Rolling Obituary Thread: 2017

Good, so far, ay?

I guess keep bumping this thread at random just to be sure

Well, half an hour left of today, and we're already ahead of last year.

(Won't bump anymore today)

can you imagine how weird it would be if noone died in 2017?

Peter Noone?

Shane McGowans mum, car crash

john berger, and derek parfit

"...my death will break the more direct relations between my present experiences and future experiences, but it will not break various other relations. This is all there is to the fact that there will be no one living who will be me."

Pretty good profile of Parfit from 2011: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/09/05/how-to-be-good

Reading that piece probably helped bend me around to the idea of self as divisible. Nowadays I think a gestalt self is just as ridiculous as God, and argue with my cat about it.

I also mean to read Reasons and Persons one day, I really do

I was going to say William Christopher, but he passed away on Dec 31 - just as Wayne Rogers did in 2015 (one of the first entries on the 2016 thread). So hopefully Alan Alda and Loretta Swit take care of themselves next NYE :(

"Take care of" is an ambiguous phrase

I realised that when I wrote it :(

Jamie Farr, Gary Burghoff and David Ogden Stiers are thankfully still with us too.

There was a bunch of press stuff about John Berger after his 90th birthday about two months ago, commenting on how sharp he still was. Similarly, I'm amazed how good he looked for 90 (I would have easily believed 70), not that I'm concerned about his looks but, I guess he made me think of the type of 90 year I aspire to be if I make it there. RIP

Om Puri

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/06/om-puri-indian-actor-dies-aged-66?

Tilikum is gone. And I only saw Blackfish the other day.

RIP Big Cynthia, southern soul singer at 47.

http://www.soultracks.com/story-big-cynthia-dies

The Houston native was the daughter of legendary Motown artist Junior Walker and she went on to become one of the brightest stars of the Southern soul scene.

Francine York, who had mid-sized roles in a great many 60s US TV shows.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/francine-york-dead-batman-doll-squad-actress-was-80-961611

xp aw man RIP she was great.

he did tweet last week that he was fine and that he wanted people to stop asking if he was well

He hasn't tweeted since October though? Unless he's deleted the one you're referring to.

Or maybe it was on Facebook or some other social media site and I remembered wrongly?

Nat Hentoff, at 91. His son reported it on Twitter.

Awww, I used to read his civil rights/civil liberties and first amendment column in the Village Voice. Sometimes read his jazz critic writing too.

There's a list (possibly incomplete) of albums he wrote liner notes for here; I've got at least 80 of those. He was easily one of the biggest influences on my personal tastes and listening habits. I spoke to him on the phone once; I don't remember what about, but it was jazz-related.

Very good documentary a couple of years ago. Checked the Voice thinking they might have something up, but can't see anything.

'Father of Portuguese democracy' and socialist Mario Soares, 92

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38542535

Rafsanjani!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38548591

Aw, peter sarstedt died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38548507

There was a rumor circulating on Twitter that Soares died New Year's Day, but Portuguese law would have required the immediate declaration of a national day of mourning, so they kept it quiet so that pre-planned fireworks displays etc. could go on as scheduled.

Can I just say that I've never knowingly heard any of sarstedt's songs, but his bit is amazingly well written. I do still love it when I hear it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38548591

Rafsanjani.

See: MENA thread?

Zygmunt Bauman :(

Clare Hollingworth, the Daily Telegraph correspondent who broke the news of World War Two, has died in Kong Kong aged 105.

The British journalist was hailed for her "scoop of the century" after she spotted German tanks on the Polish border in August 1939 . . . She had been a reporter at the newspaper for less than a week.

Roman Herzog, President of Germany from '94 to '99.

Tigger Stack

Tony Rosato, part of SCTV for a year or two (before NBC, I think).

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2017/01/11/tony-rosato-veteran-of-sctv-and-saturday-night-live-dead-at-62.html

had a rough later life

Graham Taylor:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38599231

Just saw that, shocker.

Always seemed a lovely guy. RIP.

Rosato was also on SNL during Lorne's five years in the wilderness. Guess we'll see if the show acknowledges his passing.

Guitarist Tommy Allsup :(

http://lubbockonline.com/entertainment/2017-01-11/friend-allsup-guitarist-who-toured-holly-used-life-after-coin-flip-good

Nice words from Elton on Graham Taylor, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38600446

They played an interview earlier where GT was talking about how Ingerland Thugs were actually physically threatening him in public places after that Sun cover, fuck every one of them and Kelvin MacKenzie. RIP Graham.

