Happy New Year everybody. Time to get back to a partial list of those who passed away last year, beginning where we left off, in July.
July
Jul 1: Tim Russert, still dead.
Jul 3: That Bozo Larry Harmon died of heart failure at the age of 83. Seriously. He was one of the Bozos the Clown.
Jul 4: NC asshole Senator Jesse Helms kicked the bucked at the age of 83.
July 11: Heart surgeon Michael E. DeBakey died. He was 99.
July 12: Fox News and Bush Administration shill Tony Snow died at the age of 53 from colon cancer.
July 21: Eric Dowling, who helped plan “The Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III in WWII died at the age of 92.
July 22: Actress Estelle Getty of Golden Girls fame died from Lewy body dementia. She was 84.
August
Aug 8: 1969 US Open champ Orville Moody died at 74.
Aug 9: Comedian Bernie Mac, died from complications of pneumonia. He was only 50.
Aug 17: Dave Freeman, author of ‘100 Things To Do Before You Die’ fell and hit his head. He was 47.
Aug 18: 1980 Kentucky Derby winner Genuine Risk died at the age of 31.
Aug 20: Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. It was the same day that former Oakland Raider and NFLPA head Gene Upshaw died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 63. Pancreatic cancer also took Buddy Guy’s brother Phil that day. He was 68.
Aug 31: CBS journalist Ike Pappas, who broadcast murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, died of heart failure at the age of 75. Country music singer and actor Jerry Reed died at 71 from emphysema.
September
Sep 1: “Thunder Throat” voiceover man Don LaFontaine died of complications from pneumothorax at 68.
Sep 7: My uncle Bill joined my aunt Mary Lou and my mom and dad. He was 82.
Sep 11: Joan Winston, co-founder of the Star Trek convention, died from Bendii Syndrome Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 77.
Sep 15: Pink Floyd keyboardist went to the Great Gig in the Sky at the age of 65, courtesy of cancer.
Sep 26: Legendary actor Paul Newman died of lung cancer. He was 83.
Sep 30: Henry Adler, who taught Buddy Rich how to play the drums, died at the age of 93.
October
Oct 1: “Mr Clean,” House Peters, Jr. died of pneumonia at 92.
Oct 17: The Four Tops’ Levi Stubbs, died from complications of cancer and stroke. He was 72.
Oct 18: Dionne Warwick’s sister Dee Dee died at 63.
Oct 24: Keyboardist and all around good guy Merl Saunders died at the age of 74.
Oct 31: We lost Studs Terkel on Halloween. He was 96.
November
Nov 1: Jimmy Carl Black, drummer and founding member of the Mothers of Invention, died at the age of 70. Lung cancer got him.
Nov 4: Global warming denier and author Michael Crichton died at the age of 66 from throat cancer. It was the same day that John McCain’s presidential aspirations officially died as well.
Nov 8: Florence Wald, “mother of the American hospice movement,” died at her home in Connecticut at the age of 91.
Nov 12: Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell died at 61.
December
Dec 2: American folk singer and human rights activist Odetta passed away at the age of 77 from heart disease.
Dec 5: Beverly Garland, who finally snagged that longtime bachelor Fred MacMurray in My Three Sons, died at the age of 82.
Dec 6: Sunny von Bülow finally slipped away at the age of 76, after having spent 28 years in a persistent vegetative state.
Dec 11: Pinup model Bettie Page died at 85, from complications of a heart attack.
Dec 12: Actor Van Johnson died at the age of 92.
Dec 16: Apocalypse Now surfer dude and bother of Timothy, Sam Bottoms passed away at the age of 53.
Dec 17: Slingin’ Sammy Baugh died. He was 94.
Dec 18: Deep Throat, W. Mark Felt, died at the age of 95. The voice of Star Trek’s computer fell silent the same day, as Majel Barrett went to joing her husband Gene at the age of 77 from leukemia.
Dec 19: Republican political strategist Michael Connell died in an “accidental” airplane crash at the age of 45. Cancer took Noam Chomsky’s wife Carol the same day. She was 78.
Dec 25: Colon cancer took Eartha Kitt on Christmas Day. She was 81.
