Tag: Obituary

Closing Thought–18Sep20

50 years ago today….the music truly ceased.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of rock legend Jimi Hendrix….

Hendrix was born in Seattle in 1942, and was raised mainly by his father Al, since his mother struggled with family life.

Already as a child, Jimi was crazy about playing the guitar. Coming from a poor background, he never considered going to college, and joined the army in 1961 instead, a way for young Black men to make a decent living.

But after spending only one year with the paratroopers, Hendrix broke his ankle during a jump and had to be discharged from duty. That’s when Hendrix started to accompany different R&B bands. 

He went on tour with the Isley Brothers, Little Richard and many other stars of those days; his turf was the so-called Chitlin’ Circuit, an association of African-American dance clubs dotted across the eastern and southern United States. His start in the music business was anything but easy, yet Hendrix got to learn from some of the best and fiercest performers of his time.

https://www.dw.com/en/jimi-hendrix-still-a-legend-50-years-after-his-death/a-54911395

I was fortunate enough to see Jimi in a club called the “Oleo Strut”…..the club held about 200 people and it cost me 2 dollars to get in the door.

Let me close out the week with a few Hendrix songs….and remember.

All Along The Watch Tower…..

Hey Joe……

Jimi has been missed for 50 years….without his guitar we wind up with crap like Nickleback.

Jime Hendrix…..1942-1970……

The Real Day The Music Died.

“lego ergo scribo”

Say Goodbye To A Legend

Yesterday the world got some sad news…..rock legend, Little Richard had died…..

Reactions are rolling in to the death of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard, who died Saturday at 87, the AP reports. Among them:

  • “I’m so saddened to hear about the passing of Little Richard, he was the biggest inspiration of my early teens and his music still has the same raw electric energy when you play it now as it did when it first shot through the music scene in the mid 50’s,” Mick Jagger wrote on social media. “… I will miss you Richard, God bless.”
  • “Absolutely heartbroken this morning at hearing the news of the passing of my brother & friend, the great Little Richard,” Quincy Jones wrote on social media. “From our connection through our mutual mentor, Bumps Blackwell, to recording ‘Money Is’ & ‘Do It To It’ for the $ soundtrack, to doin’ the hang-thang at countless awards shows & industry events, every moment spent in Richard’s company was a thrill.”
  • “I just heard the news about Little Richard and I’m so grieved. He was my shining star and guiding light back when I was only a little boy. His was the original spirit that moved me to do everything I would do,” Bob Dylan tweeted. “…Of course he’ll live forever. But it’s like a part of your life is gone.”
  • “With his exuberance, his creativity, and his refusal to be anything other than himself, Little Richard laid the foundation for generations of artists to follow. We are so lucky to have had him. Sending all my love to his family and friends today,” Michelle Obama tweeted.
  • “Without a doubt—musically, vocally and visually—he was my biggest influence,” Elton John wrote on social media. “Seeing him live in my teens was the most exciting event in my life at that point. Goosebumps, electricity and joy came from every pore. His records still sound fresh and the opening few seconds of ‘Tutti Frutti’ are the most explosive in music history. … #RIP Little Richard.”
  • “I served soul food brunch to Little Richard every Sunday for a year while waitressing at Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch in LA. I was a college student. He tipped me a crisp $100 bill each week on a $75 breakfast with friends. This was 30 years ago. Helped me so much. God rest his soul,” filmmaker Ava DuVernay tweeted.
  • “#LittleRichard was a genius, pure and simple. He paved the way for (code for he was ripped off by)so many artists. Watch his YouTube performances to see what I mean. I met him on Down and Out in Beverly Hills”, in which he was hilarious. What a legacy. God bless you, Richard,” Bette Midler tweeted.

May he rest in peace…..

Be Well….Be Safe…….

“lego ergo scribo”

Pussy Galore Is Dead!

I am a huge James Bond fan….and one of my favorite characters was in the book Goldfinger and her name was Pussy Galore.

The actress was best known for her role as Cathy Gale in the 1960s TV series The Avengers and as Pussy Galore in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger with Sean Connery as 007. Her family said in a statement to The Guardian: ‘It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman aged 94. ‘She died peacefully of natural causes at her home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family. She was much loved and will be greatly missed by her two children Barnaby and Lottie, and grandchildren Daisy, Oscar, Olive and Toby.

‘As well as being a much-adored mother and grandmother, Honor was an actor of hugely prolific creative talent; with an extraordinary combination of beauty, brains and physical prowess, along with her unique voice and a dedicated work ethic, she achieved an unparalleled iconic status in the world of film and entertainment and with absolute commitment to her craft and total professionalism in all her endeavours she contributed to some of the great films and theatre productions of our times.’

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/06/avengers-star-bond-girl-honor-blackman-dies-aged-94-12517490/

She will be missed.

May she rest in peace…

“lego ergo scribo”

Know When To Fold Them

Sad news the lead singer in the 1960s group First Edition has passed away…you may know his as “The Gambler” or maybe better as Kenny Rogers.

Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country, and pop with hits like “Lucille,” “Lady,” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” died Friday night. He was 81. He died at home in Sandy Springs, Ga., his representative tells the AP, adding that Rogers was under hospice care and died of natural causes. The Houston-born performer with the husky voice and silver beard sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammys, and was the star of TV movies based on “The Gambler” and other songs, making him a superstar in the ’70s and ’80s. Rogers thrived for some 60 years before he retired from touring in 2017 at age 79. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer. Rogers was a five-time CMA Award winner and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

A true rags-to-riches story, Rogers was raised in public housing in Houston Heights with seven siblings. His breakthrough came when he was asked to join the New Christy Minstrels folk group in 1966, which re-formed as the First Edition. After the group broke up in 1974, Rogers started his solo career and found a big hit with the sad country ballad “Lucille” in 1977, which crossed over to the pop charts and earned Rogers his first Grammy. Suddenly a star, Rogers added hit after hit for more than a decade. “The Gambler,” the Grammy-winning story song, came out in 1978 and became his signature song, spawning a hit TV movie of the same name and several sequels. Over the years, Rogers worked often with female duet partners, most memorably Dolly Parton, with whom he performed “Islands in the Stream.” Rogers’ family is planning a private service “out of concern for the national COVID-19 emergency,” per a statement. A public memorial will be held at a later date.

May he Rest In Peace……

Please enjoy Kenny from the past….

 

 

Please enjoy your day……be well and be safe….

“lego ergo scribo”

Saying Goodbye To Kirk

With all the theatrics in politics these days news like this seem to be pushed under the carpet…..

We have lost an American cinematic royal…..

A man who might have been the biggest male movie star since World War II died Wednesday. His name was Kirk Douglas. “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” his son Michael Douglas wrote on Instagram, per the Hollywood Reporter. The actor known for his dimples and fierce gaze acted in a wide range of films, from The Bad and the Beautiful to Champion to Lust for Life and Paths of Glory. The three-time Oscar nominee (and recipient of an honorary Oscar in 1996) is also cherished in Hollywood for breaking the 1950s blacklist by crediting Dalton Trumbo for his screenplay on Spartacus, in which Douglas starred. He was also a political activist, family man, and charity benefactor, notes Variety.

His intense ambition was rooted in family. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in Amsterdam, NY, Douglas was the poor son of a ragman. He rose up by putting himself through university, served in the Navy, and returned to civilian life to act on Broadway and, soon after, in Hollywood. A rebel with strong opinions—and a reputation for being difficult—he started his own film company and made his own films. He was married twice and had four sons, who all went into the movie business. A 1996 stroke nearly led him to suicide, but he fought on. And on the big screen, he’s always a giant: “To me, acting is creating an illusion, showing tremendous discipline, not losing yourself in the character that you’re portraying,” he once wrote, per the New York Times. “The actor never gets lost in the character he’s playing; the audience does.”

I have watched Kirk Douglas movies most of my life……my favorites were The Vikings, Seven Days In May…..but most of them were great……

What were your favorites?

May he rest in peace.

“lego ergo scribo”

Composting!

I have been composting for years….it makes a great garden….but this composting post is something a little different.

I recall many years ago when I was asked where did I want to be buried when I pass along……I told the person that for all I cared they could run my body through a wood chipper and spread my remains on a wheat field and then name a loaf of bread after me.

I was joking back in those days….but I have been reading about a new “service” for the deceased…..composting.

The world’s first funerary human composting facility is slated to open in the spring of 2021 after Washington State lawmakers legalized the posthumous process earlier this year. Seattle-based company Recompose will be the first to offer “natural organic reduction,” a process that owner Katrina Spade says gently converts human remains – bones, teeth, and all – into organic soil.

“The transformation of human to soil happens inside our reusable, hexagonal Recomposition Vessels. When the process has finished, families will be able to take home some of the soil created, while gardens on-site will remind us that all of life is interconnected,” writes Recompose on its website.

The new-age funeral home celebrated the opening of its first location in a 1,720-square-meter (18,500-square-foot) building last month after legislators changed state law regarding after-death services, making Washington State the first to allow human composting, reported The Seattle Times. SB 5001 “Concerning human remains” was signed into law in May, recognizing “natural organic reduction” as an acceptable means of the disposition of bodies. The law is set to go into effect on May 1 of next year.

https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/worlds-first-funerary-human-composting-site-to-open-in-2021/

This process costs about the same as a cremation but less than the fancy funerals…..

It is something that I would consider as I grow older and older…..I want to leave a little something behind for my wife and my daughter and her family…..

My Saturday is a bit warmer so pruning is in order….MoMo will have to help and will make the process take longer than it should…..but I am use to it by now.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Death Of A Statesman

Sad news today….the death of one of the last statesmen left in the US Congress, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland….

Rep. Elijah Cummings died early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital due to complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office says. He was 68. A sharecropper’s son, Cummings became the powerful chairman of a House committee that investigated President Trump, and was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his black-majority district, which encompasses a large portion of Baltimore as well as more well-to-do suburbs. As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, including probes in 2019 relating to the president’s family members serving in the White House, the AP reports.