Bronski Beat keyboardist Larry Steinbachek dies at 56

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38597071

Lord Snowdon:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38611497

Leon from Gogglebox

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42466801

Oh no :(

American Sound bassist Mike Leech: According to Reggie Young, who posted on his FB page on Dec. 12, Mike Leech died on that date this year. It's also all over the FB page for American Studio. Got the news of Leech's passing from Andreas Werner, who works with the American guys. I still can't find an obit for Leech, though. James Redd, where did you get your info that Leech died in 2015?

Here's Mike Leech's obituary. He died on Dec. 12, 2017 in Nashville. Memorial service planned for Jan. 20.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tennessean/obituary.aspx?n=michael-anthony-leech&pid=187600537

That was a different guy with the same name, Edd.

I figured he hadn’t passed that early as I am a big fan and thought I would have known.

Heather Menzies-Urich, one of the daughters in "The Sound of Music," but equally well-known by B-movie fans for Joe Dante's "Piranha."

rip Louisa :(

Johnny Bower:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/former-maple-leafs-goaltender-johnny-bower-dies/

Hard to convey how you can be in your mid-50s, barely pay attention to hockey since you were 12, and still have that name resonate a lot.

Television theme composer Dominic Frontiere
http://variety.com/2017/music/news/dominic-frontiere-dead-dies-composer-outer-limits-1202648539/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CtjhWhw2I8

Foggy Mountain Boys mandolinist Curly Seckler, one of the last living links to prewar country music:

Born John Ray Sechler in North Carolina, he used Curly Seckler as his stage name from the time he and his brothers performed as The Yodeling Rangers in the mid-1930s. A big break came in 1939 when Bill and Charlie Monroe split up as The Monroe Brothers, and Charlie hired Curly to sing the high part that Bill had previously done. Once people heard Seckler’s high, clear voice he found himself in wide demand, doing stints with a number of top groups like The Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Mac Wiseman, and The Sauceman Brothers.

For most fans, though, it was his time with Flatt & Scruggs that cemented Curly’s place in the bluegrass pantheon. From 1949 to 1962 he toured and recorded with Lester and Earl, contributing to some of the most iconic tracks in the history of our music.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/12/27/bluegrass-great-curly-seckler-dead/930007001/

Actress Rose Marie, 94.

http://missrosemarie.com/

Aw.

And she was just establishing her Twitter presence

shit, g'night Ro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzlZjuy5urU

Irv Weinstein, Buffalo news anchor:

http://www.wkbw.com/news/remembering-irv-weinstein-a-buffalo-broadcasting-legend

So ubiquitous growing up in Toronto in the '60s and '70s, I think even SCTV parodied him.

Weinstein was the role model for Eugene Levy's "Earl Camembert" character on SCTV and a Buffalo newscaster, played by Pat Sajak, in "Airplane II: The Sequel."

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/12/26/irv-weinstein-iconic-buffalo-broadcaster-has-died.html

Actually, I didn't know that--I thought Camembert, like Floyd/Lloyd Robertson, was based on a CBC or CTV reporter.

I do know there are fire trucks racing to either Tonawanda or Cheektowaga tonight as tribute.

Holly Anderson, poet whose work became the lyrics to Mission of Burma's song "Mica" (as well as others), at 62.

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2017/12/27/holly-anderson-misson-of-burma-lyrics/

mystery writer sue grafton of 'a is for alibi', 'b is for burglar' . . . 'y is for yesterday'

supposedly a z book was already in the can

No Z, reportedly

https://apnews.com/da95e9f22674419a8ee2fbe21736164d

Dan Talbot, founder of New Yorker Films and key distributor/exhibitor of foreign films for decades

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5235-the-daily-remembering-dan-talbot

Jim Baikie, best known for his art in British comics of the 70s and 80s.

https://2000ad.wordpress.com/2017/12/30/jim-baikie-rip/

My friend John, who died alone in his apartment in China, on Christmas morning, at the age of 41.

I'm sorry to hear that. Are you/his family okay?

I'll be OK, another friend was very close and is taking it pretty hard. His parents are in the US, never met them. Just wanted to mark it somewhere as he one of the smartest people I knew, managed to achieve fluency in three dialects of Chinese despite horrible health problems from the age of 30 or so, he had such a depth of understanding in so many areas.

Looks like reclusive Canadian author Réjean Ducharme passed away in August.

Architect John Portman.

http://www.myajc.com/news/local/john-portman-noted-architect-and-developer-dies/Yif6G5NMdKIj6fxgOz2tFJ/

(it's 2018)

People are still having deaths

John Dent, mastering engineer who worked on a load of good stuff.

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2018/01/03/john-dent-mastering-engineer/

RIP 2017.

People are still having deaths

Jerry Van Dyke

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/jerry-van-dyke-coach-actor-dead-dies-1202655598/

Rolling Obituary Thread: 2018

Somebody lock this one.

How do I shot obituary thread thru bass amp?