Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

Gerard Houllier, at 73 :(

Oof

oh no :(

RIP Gerard. A good man.

I don't know if this is a false memory but I recall reading he managed to borrow the UEFA cup trophy he'd won with Liverpool for a night, so he could dance naked with it by moonlight in his garden!

Pauline Anna Strom:

pauline anna strom, 1946 - 2020 ~
a companion across time, our trans millenia consort
heartbroken to say goodbye to paula so suddenly
at least now at one with a world beyond ours to which she was connectedhttps://t.co/bQPzHHJydJ pic.twitter.com/iLnwDA25ol

— RVNG Intl. (@rvngintl) December 14, 2020

Ann Reinking

Ann Reinking, the Tony Award-winning actor, dancer and choreographer who is perhaps best known for playing the role of Roxie Hart in 1977’s #Chicago, has died at 71 https://t.co/nRtrCKupEW pic.twitter.com/m4yi366DLM

— Variety (@Variety) December 14, 2020

Aw man

noooo

also: childhood hero ie Grace from the Annie movie!

Wtf at Pauline Anna Strom... literally just came back with new music :(

With great sadness, WFUV shares the news that we have lost Rita Houston, our beloved program director and iconic DJ. Rita left this world this morning, December 15, 2020, in the loving company of her wife, Laura Fedele, and family. Full statement here: https://t.co/DB9p1Tkfay pic.twitter.com/xVb4sJbnDY

— WFUV Radio (@wfuv) December 15, 2020

whoa fuck i didn't know she was unwell
RIP

Sam Jayne of Love as Laughter. Never met him but tons of friends in common and saw countless posts about him being missing over the last week and his potentially being in my neighborhood. Wife txt'd me this afternoon that she saw someone that she thought was maybe him (loosely based on shared photos) so I took a long walk hoping to catch up with whomever she saw. Never saw anybody. Found out via social media later this evening that he had been found. No cause of death listed.

So sad about Sam. I also never met him, but Sea To Shining Sea and Laughter's Fifth, in particular, were brilliant. And this song found me at some point in my twenties when I really needed it, and I'll always be grateful to him for writing and recording it. What a loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us42JjSgjpI

friend of mine who's worked a lot of years in record label/radio worlds, including time at WFUV, just posted about what a fantastic mentor, role model, and active encourager Houston was to her personally. RIP.

i never saw rita being anything other than kind and enthusiastic about music to everyone, all the time.

Mike McPadden, a writer of my acquaintance. He started out in zine world, then worked for Hustler, then a celebrity-nudity mag (which was where we met - I worked on a different magazine published by the same company), then MrSkin.com, and recently had been writing books about movies (Heavy Metal Movies, Teen Movie Hell). I hadn't spoken to him in about 15 years, but I remember him as a good guy.

RIP. I only know him from podcast appearances (Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast and I think The Best Show?), but I keep meaning to pick up Teen Movie Hell.

Apparently it was a sudden heart attack and not the rona.

Albert Griffiths of the Gladiators

whoa fuck i didn't know she was unwell
RIP

Jeff Clayton, apparently, according to The Jazz Standard.

And John Clayton. Kidney cancer.

According to John Clayton, that is.

Albert Griffiths of the Gladiators

:( RIP

David Fitzgerald from the Telescopes.

Original Boba Fett Jeremy Bulloch

Pianist Stanley Cowell. A brilliant musician in his own right, and a co-founder of the awesome Strata-East label.

Damn

R.I.P.

yeah, that's a big one

Aw man, he was one of my favourite pianists. RIP.

If you haven't heard them, the solo/trio/quartet/quintet records he made for the Danish jazz label Steeplechase in the 1990s and 2000s are well worth checking out, such lovely music.

William Winter, probably the only good governor Mississippi has ever had, at 97.

Peter Lamont, production designer on 18 James Bond movies (and a couple of James Cameron's too)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/peter-lamont-legendary-production-designer-on-bond-films-and-titanic-dies-at-91

Rosalind Knight, star of a couple of early Carry Ons and most recently Horrible Grandma in Friday Night Dinner. Could have sworn she died earlier in the year but evidently not.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/20/rosalind-knight-dead-carry-on-and-friday-night-dinner-star-dies-at-87-13780833/

Maybe thinking of Margaret Nolan? Not been a good year for Carry On actresses.

Though, I guess you’d have a hard time mixing up Rosalind Knight and Margaret Nolan, Carry On credits aside.

No, and I wasn't thinking of Frances Cuka either.

Ah man, too bad about Lamont but a full life lived. We've been going through the Bonds all year via a Blu-ray set -- all the commentaries and documentaries and etc. -- and he was a good reliable source of all kinds of stories, and the quality of the work showed.

KT Oslin

https://musicrow.com/2020/12/breaking-iconic-singer-songwriter-k-t-oslin-passes/

Also Chad Stuart from Chad & Jeremy:

Goodbye Chad Stuart. Chad & Jeremy made so many great, understated pop singles in the 60s, almost all ignored in the UK but big in the US, like this one: https://t.co/Y8dkNyk9WV

— bob stanley (@rocking_bob) December 21, 2020

Via author/musician Ned Sublette's newsletter: Israel Berriel González died of a heart attack in Jovellanos, Cuba Dec 18. A top Cuban rumba & ritual singer/composer of Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, & previously w/Afro Cuba de Matanzas, Berriel was born on Sept 21, 1937

I saw that on social media. RIP.

Before I forget, as I recall we lost two ILX0rs this past year, Ρεμπετολογια and Morbius, please correct me if I am wrong. Not enough for a maudlin montage but still something to think about.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-55400987

Margaret Tebbit, probably the most famous victim of the 1984 Brighton bomb.

Kevin Greene

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30575423/hall-famer-kevin-greene-third-all-sacks-dies-58

Claude Brasseur

https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2020/12/22/l-acteur-claude-brasseur-est-mort_6064228_3382.html

Al Milgrom, at the center of Minneapolis film culture back to the fifties. 98 y/o and had released 3 films in the last 5 years. Had a walk on role in Tuscaloosa earlier this year and was still making screenings until the pandemic hit.

https://www.startribune.com/godfather-of-the-minnesota-film-scene-al-milgrom-dies-at-98/573453051/

Stella Tennant, British supermodel, 50.

She was a charming interviewee and this is knocking all my fashion friends for six.

jesus, only 50

33 iirc