Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

get disappointed every time I remember this isn't a thread abuot the band.

every month of every year for over a decade

Vern Rumsey of Unwound, Long Hind Legs, much more.

Incredible person:

https://www.haaretz.com/amp/israel-news/rabbi-adin-steinsaltz-groundbreaking-talmud-translator-dies-at-83-1.9055017?

Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher noted for his theory of technology and commitment to left-wing politics, 68. RIP.

This one hurts. :(

Wayne Fontana.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/07/wayne-fontana-game-of-love-dies

RIP.

Jan Savage, guitarist for The Seeds.

Oh no, RIP Jan, love the Seeds.

holy heck, this bit from the wayne fontana obit:

Fontana recovered from problems with alcohol in the 1970s and returned to performing, including in nostalgia revue shows, but experienced mental health problems later in life and was diagnosed with a paranoid illness. He was arrested on an arson charge in 2005 after setting fire to a car owned by a bailiff who had come to his house for an unpaid congestion charge fine, and who was inside the car as it was set alight. He faced a possible 14 years in prison, though was eventually sentenced to 11 months, which had already been served.

... beat you to it on the Wikipedia Unusual Details thread.

ah, didn't see that! anyway, poor guy. he seemed to just miss out on major success after getting that first sniff of it - leaving the mindbenders right before 'groovy kind of love', also his former bandmates going on to become 10cc, meanwhile his career just totally stiffed

Truly a bent mind. RIP

Oh no, RIP Jan, love the Seeds.

Seconded, a real shame.

permanent-state warmonger Brent Scowcroft

Pianist Leon Fleisher, who lost then regained the use of his right hand much later in life, died last Monday

All his work is incredible but I’d seek out “all the things you are” if you want to start somewhere.

Martin Birch, producer and engineer of classic HM. Deep Purple, Rainbow, Sabbath, Whitesnake, BOC and Iron Maiden amongst others. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/10/martin-birch-producer-for-iron-maiden-black-sabbath-and-more-dies-aged-71

A guy who literally shaped a slew of my listening without me ever knowing who he was. A weird but essential fame.

I fucking adore the job he did on those 2 BOC records

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/05/899489411/helen-jones-woods-groundbreaking-female-trombonist-has-died-from-covid-19

Helen Jones Woods, who played trombone with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a history-making all-female big band that toured widely during World War II, died of COVID-19 on July 25 in Sarasota, Fla. She was 96....In addition to their pioneering role as women on the jazz circuit, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm were an interracial band in the era of Jim Crow. Their extensive itinerary through the South, where they traveled by sleeper bus, reportedly inspired jazz piano giant Earl Hines to call them "the first Freedom Riders." They also toured Europe, playing in occupied Germany for American soldiers — both white and Black, though not at the same time.

As a Black musician, Woods endured mistreatment and indignity on the road. "Music broke her heart," says Hughes. "In the '30s and '40s, and even the '50s, which was the last time she played, they wouldn't get paid regularly. They couldn't find housing accommodations."...After the Sweethearts disbanded in 1949, Woods joined the Omaha Symphony, only to be fired after her first performance. Her father, who had a darker complexion, came to pick her up, which prompted symphony management to realize she was Black. This was the last straw for Woods, who chose to end her musical career. She became a registered nurse, spending the next 30 years devoted to nursing and social work.

Bernard Bailyn, author of 'The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution,' passed away a few days ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/books/bernard-bailyn-dead.html

RIP Martin Birch, what a fkn giant

Do we have a thread for him?

Holy shit, Trini Lopez. I only say holy shit because I just heard his version of "If I Had a Hammer" on the radio yesterday and thought, huh, Trini Lopez. His nephew played drums in Bedhead.

Aw Trini! He was a parental favorite when I was v little

Sumner Redstone.

Sumner Redstone has died https://t.co/e80491Yzjw

— Silvia Killingsworth (@silviakillings) August 12, 2020

I didn't really know about this man but this is amazing

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/sumner-redstone-communicates-with-an-ipad-programmed-with-a-profanity.html

Gideon Yago, who always came off like a smarmy, punchable asshole on MTV, has posted a Twitter thread very much worth reading. I'll just quote it all.

