Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

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

Artist John Outterbridge has passed at 87.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/john-outterbridge-dead-1934150

Leslie West of Mountain.

Broadway musical theater star Rebecca Luker
https://www.playbill.com/article/the-theatre-community-remembers-rebecca-luker

John "Ecstasy" Fletcher, who co-founded the legendary hip-hop group Whodini

Pour one out for the freaks.

Oh shame, RIP.

Damn, Leslie West :(

howard is gonna be so sad

always happy to tell my Ecstasy story. Summer during high school I interned at a recording studio in NJ called House of Music. I spent a lot of time watching MTV waiting for the phone to ring. It was the summer of House of Pain. One day the phone rang. I ran and answered "House of Pain!" and the guy on the other end went "House of Pain? Jump Around! Jump Around!"

It was Ecstasy from Whodini.

Anyway they worked with Thomas Dolby and Conny Plank and the Willesden Dodgers and were classic.

SF author James Gunn, 97! First stories published in 1949, so one of the last - if not THE last - of the (so-called) "Golden Age" writers?

https://locusmag.com/2020/12/james-gunn-1923-2020/

RIP. I think I knew of him more as an editor, teacher and SF historian.

Wondering if The Road to Science Fiction is available as an eBook? Okay I see that the first volume is.

Which has been available for a while and is really only a prehistory. But looks like Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction is also available, which looks pretty good.

Prolific horror writer Guy N Smith - his best-known work:

https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1374194763l/4960402.jpg

Also champion pipe smoker, RIP

Ivry Gitlis, Israeli violinist, 98. RIP. :(

Don’t say “RIP” for Jewish ppl plz

“his memory for a blessing” if you like

what

What do you mean “what”

https://forward.com/fast-forward/454883/jewish-twitter-claps-back-at-christian-inflected-condolences-for-rbg/

I mean maybe it’s a misguided thing to be sensitive about but

hi, a jew here: "jewish twitter" doesn't represent me or anyone I know, pls don't let malicious ppl cajole you into thinking you can't speak to us like you would speak to anyone else, 'rip' is a completely fine thing to say.

Ivry Gitlis was on the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, and Scott Walker's TV show.

John Maltby, British sculptor and studio potter, 84.

Stella Tennant, dead-eyed 90s model

Already mentioned by suzy, of course

Sorry, suzy, missed the scroll-up.

John Edrich.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/dec/25/john-edrich-former-england-and-surrey-batsman-dies-aged-83

Michael Alig

heroin od

the first time I watched the Party Monster doc it was so wild I thought it must have been a made up docu-drama

K.C. Jones:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/25/us/kc-jones-death-spt-trnd/index.html

Legend

People you thought were dead and now they are, latest instalment. George Blake, 98.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/george-blake-mi6-spy-cold-war-double-agent-dies-aged-98

Scottish journalist and reporter Donald J MacDonald, 60.

https://news.stv.tv/opinion/donald-john-macdonald-an-appreciation

Musto on Alig

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-michael-alig-i-knew-club-kid-killer-and-mystery?ref=home