mailroom employee at Capitol Records, then based in his hometown, and served as a West Coast representative for Kapp Records. In an interview with Artists House Management in 2007, he said he was the first person Moss hired for the A&M label.
“He gave me the title; they said I was the general manager,” he recalled. “I had to invent the job. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass had just released their first record [in 1962], and there were sales and airplay [responsibilities]. … I helped put together the band that would go on the road and promote them.”
A&M went from an operation working out of Alpert’s garage in the Fairfax District into the largest indie label in the U.S., one that called the iconic Charlie Chaplin Studios on La Brea Avenue its home.
Friesen was elevated to president of the label in 1977. Once described as the “ampersand in A&M” -- Albert was the "A" and Moss the "M," of course -- he stayed until the company was sold to PolyGram for $500 million in April 1990.
Among the acts with whom Friesen worked closely were The Carpenters, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Nils Lofgren, Supertramp, The Tubes, Peter Frampton, The Police, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams and Janet Jackson.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of A&M, now owned by Universal Music Group.
Friesen launched the independent company A&M Films in 1981. In addition to the coming-of-age drama The Breakfast Club (1985), he executive produced Better Off Dead … (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986), both starring John Cusack, and produced Blaze (1989), toplined by Paul Newman.
He produced Twenty Feet From Stardom, a documentary focused on backup singers in popular music that will premiere next month at the Sundance Film Festival.
With backing from Liberty Media and Allen & Co., Friesen co-founded the Classic Sports Cable Network with Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg in the mid-'90s. It was sold to ESPN after a bidding war with News Corp. for a reported $175 million, a huge sum for a channel that at the time reached just 10 million homes.
(ESPN.com/ESPN News Services) - Ryan Freel, who played for five teams over an eight-year major league career, was found dead in his Florida home Saturday (Dec. 22) as a result of a self-inflicted shotgun wound, Jacksonville police said. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said they were treating the 36-year-old Freel's death as a suicide.
Freel, who grew up in Jacksonville, last played in the majors in 2009 when he played for four organizations.
In June he had been named the baseball coach at St. Joseph Academy in Jacksonville, but the Florida Times-Union reported that he later backed out of the job.
The former utility player's best stretch came with the Cincinnati Reds from 2004-06 when he stole 110 bases over the three seasons. He played a career-high 143 games and hit .277 with 28 RBIs in 2004.
On Twitter, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, who played with Freel from 2006-08, reacted with sadness to his former teammate's passing.
"#RIP?? to my friend & great teammate #RyanFreel! Really hurt by his passing! You'll never will be forgotten," he wrote.
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Lee Dorman, bassist (Iron Butterfly, Captain Beyond), 70
(L.A. Times) - Lee Dorman, bassist for the psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, was found dead Friday (Dec. 21) in a vehicle outside his Laguna Niguel home, died of natural causes, the Orange County coroner's office said Saturday. No autopsy is planned for Dorman, 70, who was part of the band when it recorded "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," a 17-minute heavy metal track that caught the attention of the counterculture market. The album of the same name stayed on the national sales chart for 2-1/2 years, and a three-minute version was a top 40 hit.
Iron Butterfly was formed in San Diego in 1966 and recorded an album before Dorman joined a revised lineup that included guitarist Erik Braunn, keyboardist and singer Doug Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy. In 1968, the group recorded "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," a 17-minute heavy metal track that "was nothing short of a pop monument," The Times said in 1988, "the song of the moment" that caught the attention of the counterculture market. The album stayed on the national sales chart for 2-1/2 years and a three-minute version was a top 40 hit.
By the 1970s, another guitarist, Larry Reinhardt, had joined Iron Butterfly. When the band soon broke up, Dorman and Reinhardt formed Captain Beyond with Rod Evans from Deep Purple and other musicians.
Captain Beyond recorded three albums that reflected rock, heavy metal and jazz influences, and scored something of an FM hit with the song "Sufficiently Breathless." Without Dorman, a new version of Iron Butterfly formed in 1974 and recorded albums without commercial success. Dorman was born in 1942 in St. Louis and had long suffered from heart problems, which ended his music career, according to the All Music Internet database.
