Rolling Obituary Thread: 2021

I'm guessing she could have had a driver and lived in Los Angeles or anywhere in California but she chose to remain in New York City (and remain independent). I wonder if the death of her husband and daughter made her less so or made her question her freedom. I guess she is up for reevaluation now and there are harsh critics and material for easy bait when she compares herself in a bikini to a woman in a muumuu at a Ralph's in Los Angeles but I also remember something about shopping with an empty shopping cart (for oneself), which I think is from Play it as it Lays, but which I could not verify, and to which I think many peoply who have experienced insatiable hunger and a feeling of abandonment could relate. If she had been born a generation later perhaps she would have attempted to address her critics and their criticisms more effortfully and with her full attention and engagement (assuming she has not done so).

RIP Wanda Young of the marvelettes

Wanda Young, a member of Motown's chart-topping The Marvelettes, has died in suburban Detroit at 78. In 1961, the group's “Please Mr. Postman” became Motown's first No. 1 pop hit. https://t.co/NtDMYqcIzS

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 25, 2021

Seems there's some rumours about Janice Long?

Fairly conclusively false news about Janice Long. She is still with us.

Desmond Tutu

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/archbishop-desmond-tutu-giant-in-fight-against-apartheid-south-africa-dies-at-90

:(

Definitely one of those people you were surprised to hear was still alive.. but not now. RIP.

BBC has confirmed Janice Long

6music has often claimed to have modelled their approach on John Peel, but I believe it was much more likely Janice Long. I daresay they'll have a fulsome tribute now, but it'd have been better to have had them before...

No mention on 6music news, just now.

C'mon...

RIP Janice.

Aw fuck, really sad about Janice :(

Tom, didn't you do a few sessions for her?

My sister used to hang around outside the BBC in the 80s in search of pop star autographs, she said that JL would always check up to make sure they were okay - probably because she knew what a lot of the other presenters were like. Not the musicians btw, who were all pretty harmless.

Shame - feels like part of the 1980s died... I liked her energy and openness. And she was a good foil for Peel's ostensibly dour humour.

Have all of The Fall’s Janice Long sessions been officially released now?

Wayne Thiebaud apparently.

damn :(

he was pushing 100 iirc but still, sad loss. one of my favorite artists.

Confirmed:

Wayne Thiebaud, who painted shadows better than anyone, was such a gifted still-life painter that even avant-gardists eventually fell in love with his undisguisedly sweet subjects. He died yesterday, at age 101. RIP pic.twitter.com/a8nyaIOr3h

— Deborah Solomon (@deborahsolo) December 26, 2021

Director Jean-Marc Vallèe

https://deadline.com/2021/12/jean-marc-vallee-dies-58-year-old-director-dallas-buyers-club-big-little-lies-sharp-objects-1234901961/

Evolutionary biologist, chronicler of complex animal social behavior, and champion of biodiversity E.O. Wilson.

Sarah Weddington

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/26/sarah-weddington-attorney-who-won-roe-v-wade-abortion-case-dies-aged-76

Re Jean-Marc Vallèe: Don't know if I've liked anything the past three or four years as much as Big Little Lies, first season especially. (Also, a little less so, Sharp Objects).

yeah otm

Apparently Andrew Vachss has passed:

Gutted to learn of Andrew Vachss’s passing. In 2010 I interviewed him. In the first 5 minutes I thought he was going to hang up on me. We talked for more than an hour and he said one of the most goddamn important things I’ve ever heard as a writer starting out. Sharing it here. pic.twitter.com/lyRADeWiga

— Rob Hart (@robwhart) December 28, 2021

Wow, good quote. RIP.

I've only read two or three of his books but always meant to read more.

Grichka (of the Bogdanoff twins, french science fiction/pseudoscience broadcasters/nerds) died of Covid : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_and_Grichka_Bogdanoff

RIP Andrew Vachss. Years and years ago, I went to a James Ellroy signing for the UK launch of LA Confidential, at the specialist crime bookshop Murder One. It was, slightly bizarrely, a joint signing with Ruth Rendell who, outshouted and outraged by a VERY full-on Ellroy, quickly stopped signing and left. After queuing for a while I got to Ellroy, and he asked me my name for the dedication. When I said 'Andrew' (cos that's my name) he immediately roared back, "WHERE'S THE EYEPATCH?"

His dedication? 'To Andrew - blood rage in a poodle's cage'.

Okay that's an anecdote for the ages.

April Ashley, trans pioneer.

i will never forgive vallèe for making dallas buyers club and also i found his aesthetic generally repellant but it sucks he died so young

Never saw Dallas Buyers Club, or any of his TV work, but I do remember liking his French Canadian gay teen Jesus flick, C.R.A.Z.Y..

J.D. Crowe, a master banjo player and bandleader who expanded the sound of bluegrass while attracting some of the genre’s most prodigiously gifted musicians into his groups, has died at 84. https://t.co/hwccnB1A77

— New York Times Arts (@nytimesarts) December 28, 2021

John Madden

I’m sure every year is full of notable losses, but, man.

NFL legend John Madden died unexpected this morning. He was 85. pic.twitter.com/FoC1mAzoF6

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 29, 2021

Boom!

cris collinsworth must eat six turkey legs on air during the playoffs to honor the king

— kilgore trout, tucker carlson’s mailman (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 29, 2021

Super Sky Point to the legendary John Madden. The GOAT color man in NFL history and the all-time highest winning percentage among head coaches with 100+ career wins. A larger than life figure. Heaven just added one sweet bastard. #RIP pic.twitter.com/pvwjfqmXvx

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) December 29, 2021

aw man. I still love his HOF induction speech in 2006, kinda embodies how I think of him in general

“Here is the deal: I think over in the Hall of Fame, that during the day, the people go through, they look at everything. At night, there's a time when they all leave. All the fans and all the visitors leave the Hall of Fame. Then there's just the workers. Then the workers start to leave. It gets down to there's just one person. That person turns out the light, locks the door.
I believe that the busts talk to each other. I can't wait for that conversation, I really can't. Vince Lombardi, … Reggie (White), Walter Payton, all my ex-players. We'll be there forever and ever and ever talking about whatever. That's what I believe. That's what I think is going to happen, and no one's ever going to talk me out of that.”

John Madden, the G.O.A.T. pic.twitter.com/dnEvOnF6ZY

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 29, 2021

Harry Reid too

loool <3

In honor of the late John Madden, my favorite Madden call of an Eagles game, where he DESTROYS Barry Switzer for the famed 4th and 1 call.

“Yeah, they deserve to lose!”

The Dumbest Decision in NFL History (ft. Barry Switzer) https://t.co/gn8VOxlf5I via @YouTube

— John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) December 29, 2021

Harry Reid

My favorite story about Reid is of course when as gaming commissioner he worked with the FBI on a sting operation. He simply had to discuss the bribe. He instead leapt at this suspect and choked him, screaming "You tried to bribe me, you son of a bitch!"

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) December 29, 2021

Imagine how much worse off our judiciary would be if Harry Reid hadn’t used the nuclear option for presidential appointments in 2013. Trump would’ve effectively gotten to appoint eight years worth of judges.

— Noah (@NoahJAguirre) December 29, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nvUoBX911k

I didn't see a post about Caroline Peyton, the great singer whose '70s albums Mock Up and Intuition gained a new audience when Numero Group reissued them in 2009. She died in Nashville on August 11. A fabulous singer indeed. I wrote this about her a few months ago.