Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

4x Tony winning playwright Terrence McNally, of COVID

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/196791/terrence-mcnally-tony-winning-scribe-of-love-valour-compassion-ragtime-more-dies-at-81/

Goddammit, Bill Rieflin's gone:

So sorry to hear of Bill Rieflin passing away. A straight up person and excellent musician.

— Krist Novoselić (@KristNovoselic) March 24, 2020

https://www.facebook.com/robert.fripp.96/posts/3388836107799062?hc_location=ufi

oh shit

https://www.facebook.com/269949063038257/posts/3075531742479961/?d=n

^ Robyn Hitchcock’s tribute to Rieflin

Just heard via Psychedelic Baby magazine that the great Catherine Ribeiro has died.

Is this confirmed? I've found recent news stories that she just had a stroke....

Lots of posts on Twitter but don't thinks there's been anything official yet

Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon:

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/stuart-gordon-dead-dies-1203544356/

🙁

He was a co-creator of the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” franchise, for which he shared a story credit,

Never knew this!

:(

aw damn stuart gordon, rip to a real one

Of course we love Reanimator, but has Society ever looked more like a documentary?

That was a yuzna joint tho (I get mixed up too)

Lol I even chexked. Sorry for senility.

Re-Animator reminds of that golden era of VHS rental when I first got a shitty top loader reconditioned video player and it always seemed like there wasn't such a thing as a bad movie (even though probably most of 'em were bad!)

80s VHS era was the golden age of horror

(xxp) They were friends though... not surprisingly.

Actually probably early 70s to late 80s

OK, From Beyond *was* Gordon and that's my personal fave, a glorious psychedelic freakout

... co-written with Yuzna!

floyd cardoz, indian fusion chef whose nyc spot tabla was a personal favorite. he also won season 3 of top chef masters

aw man, i liked that dude on top chef and as a cook. RIP

Tabla was a great fucking restaurant. Most money I've ever spent on a date, and worth it.

fuuuuuck Stuart Gordon ruled. RIP.

I expect a tribute episode of The Flop House

I keep thinking I have seen Re-Animator, but I have not

that was like my favorite move for years. Haven't seen it in many but had the right mix of gore and dark humor and lack of dumb teenagers?

Any updates on Ribeiro?

Just seen people in Facebook mention a stroke and no further info.

political columnist/author Richard Reeves

Curly Neal 😢

https://hbcugameday.com/2020/03/26/harlem-globetrotter-legend-fred-curly-neal-passes-away/

Curly's a rough one. Like lots of others I'm guessing, he was why I got interested in basketball in the late '70s, sliding around the gym floor with my socks pulled up above my knees. RIP.

RIP Curly

I got his autograph as a kid (and Geese Ausbie's!) and thought I'd won the lottery

(xpost) I have Richard Reeves' Nixon book but haven't read it; I've seen him on more than one Nixon documentary.

Missed Curly...Nostalgia for watching him and Meadowlark Lemon when I was younger.

Cinematographer Alfio Contini, whose credits include Il sorpasso, Zabriskie Point, and The Night Porter.

Actor Mark Blum, from coronavirus complications

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/entertainment/mark-blum-death-trnd/index.html

Houston Astros Legend Jimmy Wynn, the "Toy Cannon".

Underrated! Still have and love this cover.

http://www.autographwarehouse.com/images/products/detail/JimWynnSI.jpg

Cinematographer Alfio Contini, whose credits include Il sorpasso, Zabriskie Point, and The Night Porter.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, March 26, 2020 8:51 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Whoa! RIP. First scene of Zabriskie Point is some of the most immediately gripping and fascinating cinematography I've seen--I'm not being facetious, if you've seen it and think I'm crazy, that whole credit sequence in the lecture hall is just as vital and exciting as the ending.

Michael Sorkin, architect and critic, 71.

Actor Mark Blum, of COVID-19

Apologies, already posted I see

Jennifer Bate, British organist, 75. RIP. Her Messiaen recordings are top-notch.

RIP, that's a shame.

Bob Andy, Jamaican singer, producer, label owner (of Bob & Marcia fame)

Sad to hear about Jennifer Bate, I saw her performing Messiaen's Le Livre du Saint Sacrement in Westminster Cathedral back in 2008, his centenary year. When I was a nipper I actually "sang" (mumbled, really) in a church choir presided over by her fearsome dad, at the same church where she played for Messiaen for the first time. Now the church has gone all happy-clappy Toronto Blessing of course, and would probably consider Messiaen's music near-Satanic.

Obit here: https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/choir_organ/organist-jennifer-bate-has-died/

(xp) RIP Bob ;_;

Rev. Joseph E Lowery

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/joseph-lowery-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare

Artist Alberto Uderzo, co-creator of the Asterix comics ;_;

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/27/albert-uderzo-obituary-asterix

(I never knew he was color blind. One of us, one of us)