A couple thoughts on the passing of Sumner Redstone, my old boss and the mogul behind Viacom/MTV Networks. There is a gaping hole in his obituaries right now and it is about a historic exploitation of freelance labor in broadcasting. Not a single obituary mentions it, so... I figured I'd dive in. If you read Redstone's obituaries right now, the most repeated tropes are how he coined the phrase 'content is king', discussions of his famous corporate battles/buy-outs and salacious family lawsuits. Here's Variety ... a lot of ink gets spilled about his hard-nosed business style, his sexual picadillos, even his iPad that said only 'yes', 'no' and 'fuck you' show up. But what isn't discussed is how Mr. 'Content Is King' got his 'content'. Viacom Networks (MTV, BET, Comedy Central, CMT), the engine that drove Redstone's media empire was almost entirely built on 'reality', 'live' and 'free' content. Which is to say, Redstone's genius was finding a way to pipe content made and paid for by other people (music labels, comedy clubs) on to cable. And to fill the gap with non-union, unprotected 'perma-lance' innovation in-house. Reality and music television was just union-busting. Plain and simple. 'My Super Sweet 16'? A PA came up with that. 'Jersey Shore'? Just a rip-off of a True Life pitched by an AP. There was no IP ownership. No health-care. And Redstone's bet was freelance 20 year olds wouldn't have the stones to organize or sue... which, for decades they didn't. It starved a generation of workers out of wages, health-care and residuals. And it had a corollary of making the cable broadcast industry whiter and more upper-middle/upper class. Because who else could afford to work in New York under these conditions without parental subsidy? And at the time, Viacom kept posting quarter after quarter of record profits. So why is Redstone's anti-union, anti-labor content playbook scrubbed from his final obituary? No fucking idea... but it's a legacy worth noting. He made reality TV, even forced up its content on CBS when he bought CBS, because Mr. Content Is King never thought content was worth paying for. So rest in peace, Mr. Redstone. You cost a lot of my friends a lot of sweat and a lot of years ... shout-out to all my Viacom alums, who got paid peanuts, fired every 11 months and rehired days later to avoid being paid health benefits and had their ideas stolen. I see you and I love you all. END

i know a few ilxors who might be able to speak to the perils of working with Redstone if they felt like it but that para rings pretty true.

Damn, for a sec I thought Gideon Yago died

me too

scrolled by the SR news and had my usual thought re moguls: "too late to do any good'

Dude, you’re dead. Let it go. https://t.co/py5U7h60fJ

— Mitch Benn🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@MitchBenn) August 13, 2020

Another ex-MTVer weighs in:

Sumner Redstone died. Good. I wish he coulda taken Sirulnick with him.

— Iann Robinson (@iannrobinson) August 13, 2020

Guitarist Julian Bream, 87.

Oh no, RIP.

Will post this again for the umpteenth time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4f8fej9Sqo

oh no! i have about 30 of his records, all bought from charity shops over the years, lots of lovely music on those

this one is great:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/615V+7ocJtL._SS500_.jpg

some nice footage of him playing badminton with hans werner henze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-aWqfQu8Y

Kurt Luedtke, journalist and screenwriter (Absence of Malice, Out of Africa)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/08/09/kurt-luedtke-former-free-press-editor-and-oscar-winning-writer-dies/3315562001/

Just rewatched Absence of Malice within the past two weeks--solid film.

RIP Julian Bream. :(

xpost

Thanks, Morbs for posting that particular obit for Kurt Luedtke. He was my uncle so I felt weird about posting it myself, but that obit is the best one I've found online for him yet so I'm glad to maybe direct a few more eyeballs towards it. He would have particularly appreciated how they didn't make any mention of Random Hearts, which was a film he never had much faith in and just did as a solid for Sydney Pollack, and instead it mentions both Rain Man and Schindler's List, both of which he didn't get formal credit for but probably could have if he wanted to as, at least according to him, most of what wound up in both movies was his work (of course, both also wound up then winning best screenplay Oscars, too). His split with Spielberg on Schindler's List was a particular sore spot as he spent over 4 years working on it, but just couldn't square up his own research on Schindler (which largely revealed him in an unflattering, self-serving light) with Spielberg's desire to lionize him with all those big, showy speeches towards the end (none of which ever happened in real life). Ever the truth seeking newspaperman, he just couldn't put his name on something that he felt was dishonest and I always really respected him for it. He truly was a one of a kind guy who I always really looked up to growing up and he will be missed.

Wow. I'm sorry for your loss.

A friend has just pointed out that a bunch of British people of a certain age already have a strong attraction to a Julian Bream piece: https://youtu.be/gt-gTDF32gQ

RIP J Bream. I often return to those BBC Masterclasses of his on YouTube - he's intense and funny and of course the technique is wonderful to see broken down, up close.

informative background on luedtke!

Pete Way, of UFO and Fastway

https://loudwire.com/pete-way-ufo-death/

aw rip Pete

"This girl, she didn't know where she was gonna go or what she was gonna do. Maybe she'd meet up with a character. I was really hopin' things would work out for her. She was a good friend of mine."

Rest in peace, Linda Manz. pic.twitter.com/Dhrl7IYlDt

— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) August 15, 2020

She was the best. The Gummo tap scene remains one of my favorite movie scenes of all time