---------------------------------------------------
Jimmy McCracklin, blues musician/songwriter, 91
(Oakland Tribune/Jim Harrington) - Legendary bluesman Jimmy McCracklin, one of the Bay Area's most accomplished musicians, died Thursday (Dec. 20) in San Pablo after a lengthy battle with multiple health problems. He was 91.
The singer-songwriter-pianist will be best remembered for the hit 1957 single "The Walk," a tune that influenced countless other musicians, as well as for being one of the primary architects of West Coast Blues. The longtime Richmond resident spent nearly 70 years in the blues game and wrote literally hundreds of songs.
"He was absolutely one of America's greatest songwriters," says Ronnie Stewart, president of Bay Area Blues Society and the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame. "So many artists covered Jimmy McCracklin, because he was the man." Indeed, the list of top-name artists who recorded or performed McCracklin songs ranges from blues greats like B.B. King to soul stars such as Otis Redding to hip-hop queens Salt-N-Pepa. Bob Dylan cited McCracklin as a personal favorite, while many of the biggest forces in the British Invasion, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, were reportedly inspired by his work.
McCracklin was born August 13, 1921 -- at least that's the commonly accepted date, although the bluesman was known for arguing that it was incorrect. He was raised in St. Louis and joined the Navy in 1938. After World War II, he moved to Richmond and quickly become immersed in Bay Area's thriving blues scene. He backed B.B. King, L.C. Robinson and other top performers at local clubs -- most notably, Club Savoy, which McCracklin would later immortalize with his 1963 tune "Club Savoy" (better known as "Savoy's Jump").
He made his recording debut in 1945 and establish himself as a major force in the blues game in the '50s, thanks in large part to "The Walk." The rollicking, piano-driven composition, which now ranks as a blues standard, hit No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 7 on the pop chart.
"The Walk" was such a sensation that even racial barriers couldn't stop it. McCracklin performed the single on "American Bandstand," which many authorities list as the first time a black artist played on Dick Clark's popular TV show.
McCracklin continued to find success on the charts through the '60s, with such notable tunes as "Just Got to Know" (No. 2 on the R&B charts) and the Lowell Fulson co-authored "Tramp" (a hit for both Otis Redding and Carla Thomas in 1967). In the '70s, he ran San Francisco's Continental Club and hosted such acts as Big Joe Turner and Etta James. He also remained active on the touring scene, where he inspired legions of younger blues artists.
---------------------------------------------------
Frank Pastore, MLB Pitcher (Reds, Twins)/talk radio host, 55
(Detroit Free Press) - Frank Pastore, a former major league pitcher who became a popular Christian radio show host, has died. He was 55.
Southern California radio station KKLA, which aired Pastore's show, said on its website that he died Monday (Dec. 17), nearly a month after he was critically injured in a motorcycle accident. Pastore had been in a coma since a car collided with his motorcycle Nov. 19. The accident came hours after he pondered the risk of motorcycle riding on his daily radio show, in which he discussed the possibility of life after death.
Pastore pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1979-85 and for the Minnesota Twins in 1986. After baseball, he obtained a master's degree in philosophy at Biola University and became a radio host.
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Willie Ackerman, drummer (Willie Nelson), 73
(CMT.com) - Famed drummer William Paul "Willie" Ackerman died Thursday (Dec. 13) in Nashville. He was 73. Both a studio and a touring musician, the Nashville-born Ackerman also spent time as staff member of the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw staff bands. Perhaps his oddest credit came when he was picked to play on what would prove to be jazz great Louis Armstrong's last album, a collection of country standards. He can be heard on such classic recordings as Marty Robbins' "El Paso," Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses" and throughout Tom T. Hall's 1976 tribute to bluegrass music, The Magnificent Music Machine. Among the other artists he performed and/or recorded with are Flatt & Scruggs, Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Jim Reeves, Hank Snow, Jimmy Martin, Steve Young and Don Gibson.
---------------------------------------------------
Gil Friesen, entertainment executive (A&M Records, Classic Sports Network), 75
(The Hollywood Reporter) - Gil Friesen, the first employee at Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ legendary A&M Records, who later executive produced movies including The Breakfast Club, has died. He was 75.
