by JTContinental Tennis writer Tom Perrotta died Jan 6 after a 4 year battle with a brain tumor
by Deuce Tommy Lasorda, manager of some great Dodger teams, has died at age 93.
by ponchi101 A slightly controversial man, outside of baseball.
I always "disliked" him because he was, after all, the manager for the Dodgers, and there is only one team that I root against more than L.A. Well, no, two.
But he seems to have been a decent man.
May the universe welcome him.
by mmmm8
JTContinental wrote: ↑Sat Jan 09, 2021 7:31 am
Tennis writer Tom Perrotta died Jan 6 after a 4 year battle with a brain tumor
Very sad news.
by martini4me I had to post this just because of the headline.
Phil Spector, Famed Music Producer and Convicted Murderer, Dies at 81
by ti-amie Spector was one of the innovative music producers/arrangers ever. His wall of sound wasn't for everyone but when it worked it worked.
And he was a convicted murderer.
by JazzNU My cousin, who was a music executive, was good friends with him. lol He was shocked about the murder charge like everyone else, though I believe his quote about that was something like "well he did always have a temper." Innovative music producer indeed. My cousin always spoke highly of the work they did together.
by mmmm8 In more tennis-related news, Bob Brett (one-time coach of Becker, Ivanisevic, Medvedev, Ancic and Cilic) died on January 5 at 67 (cancer)
by shtexas
mmmm8 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:57 am
In more tennis-related news, Bob Brett (one-time coach of Becker, Ivanisevic, Medvedev, Ancic and Cilic) died on January 5 at 67 (cancer)
May he rest in peace
by JazzNU This one hurts. A lot. One of my dad's heroes. May he rest in peace.
by patrick RIP
by ti-amie When I think about Hank Aaron I think of that kid standing on the train platform leaving home to pursue his dreams. That look of determination.
Photo: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, courtesy Ed Scott
There was also this in. his professional life:
RIP
by Fastbackss This one is bad - for sport and for society. It's so bad it feels like should have come in 2020
by ti-amie I think 2021 will start in March this year.
by ponchi101 The Braves have to re-name their stadium The Hank Aaron stadium. At least for this season.
One of the few men that can be named in the same sentence with Jackie Robinson, Ali, Kareem and Owens.
May the universe welcome him back.
by Suliso Larry King has died from Covid at age 87. The only anchor from CNN I still remember.
by ponchi101 I was not very high in his interviewing style, but he was certainly an icon. A loss for the news community.
by Deuce I've just learned that Don Sutton, Dodger pitcher from 1966 to 1980, died of cancer on January 18th - just 11 days after his Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda died.
That's 3 baseball greats who've died this month - and the month isn't over yet.
by ponchi101 Missed that one, indeed. The Dodgers will have a slow and not very happy opening day ceremony.
by JazzNU Ah man. I loved Cloris.
by JazzNU And learned something new about her today! I had no idea she was in the Miss America pageant.
by ponchi101 Goodbye, Frau Blücher
by skatingfan Raising Hope didn't do very well in the ratings, but she was so much fun to watch in anything she did.
by the MozThe Last Picture Show is a brilliant film
by JazzNU A legend. Rest in power Queen Cicely.
by shtexas Two acting legends lost. May they both rest in peace.
by dryrunguy I'm crushed by both of these. Cicely... Such a treasure. And Cloris... One of the funniest scenes I've ever seen is in the North Avenue Irregulars when she breaks her nails.
I'll share a clip of Cicely shortly. One of my favorites.
by dryrunguy I can't find a good clip of my favorite Cicely scene. It's from Fried Green Tomotoes where she laments how a white person won't eat next to Black people... "But he eats eggs... Shoots straight outta chicken's ass!"
RIP to both.
by JazzNU Legendary coach. An even better man. RIP Coach Chaney.
by ti-amie OMG
RIP sir.
by JazzNU Poor Screech. RIP
by ti-amie He made a lot of people laugh. May he RIP
by ptmcmahon My brothers, who watched way more than me, are devastated. The kids have watched a lot as well (one of our go to DVDs for van for long trips) but the news didn't affect them at all... they're cold
by dave g I just saw that Hal Halbrook died today. Some people knew him from his on-stage performances of Mark Twain. I remember him from before that because of some show/movie on television.
by the Moz Not to speak ill of the dead, but I'll take Leachman Tyson Holbrook as my law of threes. Sorry Screech.
by ponchi101 As John Allen Paulos says: It always happens in three's. If you wait long enough.
by the Moz Captain Sir Tom Moore has passed. A hero in the truest sense of the word. For those not familiar with his story it is worth a look. We should all be harnessing a little of his energy these days.
the Moz wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:11 pm
Captain Sir Tom Moore has passed. A hero in the truest sense of the word. For those not familiar with his story it is worth a look. We should all be harnessing a little of his energy these days.
the Moz wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:11 pm
Captain Sir Tom Moore has passed. A hero in the truest sense of the word. For those not familiar with his story it is worth a look. We should all be harnessing a little of his energy these days.