Cummings was born on Jan. 18, 1951. In grade school, a counselor told Cummings he was too slow to learn and spoke poorly, and he would never fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer. “I was devastated,” Cummings the AP in 1996. “My whole life changed. I became very determined.” It steeled Cummings to prove that counselor wrong. He became not only a lawyer, but one of the most powerful orators in the statehouse, where he entered office in 1983. He rose through the ranks of the Maryland House of Delegates before winning his congressional seat in a special election in 1996. The Baltimore archdiocese tweeted that Cummings “generously shared his God-given gifts and talents w/the people of his beloved city, state, and nation for so many years.”

Rep, Cummings will be sadly missed by the Congress and the nation…..our Congress have so few actual statesman…men/women of conviction and decency….

IST would like to offer our warmest feelings toward the Representative and his family……

May He Rest In Peace.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

Closing Thought–07Oct19 #2

In my younger days I was a huge fan of Cream…..Clapton, Bruce and Baker…..their music will live forever.

Sad news the drummer of Cream and Blind faith has died at 84…..

Ginger Baker, the volatile and propulsive British musician best known for his time with the power trio Cream, died Sunday at age 80, reports the AP. Baker wielded his blues power and jazz technique to help break open popular music and become one of the world’s most admired and feared musicians. With blazing eyes, orange-red hair, and a temperament to match, the London native ranked with The Who’s Keith Moon and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham as the embodiment of musical and personal fury. Using twin bass drums, Baker fashioned a pounding, poly-rhythmic style uncommonly swift and heavy that inspired and intimidated countless musicians. But every beat seemed to mirror an offstage eruption—whether his violent dislike of Cream bandmate Jack Bruce or his on-camera assault of a documentary maker, Jay Bulger, whom he smashed in the nose with his walking stick.

Baker and his many admirers saw him as a rounded, sophisticated musician—an arranger, composer, and student of the craft, absorbing sounds from around the world. “He was so unique and had such a distinctive personality,” Stewart Copeland of the Police said in 2013. “Nobody else followed in his footsteps. Everybody tried to be John Bonham … but it’s rare that you hear anybody doing the Ginger Baker thing.” Baker teamed with Eric Clapton and Bruce in the mid-1960s to become Cream—one of the first supergroups and first power trios. The band broke up in 1968. He endured his old enemy, Bruce, when Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and for Cream reunion concerts a decade later. Baker performed regularly in his 70s despite health issues. No stranger to vice and not a fan of modesty, he called his memoir Hellraiser: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Drummer. “John Bonham once made a statement that there were only two drummers in British rock ‘n’ roll; himself and Ginger Baker,” Baker wrote. “My reaction to this was, ‘You cheeky little bastard!'”

May he Rest In Peace.

In closing a little known album…Ginger Baker’s Air Force….

I Read, I Wrote You Know

An Afghanistan Update

I reported earlier today about the death of another American soldier….at the time his name had not been released……that has changed and I would like to update my report……

A Special Forces soldier, SFC Jeremy Griffin, was killed on Monday, September 16, 2019 in Afghanistan. He died of wound from small arms fire while engaged in combat operations in Wardak province, Afghanistan. He was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 1st special Forces Group based at Joint Base Lewis-McCord, Washington.

Jeremy Griffin was born in Cristobal, Panama in December 1978. He enlisted into the U.S. Army in 2004. He deployed to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2009 with the 82nd Airborne Division. He had also served with the 7th Special Forces Group. After attending and graduating from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2014 as a Special Forces Communication Sergeant he was assigned to 1st SFGA.

Our thoughts go out to the family.

May Sgt. Griffin Rest In Peace.

Rutger Hauer–R.I.P.

Closing Thought–25July19

Yesterday we lost an icon…..Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer)…..Hauer’s most notable role as the homicidal android ot he gallant knight in Ladyhawke,,,,,for me Nighthawks was an iconic movie as well….but now he is gone….but not forgotten…..

Dutch film actor Rutger Hauer, who specialized in menacing roles, including a memorable turn as a murderous android in Blade Runner opposite Harrison Ford, has died. He was 75. Hauer’s agent, Steve Kenis, says the actor died July 19 at his home in the Netherlands, the AP reports. Hauer’s roles included a terrorist in Nighthawks with Sylvester Stallone, a former CEO of Wayne Enterprises in Batman Begins, and one of the heroes in the big-budget 1985 fantasy Ladyhawke. He won a supporting-actor Golden Globe award in 1988 for Escape from Sobibor.

I enjoyed all his movies…..my favorite ending to a film was one the Hauer starred in….a modern version of a 60s TV Western “Wanted Dead Or Alive” ……..

In the modern version Randall had to track down a terrorist played by KISS front man Gene Simmons….after lots of twists and turns Randall captures his man and sticks a grenade in the handcuffed baddie’s mouth and leads him to the cops by the pin….

He tells the officials on hand that his fee was to go to the widow ofm his friend and his million dollar bonus goes to…..he pauses….looks at the terrorists an says as he pulls the pin “F*ck the bonus” and walks away as the grenade goes off.  Great Ending!  Must be seen to appreciate!

Good bye old friend….you will be missed.