Dec 29: Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard died of complications from a heart attack at the age of 70.
Enjoy the day, everybody. Let’s hope 2009 is a much better year than 2008 was.
This is the first day of the year in which the George and Dick show will leave the stage. Just 19 more days of their destructive, ignorant, abuse!
I have hope that this may be a better year than the last 8.
Take care of yourselves, everyone, and have a great 2009!
Morning gang!
Time for the Mummers Parade!
http://mummers.com/
“Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange. This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat†and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year. Reports of rowdy groups “parading†on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution. Prizes were offered by merchants in the late 1800’s. January 1, 1901 was the first “official†parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.
The Mummers parade is a celebration of the New Year but is serious business in Philadelphia. Clubs work on the costumes and practice all year for their one day in the sun (…wind, rain or snow). There are many lively discussions over the scoring by the judges and adherence to the complicated set of rules the marchers must follow when being judged. String Bands are judged on their musical presentation as well as the costumes. Seeing and hearing a String Band performing live in the parade is a one-of-a-kind experience.
Comic clubs aquired this tradition from the ancient Greek god Momus who was the personification of mockery, blame, ridicule, scorn, raillery and stinging criticism. Momus was expelled from heaven for his/her criticisms and ridicule of the gods. The comic clubs continue to raise controversy over these themes they use in the parade that make fun of current issues and news stories such as issues involving religion, ethnicity, and feminism. Many Mummers parade controversies over polices, such as the exclusion of women and the use of black-face, lasted many years.”
Here is my Part 2 of the 2008 deaths addenda.
Anne Armstrong, 80, American diplomat and politician, ambassador to the United Kingdom (1976–1977), Cheney shooting accident host
Hiram Bullock, 52, American jazz guitarist
Artie Traum, 65, American folk singer and guitarist
Robert Berning, 73, American grocer, principal wine buyer for Trader Joe’s
Les Crane, 74, American talk show host, Grammy Award winner (“Desiderata”)
Olive Riley, 108, Australian woman believed to be the world’s oldest blogger
Hiroaki Aoki, 69, Japanese-born American founder of Benihana restaurants
Bruce Conner, 74, American artist
Jesse Helms, 86, American politician, senator from North Carolina (1973–2003) (bears repeating)
Clay Felker, 82, American editor and journalist (New York magazine)
Del Martin, 87, American gay rights activist, first legal same-sex marriage in California (a legendary icon in the local Lesbian community)
Pervis Jackson, 70, American R&B bass singer (The Spinners)
Jumoke, 18, American western lowland gorilla
Dorival Caymmi, 94, Brazilian songwriter and singer
Jerry Wexler, 91, American record producer
Robert Maheu, 90, American businessman, aide to Howard Hughes
Skip Caray, 68, American broadcaster for baseball (Atlanta Braves) and basketball (Hawks), son of Harry Caray
Erik Darling, 74, American songwriter, folk musician
Louis Teicher, 83, American classical pianist (Ferrante & Teicher)
Ralph Young, 90, American singer (Sandler and Young)
Ferrante and Sandler group formed
Thomas Dörflein, 44, German zookeeper, surrogate parent of the polar bear Knut (for Jill)
Nappy Brown, 78, American blues singer
Earl Palmer, 83, American rhythm and blues drummer
Norman Whitfield, 68, American Motown songwriter (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”) and record producer
Peter Camejo, 68, American politician and activist
David Foster Wallace, 46, American author and essayist (Infinite Jest)
Hector Zazou, 60, French composer and record producer
Gerard Damiano, 80, American adult film director (Deep Throat), stroke :jerk:
Estelle Reiner, 94, American singer and actress (When Harry Met Sally…), wife of Carl Reiner, mother of Rob Reiner
Danny Dill, 83, American songwriter (“Long Black Veil”)
Richard Blackwell, 86, American fashion critic (“Mr. Blackwell’s Ten Worst Dressed Women”)
John A. Campbell, 67, Australian-born American lumber executive, president and CEO of Pacific Lumber Company :jason:
Leah Maivia, 81, Samoan wrestling promoter, wife of Peter Maivia, grandmother of Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)