I'm glad he experienced some recognition and adoration before he passed, but very sad that it was, in the end, from COVID
by shtexas Too much. May they all rest in peace.
by Deuce
the Moz wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:11 pm
Captain Sir Tom Moore has passed. A hero in the truest sense of the word. For those not familiar with his story it is worth a look. We should all be harnessing a little of his energy these days.
It's odd to feel surprised when a 100 year old person dies... But this guy seemed kind of immortal.
May he live another 100 years in people's memories, passed from generation to generation.
by JazzNU
dave g wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:59 pm
I just saw that Hal Halbrook died today. Some people knew him from his on-stage performances of Mark Twain. I remember him from before that because of some show/movie on television.
Although I know he had quite the career, I think of him as Dixie Carter's husband, who used to come on Designing Women in a recurring role and then later took over as the lead on the Perry Mason movies after Raymond Burr passed. I do know him from many other (better) things, but that's always how I think of him first as that was my introduction to him.
by JazzNU
by JazzNU ^^ I only saw this yesterday. Jamie was the responsible for getting so many shows that I loved on the air. I hadn't heard about her stroke and coma at the end of last year. It's all very shocking. If you remember the Aaron Sorkin show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, you will recall that Amanda Peet played a young executive in charge of the programming on there, that role was inspired by Jamie. Unheard of to have not just a female head back then, but also one so young.
by mmmm8 I'd never heard of her before, but looks like she made a few of my favorite shows, mostly underrated ones, come to the screen.
by JTContinental Legendary actor Christopher Plummer has died "peacefully" at age 91. No cause of death was provided.
by ponchi101 A man that was very often underrated, although he has an EGOT.
His performance in BEGINEERS was indeed worthy of an Oscar (although I find that award meaningless in many occasions).
May the universe welcome him.
by ti-amie
by texasniteowl RIP. I'm going to have to dig out my bluray of Sound of Music this weekend (since I don't own it digitally yet).
by JazzNU You know 2021, we all had high hopes for you, but it's like you're trying to make sure you figure out a way to out-suck 2020.
RIP. I'll be listening to Edelweiss at least 20 times today.
by shtexas Not Christopher Plummer!
Cruel and sad year so far.
May he rest in peace
by ponchi101
JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 7:26 pmYou know 2021, we all had high hopes for you, but it's like you're trying to make sure you figure out a way to out-suck 2020.
RIP. I'll be listening to Edelweiss at least 20 times today.
So that is what is feeling wrong.
You are so right.
by dryrunguy No one ever mentions it among his roles, but my favorite Christopher Plummer role was in Delores Claiborne. His exchanges with Kathy Bates were golden. And I would argue he brought out the best in her.
RIP.
by ponchi101 This is going too fast.
Tony Trabert has passed at age 90. No causes mentioned so far.
From the news where I read it:
"Trabert went 106-7 in 1955, including a 38-match win streak, and captured 18 titles, including three majors. He lifted 10 trophies in a row at one stage and suffered his only Grand Slam loss of the year to Ken Rosewall in the semi-finals of the Australian championships."
Of course, he went pro soon after that, so we will never know how many Slams he could have won. He joined the Jack Kramer tour.
by Deuce
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:47 pm
This is going too fast.
Tony Trabert has passed at age 90. No causes mentioned so far.
From the news where I read it:
"Trabert went 106-7 in 1955, including a 38-match win streak, and captured 18 titles, including three majors. He lifted 10 trophies in a row at one stage and suffered his only Grand Slam loss of the year to Ken Rosewall in the semi-finals of the Australian championships."
Of course, he went pro soon after that, so we will never know how many Slams he could have won. He joined the Jack Kramer tour.
Trabert was a great player and a great commentator. My first memories of watching tennis are of Tony and Pat Summerall doing the commentary for U.S. Opens.
