Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

Always got Alice Cooper mixed up with the son of Mr. Green Jeans.

That was Zappa (and/or Ted Nugent)!

A university roommate got me onto Leave It to Beaver, then in syndication, and I watched a lot of it for a couple of years. Haven't seen it for ages, so you never know it'll be as good as you remember it, but my recollection is that, while seeming to be the very definition of 1950s conformity and complacency--dad in a jacket and mom in a dress at the dinner table--it actually pushed against the tenor of the times in sly and smart ways. I can't remember it ever dealt directly with race or anything like that.

There are two "if"s missing from that post. Apparently I have a thing against "if."

A fantastic piece of writing from several years back that does (among other things) some debunking of LitB's squeaky-clean image:

https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2012/05/leave-it-to-beaver-the-complete-first-season.html

Good piece, thanks. "There isn't a sitcom on the air today with the humanity of 'Leave It To Beaver,' let alone its moral or visual sophistication." I have a clear memory of my roommate saying something to the effect that the show always made him aware of falling short of the person he wanted to be.

I didn't get this part: "(through Ward, 'Leave It To Beaver' is haunted by spectres of child abuse, a big reason why I've never doubted the sincerity of its hope for better tomorrows)," even in the context of the episode he describes--he's equating Ward's father making him feel lousy with child abuse? Am I misreading that?

Don't want to derail thread, but forgot that Richard Deacon was on LItB: https://www.metv.com/stories/from-fred-rutherford-to-mel-cooley-richard-deacon-was-perfectly-suited-for-his-memorable-tv-roles

I think brownnosers are a fairly common stereotype

Feel like he is a more specific type than just a generalized brownnoser.

I would say so too--very specific to cozying up to a friends' parent, and then doing whatever you can to stir things up the minute you're out of view. (Which is where the teaching comparison comes in--there are students like that.)

Right. There seems to be a lot more malice aforethought involved in a case like this, rather than simpler, almost reflexive response to the pheromones of power structure.

Annie Glenn (1920-2020): pic.twitter.com/qBeQbJvFJ5

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) May 19, 2020

Soundtrack and library music composer Peter Thomas (Sound Orchester, Raumpatrouille, Orion 2000 etc)

Wow. I had no idea he was alive. I know him from that Pulp track.

Yeah, I was surprised he was still alive, 94 though!

Salah Stétié, francophone Lebanese poet, 91. RIP.

Uncle Bunky, 65

Now this is an obit. pic.twitter.com/VLdljoq2lh

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) May 20, 2020

SAVE IT ZEEBO

RIP the Bunkster

Steve Hanford, drummer of Poison Idea aka the Slayer Hippy

jesus VG you had me googling Wendell Pierce in a panic

oops sry lol

can't stop thinking about Uncle Bunky

bunky! <3
can't leave the party if you can't find the door

Uncle Bunky's nephew (who wrote the obit) has been posting more stories

one time he tried to pick me up from elementary school in his shitty 70's era Buick LeSabre (a.k.a. The Sled) by revving the engine and hollering expletives out the window

the kids were so terrified, they asked a teacher to make sure I wasn't getting kidnapped

— Chris Santa Maria (@chrisantamaria) May 20, 2020

Mory Kante

Jerry Sloan Hall of Fame basketball coach

aw Mory Kante rip :(

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/22/mory-kante-guinean-musician-dies-aged-70-from-chronic-health-problems

“He suffered from chronic illnesses and often traveled to France for treatment, but that was no longer possible with the coronavirus,” said Balla. “We saw his condition deteriorate rapidly, but I was still surprised because he’d been through much worse times before.”

Not sure if this officially counts as a corona-related death, but in practical terms it does. RIP, what a voice.

Ok have to paste one more from the Uncle Bunky thread

he took me to my first NASCAR race where we snuck into the Dewalt promo tent and got kicked out because we started shotgunning Busch beers and snagging all the schwag

he screamed “I’M SORRY I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA!” as we bailed out lol pic.twitter.com/2EX98rVRsN

— Chris Santa Maria (@chrisantamaria) May 20, 2020

Jerry Sloan was so funny in the Last Dance clip where he feigned confusion during the 54-point-game press conference: "Is that the score? Really?"

that was gold. RIP Jerry

RIP Jamaican producer Bobby Digital, originator of the Dem Bow riddim among many other accomplishments:
http://exclaim.ca/music/article/iconic_dancehall_producer_robert_bobby_digital_dixon_dies_at_59

Hana Kimura, professional wrestler and member of cult reality TV show Terrace House.

If facebook is to be believed, Peter Weller took his own life. Apologies if this doesn’t come out soon and I’m an asshole.

man i fucking hope not

literally nothing on twitter about peter weller

it's sort of a second hand eyewitness account. I'll eat my hat and apologize if it turns out not to be true. It's been waaaaay to long since I've seen Naked Lunch.

I don't know if this has been noted on another thread or not, but I just learned on Facebook that ILX poster Allen Baekeland died this morning. I never met Allen, but we communicated occasionally on here and on Facebook--we had some common background going back to college radio. Allen was also in a lot of bands, the most well known of which I think was Lost and Profound. I couldn't find his ILX handle--it was a lot of Russian letters or something like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzspdqTKt4A

Fuck, thats awful. RIP Allen

Was he Ρεμπετολογια? The Cowsills vs The Partridge Family

Assuming that was him. He posted under his own name at one point. RIP Billy Cowsill

Thanks, that was it. I searched for 15 minutes last night on various Toronto threads and couldn't find it. I found his real name on a 2005 post.

I followed some his playlists linked here: My Spotify playlists, let me show you them
I guess his screenname has something to do with Rembetika.

It is the title of book about Rembetika.

Wonder if he had another screenname in between? Anyway, RIP Allen.

Looking through his recent posts, he only posted intermittently the past year. He was in the Hendrix-poll thread a couple of times. I liked this post (which tells me he was probably about five years older than I am).

They played live. You were there. They released it for sale!

Last post in his own name was in June 2008, first as Ρεμπετολογια was in October, 2016. Hmm. Anyway I always liked his posts, have yet to listen to one of his gigantic playlists to the very end - yet!

Friend says screenname means something like "Rembetology."

He didn't seem to be the type to post up a storm. In this 500 post thread there is exactly one from him: Wishin' and Votin' - the BURT BACHARACH SONGBOOK Poll Results