Rolling Obituary Thread: 2021

Recording engineer Al Schmitt, who worked on a million records, notably Steely Dan's Aja. The story about working with Duke Ellington is great:

After serving in the U.S. Navy, Schmitt apprenticed at Apex Recording Studios in New York City, working alongside the noted producer Tom Dowd. On one memorable occasion when Dowd wasn't present, Schmitt, 19 at the time, wound up engineering several sides by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

"I kept saying, 'You know, Mr. Ellington, I'm really not qualified to do this. This was a huge mistake,'" Schmitt told Billboard. "And he kept patting me on the leg and saying, `Don't worry, son. We're going to get through this.' And that was it. I got thrown in, we got it done, we did four sides. The nice thing was it gave me confidence that I was able to do it. I often think that if they'd told me the night before that I was going to record Duke Ellington the next day, I probably would have called in sick."

Awesome

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, known to me mostly as the subject of the Jethro Tull song "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me".

Legendary motorcycle racer Dick Mann: 6/13/34 - 4/26/21

https://nationalmcmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/DickMannMain-1.jpg

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, known to me mostly as the subject of the Jethro Tull song "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me".

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, April 28, 2021 10:24 AM (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

known to me as "not that michael collins".

the guy who went to the moon but didn't get to strut. RIP

RIP unlucky astronaut

Probably the most famous line from Collins’ lovely, lyrical memoir, “Carrying the Fire”

“I am alone now, truly alone. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be 3 billion plus 2 over on the other side of the Moon, and one plus God only knows what on this side.” pic.twitter.com/Zg92Le9yzs

— Rebecca 🌕 Boyle (@rboyle31) April 28, 2021

Mike Stax has reported on FB that Ali Mackenzie of the (British) Birds has passed.

Anne Douglas, widow of Kirk Douglas, aged 102.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/30/entertainment/kirk-douglas-widow-dies/index.html

Johnny Crawford, of television's The Rifleman.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/johnny-crawford-young-star-of-the-rifleman-dies-at-75

had not heard that Giancarlo DiTrapano died. Had my back and forth with the NY Tyrant vibe but his commitment to helping out writers he believed in, to being an active force in literature, was undeniable; his was the sort of presence on the scene that keeps it vibrant, humming. And a good dude in my limited talking with him, and per everybody who knew him as far as I can tell. A loss.

https://www.vulture.com/2021/04/remembering-the-founder-of-new-york-tyrant-and-tyrant-books.html

somehow totally missed that former US attorney general-turned-activist Ramsey Clark died three weeks ago

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ramsey-clark-dead/2021/04/10/70314e68-9949-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html

Man, somebody should POLL the Al Schmitt discography, but it might be too much work.

Just found out about Surfin' with the Astronauts, for example.

https://louderthanwar.com/anita-lane-rip-birthday-party-bad-seeds-solo/

Anita Lane, long term Nick Cave/Barry Adamson collaborator and Mute artist in their own right.

More obit links (by Rob Sheffield and Nick Cave) over here if anyone wants them: Nick Cave : Classic or Dud ?

Eli Broad, mover and shaker in LA's construction and art scene, at 87.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/us/eli-broad-dead.html

Olympia Dukakis

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/05/olympia-dukakis-dies-at-89-1234634665/

;_;

I love Olympia Dukakis.

Walter Jones, pretty obscure not prolific but consistently excellent house producer, perhaps best known for 'I'll Keep On Loving You / Living Without Your Love' on DFA in 2009

I've just learned of the passing of the Dj and Producer Walter jones, who was an amazing, lovely dude. I'm honored I got to know him, one of the real ones. Rest in peace man, we love youhttps://t.co/mo9WUGUaDL

— John Barera (@johnbarera) April 29, 2021

Milva, Italian singer and actress, 81.

Love Milva, her album of Ennio Morricone songs from 1972 is a perennial fave. The one of Brecht/Weill songs from 1971 is also classic. She was in my pantheon of 80-something Italian singers along with Mina and Ornella Vanoni.

https://www.musicinafrica.net/fr/node/15368

Earlier bio of Amha Eshete covering his years as a pioneering Ethiopian producer and label owner, plus touching on his later years after he fled to Washington DC and started the Blue Nile and the Ibex restaurant/ clubs. Eshete who has been sick for awhile, has just passed ( per an email from H in Addis and Facebook and Twitter)

afterthought re Milva: you gotta love the nicknames the Italian press gave to singers in the '60s -

Milva was "The Panther of Goro"
Mina was "The Tigress of Cremona"
Ornella Vanoni was "The Singer of the Bad Life (i.e. the Underworld)"
Iva Zanicchi was "The Eagle of Ligonchio"

Thanks, Josefa. Did they marry anyone that would qualify them for the other thread?

Milva was in a relationship with the spaghetti western and giallo actor Luigi Pistilli (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). He committed suicide after they split up.

Bummer. "Living Without Your Love" was one of my favorite singles of the last decade.

Her album with Vangelis is sublime. RIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqbyII1NGY

Bobby Unser

https://www.espn.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/31383651/bobby-unser-three-indianapolis-500-winner-dies-age-87

cinematographer Willy Kurant

Willy Kurant, the cinematographer who worked with Godard, Varda, Welles, Robbe-Grillet, Marker, Skolimowski, Pialat, Rozier, Schlöndorff, Gainsbourg, and Garrel, has died. He was 87.https://t.co/URQosQX8YQhttps://t.co/cujHMM67wB pic.twitter.com/DamLRXkC6w

— The Daily (@CriterionDaily) May 3, 2021

^^helluva resume: masculin-feminin, a grin without a cat, a nos amours, the baby-sitters club, pootie tang....

RIP

Pootie tang does whip

Which Garrel did he shoot? Doesn’t seem to be on MUBI.

Oh, I see.

god that list is so sick lmfao

Rest In Peace. One of the greats.

Stay safe, Bruno Nuytten!

Hermine Karagheuz, frequent Rivette collaborator

Hermine Karagheuz, the actress, writer, and photographer who appeared in films by Jacques Rivette, Jeanne Moreau, and Bertrand Bonello, has passed away.https://t.co/jnTegu3UgLhttps://t.co/eWL2x85U23 pic.twitter.com/Yp0zOWzCVF

— The Daily (@CriterionDaily) May 3, 2021

Noted Rock Writer/Historian Ed Ward

Phil Naro of Talas, Druckfarben, and a half dozen other bands. one of the last singers who could really hit that Geddy Lee/Jon Anderson zone. by all accounts a super nice guy too.

X-post - Ed Ward 1948-2021

RIP . Lots of interesting writing about rock’s early days and more

RIP

https://www.statesman.com/story/obituaries/2021/05/04/austin-ed-ward-obituary-music-critic-historian-dies-age-72/4936964001/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ed-ward-dead-obit-1164828/

Jeez, I feel like Ed Ward was just on Fresh Air the other day, maybe I'm mistaken... RIP rocker

Nick Kamen at just 59.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/nick-kamen-death-levis-model-age-cause-b1842435.html

I looked up Hermine Karagheuz and came across this still from Out 1:

https://phildellio.tripod.com/hermine.jpg

Is that not the film's final image? I saw it once 10 years ago, and I still think about that.

The last image in Out 1: Spectre is Leaud playing with the Eiffel Tower keychain (?) in his room, I thought the longer version ended with Lonsdale on the beach, but there might be something after that.

Nick Kamen :(

RIP; already noted yesterday, btw.

Wonder what happened to him after the nineties. All the obits seem to end there.