Trabert was also a Davis Cup Captain, and a mentor of sorts to John McEnroe.
by shtexas
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:47 pm
This is going too fast.
Tony Trabert has passed at age 90. No causes mentioned so far.
From the news where I read it:
"Trabert went 106-7 in 1955, including a 38-match win streak, and captured 18 titles, including three majors. He lifted 10 trophies in a row at one stage and suffered his only Grand Slam loss of the year to Ken Rosewall in the semi-finals of the Australian championships."
Of course, he went pro soon after that, so we will never know how many Slams he could have won. He joined the Jack Kramer tour.
I agree this is going too fast.
You always learned something when he did commentary.
by ponchi101 I was actually rooting for him when he beat Ali. One of the ultimate underdogs.
by ti-amie Leon Spinks was always the "villain" vs Ali. Apparently he'd been very sick for a long time. May he Rest in Peace
by dryrunguy And now... Mary Wilson of The Supremes.
by JazzNU
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:01 pm
And now... Mary Wilson of The Supremes.
2021 is apparently coming for legends. RIP Motown Goddess.
by ponchi101 Stop in the name of love. What a song.
May the universe welcome her.
by JazzNU Also, a huge loss to the NFL community today.
by ponchi101 Chick Corea has passed. 79 yo, a strange form of cancer
---0---
I "met him" once.
I was entering New Orleans, coming from a big tour of the American Agricultural landscape. As we were coming in, we heard on the radio that Corea would be playing that night at "Tapatini's". SRO.
We went there and he was playing with a new ensemble. Very nice, a nice little locale, and he would play some stuff and then let the band jam. He would go from table to table and sit down with everybody. And I mean everybody. And, HE WOULD DRINK OUR DRINKS . He did that all night long. In the end, he played very little, and we noticed that. Everybody actually paid for one of his drinks, which was what you had in the table.
But we had a great time. He was very funny, too.
The universe will welcome him gladly.
by ponchi101 One of the most controversial political figures in South America, Former Argentinean President Carlos Menem, has died.
There will be a lot of Argentineans crying, and a lot celebrating. He was truly a divisive figure.
by atlpam
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:52 am
Chick Corea has passed. 79 yo, a strange form of cancer
---0---
I "met him" once.
I was entering New Orleans, coming from a big tour of the American Agricultural landscape. As we were coming in, we heard on the radio that Corea would be playing that night at "Tapatini's". SRO.
We went there and he was playing with a new ensemble. Very nice, a nice little locale, and he would play some stuff and then let the band jam. He would go from table to table and sit down with everybody. And I mean everybody. And, HE WOULD DRINK OUR DRINKS . He did that all night long. In the end, he played very little, and we noticed that. Everybody actually paid for one of his drinks, which was what you had in the table.
But we had a great time. He was very funny, too.
The universe will welcome him gladly.
That would be Tipitina’s (I spent my college years in New Orleans)
by ponchi101 Most likely. If you spent your college days in N.O. I would trust you, not my memory.
It was a long time ago. My memory is not suspect; it is shot.
by atlpam
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:49 pm
Most likely. If you spent your college days in N.O. I would trust you, not my memory.
It was a long time ago. My memory is not suspect; it is shot.
Your guess was close enough for me to know the place you meant
The music and food were 2 of the best things about spending 4 years in NOLA.
So many legends lost in the past year.
by JTContinental Radio personality Rush Limbaugh has died at age 70, and that's all I'll say
by Suliso He could have "enlightened" American public for another 20 years.
by dryrunguy Good. And that's all I'll say. Proudly.
by JazzNU News from yesterday. Another legend. 2021 really sucks. RIP Mr. Jordan, you will forever be an inspiration.
by ti-amie RIP Vernon Jordan.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler is another boxer who outside of boxing, never got the accolades he deserved. May he RIP.
by JazzNU And FYI, that "loss" to Sugar Ray? Belongs in quotation marks. Many that know the sport better than me believe the fix was in as the powers that be wanted Sugar Ray to be the champion. Went the distance, went to a decision, and given to Sugar Ray even though most believe it was unquestionably Hagler that won the fight.
by ti-amie "Sugar Ray" Leonard was never as beloved as Hagler or others were, including the original "Sugar Ray" Robinson.
by Fastbackss
JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:01 pm
And FYI, that "loss" to Sugar Ray? Belongs in quotation marks. Many that know the sport better than me believe the fix was in as the powers that be wanted Sugar Ray to be the champion. Went the distance, went to a decision, and given to Sugar Ray even though most believe it was unquestionably Hagler that won the fight.