Rudy Ray Moore, 81, American comedian and actor (Dolemite)
Edie Adams, 81, American actress and singer
Neal Hefti, 85, American composer (“Batman Theme”, “The Odd Couple Theme”)
Alton Ellis, 70, Jamaican singer
Lloyd Thaxton, 81, American television personality
Nick Reynolds, 75, American folk musician (The Kingston Trio)
Betty James, 90, American businesswoman, co-founder of the Slinky company
Pete Newell, 93, Canadian-born American basketball coach (coached the Cal Bears to defeat the beloved WVU Mountaineers led by Jerry West in the NCAA finals)
Jody Reynolds, 75, American singer and guitarist
Yma Sumac, 86, Peruvian soprano
Delaney Bramlett, 69, American songwriter and record producer
Robert Ward, 70, American blues singer and guitarist
Harold Pinter, 78, British playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature (2005)
Dale Wasserman, 94, American playwright (Man of La Mancha, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
Dock Ellis, 63, American baseball pitcher
Paul Weyrich, 66, American conservative activist :fu:
Gregoire, 66, African oldest known chimpanzee
John Byrne, 61, Irish musician, lead singer of Count Five (“Psychotic Reaction”)
Davey Graham, 68, British guitarist
Van Johnson, 92, American actor (Battleground, The Caine Mutiny, Brigadoon, Batman)
Dennis Yost, 65, American singer (Classics IV)
It was also early in 2008 when we learned of the passing of roxieseattle and Susan Joy. I know they are out there because MySpace keeps telling me that I might know them. They are probably somewhere having late night chats right now.
🙁 :gate:
Just hours before the unemployment benefits fund was to run out in South Carolina, the state with the nation’s third-highest jobless rate, Gov. Mark Sanford relented Wednesday and agreed to apply for a $146 million federal loan to shore it up, after weeks of refusing to do so.
snip
For weeks, Mr. Sanford, newly elected as head of the Republican Governors Association and known for being a fierce free-market foe of government spending, stuck to his stand, questioning the probity of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission and demanding a new audit of the agency.
snip
After one special session last year, the legislators overrode 228 out of 243 of the governor’s vetoes, restoring money Mr. Sanford had rejected for H.I.V. prevention and health programs, and for state parks and beach reconstruction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/us/01sanford.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=todayspaper
This wonderful example of Republicanism is thought to be a candidate for prez in 2012.
I hope that O’Bama’s people have apparati in place to connect the dots and place the blame for our catastrophic condition and any obstructionism as we try to get out of it firmly at the doorsteps of the repug fooks where it belongs. Bi-partisan be damned if they stand in the way.
These jerks are ready to play four corners offense for 4 years hoping to freeze the stranglehold and destruction they have wrought on this once great nation. I don’t think they have the numbers anymore but they do command a vocal band of nuts that will make big noise until their marginality gets exposed.
artnorton watching art carney aka ed norton on twilight zone 😯
Isaac Hayes either Aug 8 or Aug 10 because it was either the day before or the day after Bernie Mac, can’t remember which. Also can’t remember how old.
WTF? Do I look like Wikipedia?
The good news today, though, is that the Rays are thinking about building the new ballpark almost across the street from me! I can walk to games! And stagger home from night games!
:40:
The good news is the world is much more stable today than it was last year at this time. Jesse Helms started spinning in his grave last August. The gyroscopic effect has done wonders for the planet.
I won’t feel safe until cheney and bush are spinning around each other inside a jail cell.
R.I. Senator Claiborne Pell Dies at 90
Happy New Year everyone! I’m taking it easy today as, I didn’t last night. :smack:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/hangover.htm :alc:
Thanks Travis. It hasn’t been very bad at all.
So, how were your grades, Travis? I assume you’re between semesters.
I think my GPA is 3.62, but I’m not sure if I’m remembering correctly. After these upcoming classes, intro. to logic and computer programming, that GPA should fall slightly.
Oh, I got a B in that cal. class. Not what I had hoped for. :bee:
Maybe pj can come up with a ‘fuckin’ A’ emo before the end of your next semester.
WTG Travis!
3.62 is laudable.