Rolling Obituary Thread 2023

John Davis, disco producer/arranger who led the Monster Orchestra. “Up Jumped The Devil” and his version of “Bourgie Bourgie” are All Time stunners.

I had no idea this brand was a real person:

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2023/02/03/fashion-designer-paco-rabanne-dies-aged-88_6014298_15.html

Or as Prince called him in "Movie Star": Paco Ra-binny

Melinda Dillon, Who Appeared in ‘A Christmas Story,’ ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ Dies at 83https://t.co/UkQnwZHe0L

— Variety (@Variety) February 3, 2023

Ah that's a shame. Those two performances alone are for all time.

And Magnolia! (I suspect I am the only remaining person who loves that film, but she is fantastic in her small role.)

honestly she was iconic, she had so many great roles and she was always so good

XPS...and also a shocking (if you know her mainly from her 'Mom' roles) appearance in Slap Shot.

She's the true star of Close Encounters

xpost "Oglethorpe?"

She's the true star of Close Encounters

No lies told.

Loved her in Close Encounters; she had a small but harrowing part in Absence of Malice, too, that the rest of the movie hinged on.

She had one of the great 'origin stories' in all of showbiz: she was a waitress at Second City who volunteered her service as an actress one night when Barbara Harris was sick--Dillon had memorized the whole act from the pit and was a sensation on stage, quickly earning a spot in the repertory company.

Man that is awesome.

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed she was nearly 40 in Close Encounters. Good genes!

she pulled off a good 'harried'

And _Magnolia_! (I suspect I am the only remaining person who loves that film, but she is fantastic in her small role.)

Don't watch this if you plan to watch the film someday, but here's the Absence of Malice scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpnobabM8ZY

The way she tilts her head as she gets up at the end is unforgettable.

she also played honey in the original production of ‘who’s afraid of virginia woolf?’

Wow, first role seems to have been in "The Cry of Jazz", also featuring Sun Ra and Arkestra members, whose concept of interstellar music maybe points the way to CE3K

Per my former neighbor who was in the band, Dr. Hook lead guitarist Bob "Willard" Henke a couple of days ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Q6acCserQ

She's one of the great kooks of all-time in A Christmas Story -- crazier than her beloved sons! Seconding the admiration for her work in Close Encounters and Absence of Malice.

She deserved a higher profile, and plenty more roles than she got after her early era. She was so unflashy and understated and a born screen performer. From my small sample size of childhood films it seemed like she was everywhere.

She deserved a higher profile, and plenty more roles than she got after her early era.

Sorry, I can't resist: lord thunderin' Jesus, don't say that.

Seconding the admiration for her work in Close Encounters

Did a rewatch last night and was actually amazed in a good way she got a Supporting Actress nom for that -- not that she didn't deserve it, she absolutely did! But it's such a lived in and relentlessly unflashy role handled so well as opposed to a big performance; Spielberg didn't overburden the character with self exposition (is she a divorcee? a widower? neither? doesn't matter, she's just her and she has a young kid) and if Dreyfuss's character gets the lead nod by default, she is his equal in trying to figure out what is driving her, and maybe even more so in that the music (via Barry) is more a part of it for her than it is for Dreyfuss.

Not that I remember Julia all that well 45 years later, but my recollection is that it was slow, stodgy, and not all that interesting; can't believe that Vanessa Redgrave deserved the AA more than Dillon. (Did lead to a memorable speech from Redgrave.)

Charles Kimbrough, Sondheim vet & TV's "Jim Dial" on Murphy Brown

https://www.theatermania.com/los-angeles-theater/news/charles-kimbrough-company-broadway-obituary_94839.html?

^^also perfectly cast as a HUAC panel head in The Front.

steve sostak of sweep the leg johnny

https://www.stereogum.com/2213119/steve-sostak-sweep-the-leg-johnny-zzzz-dead/news/

oh fuck, sweep the leg johnny and zzzz were both great bands

I want to say a band I was in played on a few bills with them. Or maybe I'm thinking of Streganona, with whom Sweep released an early 7", who we definitely played with.

i always loved the combo of emo/math-rock and sax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN3PLKDQZQI

^I was at this show, my friends and I still talk about it 20+ years later

i n s a n e

Longtime late night KCRW DJ Eric J. Lawrence, who also served as their music librarian, passed today too young at 52.

He was one of my key friends at KLA, UCLA's old radio station, in the late 80s and early 90s, and he made my life better and richer for it with all he loved.

I will miss him tremendously.

incredible guy. Via my S.O. I knew him well, as you probably maybe gathered via FB. A really genuinely interesting and singular individual, and a very nice human being. Of the many reasons to condemn the pandemic, it’s that the people you last saw before it all happened are sometimes people you never saw again, and there was no notion that this would be the case.

I was in L.A. when Bowie died and heard/loved Eric Lawrence's tribute show.

Upsetting news . I met him via Ned - we all drove together to Seattle for Terrastock 4 in Seattle. Loved running into him here and there at shows over the years since and of course his radio show was a must listen if I was awake.

I very much treasure that trip we did. A great experience.

A lovely three hour tribute mix from today:

https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/morning-becomes-eclectic-playlist-february-8-2023

Prominent death in Canada: Mendelson Joe/Joe Mendelson.

He was in a band called Mainline, who were sort of a Canadian Canned Heat. Their one hit was the excellent "Get Down To" (1972):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWpC5sgkjkY

After that he became a prominent artist. If you lived in Toronto in the '80s and '90s, you might remember him most for his non-stop published letters in a local weekly (that I used to hate with a passion--the weekly, not his letters; feels like forever ago).

https://www.torontomike.com/2023/02/mendelson-joe-dead-at-78/

I think my dad, in his role as a principal, had some sort of contretemps with Joe in the 70s (about inappropriate subject matter for kids) when he was some kind of painter-in-residence at the school.

Very intrigued!

Joe was already doing his paintings of authority figures with asses for heads, and though my dad wasn't personally offended he had to tell him they weren't suitable for the primary school kids. I imagine the "controversy" would seem silly now in a public school.

Honestly, in some ways I think things have gotten worse. There's stuff I'd show classes 20 years ago I wouldn't risk showing today.

Burt Bacharach, master of pop songwriting, dies aged 94 https://t.co/taiNYbwGaD

— The Guardian (@guardian) February 9, 2023

Oh no! Just last night I watched the Warwick doc and he was sharp as ever.

:( What a man.

RIP :(