ESPN has article today talking about how Hagler retired on top. Leonard begged him to have a rematch and Hagler refused.
by ponchi101 Old enough to have seen the fight. It was robbery. The statistics for Hagler were outstanding, and Sugar Ray left the ring all bruised while Hagler looked alright.
Hagler did not hide his displeasure. I forget which older champion came to him and in front of everybody told him "You were robbed".
A brief moment in which it was not the heavy-weights that were the stars. Leonard, Duran, Hagler and Hearns, together with Mexican Pipino Cuevas, held the spotlight.
Farewell, Hagler.
by JazzNU 2021 has been rough. So, so many legends lost. One of the greatest to ever play the game. RIP Elgin.
by JazzNU
by JazzNU ^^ Hopefully that helps with explaining who Elgin Baylor was for those that don't know basketball that much. He was like a Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, Kareem, Magic, etc. of his era. Truly one the greatest the game has ever seen.
by ponchi101 Never saw him play but as you say, a true great one. No hesitation to put him in the Russell, Wilt, Jerry West group.
by Suliso
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:36 pm
Never saw him play but as you say, a true great one. No hesitation to put him in the Russell, Wilt, Jerry West group.
I've not researched basketball history so I didn't know him, but found this picture of him and two players I have certainly heard off (Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West).
by JazzNU
by ti-amie RIP
by mmmm8 Aw, I've always enjoyed him on screen, although I haven't seen much of his early career, when apparently he was one of the first Jewish actors to reach success without changing his last name.
RIP
by ponchi101 I remember enjoying terribly "A touch of class".
RIP.
by JazzNU Heartbroken. RIP
by mmmm8 Oh no! More recently, she's been fantastic in a voice role on Archer
by JazzNU
mmmm8 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:37 pm
Oh no! More recently, she's been fantastic in a voice role on Archer
Yeah, I'm not sure I want it to continue without her. Hard to imagine it working as well. That mother-son dynamic is such a big part of the show.
mmmm8 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:37 pm
Oh no! More recently, she's been fantastic in a voice role on Archer
Yeah, I'm not sure I want it to continue without her. Hard to imagine it working as well. That mother-son dynamic is such a big part of the show.
I don't think they can either. Woodhouse's role was easier to phase out. No Mallory = No Archer.
by mmmm8 There might be a season there of Archer pretending he can adult without Mother.
by ti-amie
mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:47 am
There might be a season there of Archer pretending he can adult without Mother.
Maybe
by ptmcmahon Isn't Archer finished? Or did I imagine that?
Guess I did. I didn't even know there was a season 11! Got something to watch next week now.
by the Moz Lindsay: “Did you enjoy your meal, Mom? You drank it fast enough.”
Lucille: “You want your belt to buckle, not your chair." "
by JazzNU
ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:10 pm
Isn't Archer finished? Or did I imagine that?
Guess I did. I didn't even know there was a season 11! Got something to watch next week now.
Probably because more than once we thought it was ending. Season 10 being the most expected definite end of the series. And then we got a Season 11. And it's been renewed for Season 12.
by JazzNU Happy she was able to live such a long, and hopefully fulfilling life. RIP
by the Moz Thanks for the fun book memories in grade school BC
by skatingfan LONDON — Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband and the longest-serving consort of any British monarch, has died at age 99.
Philip spent 65 years supporting the queen, retiring from his public role in 2017 and staying largely out of the view since. In his active years, he helped set a new course for the monarchy under a young queen, championing Britain itself, as well as environmental causes, science and technology.
Philip’s relationship with the young Princess Elizabeth began as a story of young love.
“We behave as though we had belonged to each other for years,” Elizabeth wrote in a letter to her parents shortly after they married.
Over the years, the queen acknowledged Philip’s deep influence on her, calling him her “strength and stay” in a speech on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997.
“I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know,” she said at the time.
The intensely private prince will likely be remembered for his early efforts to help modernize the royal family’s image during a time of great change for Britain and the world, especially at the outset of Elizabeth’s reign in 1952. He also developed a reputation for the occasional brusque comment and crass, if not racist jokes.
“The queen inherited from her father a model of monarchy that was very hands off, old-fashioned and slightly invisible,” said Sarah Gristwood, a historian and the author of “Elizabeth: The Queen and the Crown.”
“It wasn’t equipped to deal with a new media age, and Prince Philip played a huge role in moving it forward then.”