Friesen, who also co-founded the Classic Sports Cable Network, which was sold to ESPN in 1997, died Thursday (Dec. 13) at his home in Brentwood after a long battle with leukemia, said his wife, Janet.
A native of Pasadena, Friesen began his career as a mailroom employee at Capitol Records, then based in his hometown, and served as a West Coast representative for Kapp Records. In an interview with Artists House Management in 2007, he said he was the first person Moss hired for the A&M label.
“He gave me the title; they said I was the general manager,” he recalled. “I had to invent the job. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass had just released their first record [in 1962], and there were sales and airplay [responsibilities]. … I helped put together the band that would go on the road and promote them.”
A&M went from an operation working out of Alpert’s garage in the Fairfax District into the largest indie label in the U.S., one that called the iconic Charlie Chaplin Studios on La Brea Avenue its home.
Friesen was elevated to president of the label in 1977. Once described as the “ampersand in A&M” -- Albert was the "A" and Moss the "M," of course -- he stayed until the company was sold to PolyGram for $500 million in April 1990.
Among the acts with whom Friesen worked closely were The Carpenters, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Nils Lofgren, Supertramp, The Tubes, Peter Frampton, The Police, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams and Janet Jackson.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of A&M, now owned by Universal Music Group.
Friesen launched the independent company A&M Films in 1981. In addition to the coming-of-age drama The Breakfast Club (1985), he executive produced Better Off Dead … (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986), both starring John Cusack, and produced Blaze (1989), toplined by Paul Newman.
He produced Twenty Feet From Stardom, a documentary focused on backup singers in popular music that will premiere next month at the Sundance Film Festival.
With backing from Liberty Media and Allen & Co., Friesen co-founded the Classic Sports Cable Network with Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg in the mid-'90s. It was sold to ESPN after a bidding war with News Corp. for a reported $175 million, a huge sum for a channel that at the time reached just 10 million homes.
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just saying
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Jack Klugman has died at the age of 90
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jack Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as the messy one in TV's "The Odd Couple" and the crime-fighting coroner in "Quincy, M.E.," died Monday, a son said. He was 90.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 4-18-11-02
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jack Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as the messy one in TV's "The Odd Couple" and the crime-fighting coroner in "Quincy, M.E.," died Monday, a son said. He was 90.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 4-18-11-02
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David Paleg
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Durning, king of character actors, dies in NYC
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charles Durning grew up in poverty, lost five of his nine siblings to disease, barely lived through D-Day and was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge.
His hard life and wartime trauma provided the basis for a prolific 50-year career as a consummate Oscar-nominated character actor, playing everyone from a Nazi colonel to the pope to Dustin Hoffman's would-be suitor in "Tootsie."
Durning, who died Monday at age 89 in New York, got his start as an usher at a burlesque theater in Buffalo, N.Y. When one of the comedians showed up too drunk to go on, Durning took his place. He would recall years later that he was hooked as soon as heard the audience laughing.
He told The Associated Press in 2008 that he had no plans to stop working. "They're going to carry me out, if I go," he said.
Durning's longtime agent and friend, Judith Moss, told The Associated Press that he died of natural causes in his home in the borough of Manhattan.
Full story at Yahoo news.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charles Durning grew up in poverty, lost five of his nine siblings to disease, barely lived through D-Day and was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge.
His hard life and wartime trauma provided the basis for a prolific 50-year career as a consummate Oscar-nominated character actor, playing everyone from a Nazi colonel to the pope to Dustin Hoffman's would-be suitor in "Tootsie."
Durning, who died Monday at age 89 in New York, got his start as an usher at a burlesque theater in Buffalo, N.Y. When one of the comedians showed up too drunk to go on, Durning took his place. He would recall years later that he was hooked as soon as heard the audience laughing.
He told The Associated Press in 2008 that he had no plans to stop working. "They're going to carry me out, if I go," he said.
Durning's longtime agent and friend, Judith Moss, told The Associated Press that he died of natural causes in his home in the borough of Manhattan.
Full story at Yahoo news.
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jag
- Member
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Fontella Bass, who topped the R&B charts with "Rescue Me" in 1965, has died at 72.
Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass had also suffered a series of strokes over the past seven years.
"She was an outgoing person," Mitchell said of her mother. "She had a very big personality. Any room she entered she just lit the room up, whether she was on stage or just going out to eat."
Bass was born into a family with deep musical roots. Her mother was gospel singer Martha Bass, one of the Clara Ward Singers. Her younger brother, David Peaston, had a string of R&B hits in the 1980s and 1990s. Peaston died in February at age 54.
Bass' began performing at a young age, singing in her church's choir at age 6. She was surrounded by music, often traveling on national tours with her mother and her gospel group.
Her interest turned from gospel to R&B when she was a teenager and she began her professional career at the Showboat Club in north St. Louis at age 17. She eventually auditioned for Chess Records and landed a recording contract, first as a duet artist. Her duet with Bobby McClure, "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," reached No. 5 on the R&B charts and No. 33 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1965.
She co-wrote and later that year recorded "Rescue Me," reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 4 on the Billboard pop singles chart. Bass's powerful voice bore a striking resemblance to that of Aretha Franklin, who is often misidentified as the singer of that chart-topping hit.
Bass had a few other modest hits but by her own accounts developed a reputation as a troublemaker because she demanded more artistic control, and more money for her songs. She haggled over royalty rights to "Rescue Me" for years before reaching a settlement in the late 1980s, Mitchell said. She sued American Express over the use of "Rescue Me" in a commercial, settling for an undisclosed amount in 1993.
"Rescue Me" has been covered by many top artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar. Franklin eventually sang a form of it too — as "Deliver Me" in a Pizza Hut TV ad in 1991.
Bass lived briefly in Europe before returning to St. Louis in the early 1970s, where she and husband Lester Bowie raised their family. She recorded occasionally, including a 1995 gospel album, "No Ways Tired," that earned a Grammy nomination.
Bass was inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame in 2000.
Funeral arrangements for Bass were incomplete. She is survived by four children. Bowie died in 1999.
Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass had also suffered a series of strokes over the past seven years.
"She was an outgoing person," Mitchell said of her mother. "She had a very big personality. Any room she entered she just lit the room up, whether she was on stage or just going out to eat."
Bass was born into a family with deep musical roots. Her mother was gospel singer Martha Bass, one of the Clara Ward Singers. Her younger brother, David Peaston, had a string of R&B hits in the 1980s and 1990s. Peaston died in February at age 54.
Bass' began performing at a young age, singing in her church's choir at age 6. She was surrounded by music, often traveling on national tours with her mother and her gospel group.
Her interest turned from gospel to R&B when she was a teenager and she began her professional career at the Showboat Club in north St. Louis at age 17. She eventually auditioned for Chess Records and landed a recording contract, first as a duet artist. Her duet with Bobby McClure, "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," reached No. 5 on the R&B charts and No. 33 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1965.
She co-wrote and later that year recorded "Rescue Me," reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 4 on the Billboard pop singles chart. Bass's powerful voice bore a striking resemblance to that of Aretha Franklin, who is often misidentified as the singer of that chart-topping hit.
Bass had a few other modest hits but by her own accounts developed a reputation as a troublemaker because she demanded more artistic control, and more money for her songs. She haggled over royalty rights to "Rescue Me" for years before reaching a settlement in the late 1980s, Mitchell said. She sued American Express over the use of "Rescue Me" in a commercial, settling for an undisclosed amount in 1993.
"Rescue Me" has been covered by many top artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar. Franklin eventually sang a form of it too — as "Deliver Me" in a Pizza Hut TV ad in 1991.
Bass lived briefly in Europe before returning to St. Louis in the early 1970s, where she and husband Lester Bowie raised their family. She recorded occasionally, including a 1995 gospel album, "No Ways Tired," that earned a Grammy nomination.
Bass was inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame in 2000.
Funeral arrangements for Bass were incomplete. She is survived by four children. Bowie died in 1999.
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just saying
- Member
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Re: 2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread
Commander Norman Schwarzkopf Dies
Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.
The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 of complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dese ... s-18080706
Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.
The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 of complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dese ... s-18080706