Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

"I Can See Clearly Now" was sort of the light at the end of the tunnel in relation to "Slippin' Into Darkness" and "Smiling Faces" and all those great downers from the early '70s.

I Can See Clearly Now is a beautiful track, RIP Johnny.

Also this one which Quiet Village 'covered'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cw6ZGNl128

Bad week for reggae pioneers: producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee has died at the age of 79

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/07/bunny-striker-lee-jamaican-reggae-producer-dies-aged-79

man nash AND bunny is a blow, RIP

President Gnash Up the Resident

gospel/blues artist Reverend John Wilkins, son of Reverend Robert Wilkins.

https://vimeo.com/2200674

Man I'm sad to hear about Johnny Nash. "Clearly Now" always fucks me up, just two days ago I was in the pharmacy and it came on and I messaged my group chat "this song, it always blindsides me, it's so perfect". There is something about his approach to "writing a positive song" where there's an acknowledgement of past trials, it is the most resonant optimistic song I've ever heard

Well put.

that's how I feel about "Lean on Me" but we did that thread already lol

RIP

X-post - here’s an obit fro gospel blues guitarist Reverend John Wilkins

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2020/10/06/rev-john-wilkins-obit-dies-memphis-music-blues-gospel/5902177002/

Thanks for that.

pierre kezdy from naked raygun and strike under

Roger's brother and producer in his own right, Gene Corman

Film Producer Gene Corman, Brother of Roger Corman, Dies at 93 https://t.co/JWcgcX12VX

— Variety (@Variety) October 9, 2020

Such intriguing credits!

Producer of Norman Jewison's F.I.S.T., William Witney's DARKTOWN STRUTTERS, Sam Fuller's THE BIG RED ONE, Paul Bartel's PRIVATE PARTS, George Armitage's HIT MAN and VIGILANTE FORCE. A strong, visionary complement to his legendary brother. https://t.co/pyWnVmCD8c

— Marc Edward Heuck (@the_hoyk) October 9, 2020

93, quite an innings

Hit Man is unique and amazing, a rare instance of the studio quickly remaking an owned property, in this case a Blaxploitation version of Jack's Return Home, filmed two years prior in Britain as Get Carter.

Pitching Legend & Pretzel Target Whitey Ford

Darktown Strutters is one of my fave films if only for this musical scene at 38.55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m11sYXZarko

The Dramatics!

Margaret Nolan, British actress maybe best remembered from Carry On films but probably most famous as the body in the Goldfinger titles and poster.

Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. Hot take alert: I didn’t mind him and Jon Miller on ESPN

oh man, my favorite Big Red Machine player

Ronald Forfar, probably only known as Freddie Boswell in Bread but in the background of more things than you'd think and was good in the Nightmare Man.

Roberta McCain (John McCain's mother), 108.

she died of a broken heart after getting knocked back by the resident of that sarcophagus they exhumed last week ; ;

Jon Gibson, founding member of the Phillip Glass Ensemble and notable player on a lot of minimalist compositions

RIP, I loved his playing on Glass's 70s recordings. This Terry Jennings composition from his In Good Company album is very nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XZCSS9P7o

Tom Kennedy, US game show host 1960s-1980s incl Name That Tune 1974-1981

RIP. That show used to fascinate and mystify me. Couldn’t tell how one could recognize a melody from three notes played out of tempo on a piano. Always assumed most people got the answers from the written clue.

Yeah, he, Bob Barker and Peter Marshall were kinda my go-to game show gods at the height of my watching such things in the late 70s/early 80s, and Name That Tune was an absolute favorite. (I did know about Trebek then; thanks to the last revival of High Rollers; some days it feels like I was the only person in the world -- I definitely think the only kid in the world -- who remembers regularly watching both that and David Letterman's late morning show when it ran.)

Y u braek Gene Rayburn's heart?

I don't remember the disco version of the show.

From his Wikipedia page:

In July 2005, Kennedy and his brother Jack Narz, were co-recipients of the Game Show Congress' Bill Cullen Award for Lifetime Achievement.[7] Cullen was a brother-in-law to Narz and Kennedy.[citation needed]

xpost Yeah, Gene should be in there too. Not least for this, indirectly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGA1c0ZA2m8

That is kind of awesome, trying not to think too much about Richard Dawson being in a non-canonical seat.

yes and to be really obsessive about it, Fanny Flagg and Betty White would not likely be on the same show since they are both "bottom right" seat stars

Right! I don't totally remember but it seems to me from quick search that Nipsey Russell was an upper left seat.

Richard Dawson pretty much held down that bottom center for an eternity as far as I can remember, although I see some images of Dick Martin in that seat as well.

upper left = comedian
bottom left = eye candy (people like Lee Meriweather)
bottom right = funny lady or kook

btw two misspellings in that screen shot - should be Nipsey and Fannie

and I misspelled Meriwether

Excellent analysis! Trying to remember where Neil Simon’s wife would sit.

Good catches both. Perhaps the mistakes can be attributed to the far future robot’s imperfect knowledge or memory of our advanced civilization.

Come post that on:People whose names are hard to spell

To answer my question: I see Elaine Joyce seated on the bottom right, ceding the bottom left seat to Dick Martin's wife, Dolly, she of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Hey, probably one for the other thread #MoreThanOneThread.

I've had Jon Gibson's "two solo pieces" LP on regular rotation for most of the year, fantastic record, RIP!

TV's Conchata Ferrell

https://deadline.com/2020/10/conchata-ferrell-dead-two-and-a-half-men-co-star-77-1234596750/

Ed Benguiat, American typographer, 92.

Rhonda Fleming, 97. Married six times!

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/17/rhonda-fleming-queen-of-technicolor-in-the-1940s-and-50s-dies-aged-97

Just saw on fb that Bob Biggs, founder of Slash Records, has died.

"BOB BIGGS has died after a long illness. Bob founded the Los Angeles-based Slash Records label in 1978 with the "Lexicon Devil" 7" by The Germs. He stayed at the helm of Slash until its first dissolution in 1996, later followed by a brief re-emergence as BiggMassive Records in the early '00s..."

Rhonda Fleming, 97. Married six times!

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/17/rhonda-fleming-queen-of-technicolor-in-the-1940s-and-50s-dies-aged-97🕸

What’s that one she is in with Arlene Dahl? Slightly Scarlet. I saw it once at The Film Forum– Arlene Dahl was there for a Q&A, I think, unless I am misremembering and that was one of her other films – and Geoffrey O’Brien told me it was one of his favorite movies, although I’ll bet he says the about every movie.

Country Singer-Songwriter Johnny Bush