Philip helped bring the royals to life on television rather than through radio reports. He was the first member of the royal family to do a televised interview and he presented a show on a royal tour of the Commonwealth. He is also said to have had a hand in televising the queen’s coronation in 1953 and in organizing a groundbreaking 1969 television documentary about the family.
“He helped create the model of the British royal family that has enabled it to continue forward into the 21st century,” Gristwood said. “We may have lost sight of that now, but I hope we’ll remember him for it.”
Despite being born into a royal family, Philip’s early childhood was not typically royal.
Born on June 10, 1921, on the Greek island of Corfu, he was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Greece's king, Philip's uncle, was forced to abdicate when Philip was a baby, and the family fled to Paris, with Philip famously carried to safety in a crib made from an orange box.
At age 7, he moved to England, where he lived at Kensington Palace, now home to Prince William. Philip lived there with his paternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, and later attended Gordonstoun, a boarding school in Scotland.
At 18, Philip joined the Royal Navy and graduated from the Britannia Royal Naval College as a top cadet. He saw active duty from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, and in 1945 at the end of World War II, he was in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered.
Philip’s military career was truly central to his character, unlike perhaps other royals, according to Ashley Jackson, a professor of imperial and military history at King's College London.
“It’s easy to look at the military career of a royal male and see it as a rite of passage, but with Philip one needs to look beyond that,” he said. “He joined when he wasn't anywhere near marrying the future queen. This was a career path for a Greek prince,” he added. “This wasn’t a brief dalliance in the military. It’s important to note that he’s clearly an exceptional officer.”
Then known as Philip Mountbatten, he first met his cousin Elizabeth in 1934 at a family wedding. The two are both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.
The couple exchanged letters while Philip was overseas during the war, only occasionally seeing each other. They would go out driving in Philip’s "tiny MG" sports car, as well as dancing at London nightclubs.
The pair married in Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947, with around 2,000 guests in attendance and another 200 million listening to the ceremony on the radio.
Before the wedding, Philip wrote to Elizabeth: "To have been spared in the war and seen victory, to have been given the chance to rest and to re-adjust myself, to have fallen in love completely and unreservedly, makes all one’s personal and even the world’s troubles seem small and petty."
Philip renounced his Greek royal title and became a British citizen. Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, also gave him a new title: the Duke of Edinburgh.
Two years later, the couple moved to Malta, where Philip assumed command of a battleship, the last active command in his military career. Far from Britain, the couple were able to live the life of a naval officer and his wife.
But any freedom Elizabeth and Philip had was cut short by the declining health of her father. King George VI died in 1952, while Elizabeth, just 25, was in Kenya on a royal tour with Philip. They were relaxing at a wildlife-viewing lodge in the African wilderness when they were informed of the king’s death. Philip broke the news to Elizabeth during a walk on a farm.
From that moment on, he became the queen's "consort," the title given to the official companion of the monarch. In that role, Philip, who met every post-war U.S. president apart from Donald Trump, sought to portray himself as working tirelessly in support of his wife.
In a 2011 interview with the British broadcaster ITV, Philip explained why he gave up an active naval career: ''Being married to the queen, it seemed to me, my first duty was to serve her in the best way I could.''
He championed causes that caught his imagination, and helped found the Royal Academy of Engineering, which promotes engineering excellence and education, and served as the first president of the World Wildlife Fund.
He created the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, a series of challenges to encourage young people to take up adventures in the outdoors, and had a hand in restoring both Windsor Castle after a devastating fire, and Westminster Abbey. He also promoted the use of the English language outside Britain in the years after the breakup of the British empire.
What’s more, he made the operations of the royal estates more efficient, according to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, who wrote “Prince Philip Revealed.”
“Philip modernized everything but slowly as he had opposition from the old guard who wanted to keep it as it was,” she said. “For instance the Buckingham Palace kitchens, which were almost half a mile from the dining room, took him years to change.”
Even after the couple’s children took on official duties in support of the queen, Philip remained one of the most active royals until his retirement.
He did, however, occasionally make comments deemed racist or insensitive, garnering much unwanted attention to the royal family.
A remark about British students getting "slitty eyes" during a visit to China in the 1980s became symbolic of his often unguarded manner.
One of his grandsons, Prince William, has spoken fondly of his grandfather's characteristic bluntness, saying in 2004 that he “will tell me something I don't want to hear and doesn't care if I get upset about it. He knows it is the right thing to say."
After retiring from public life in August 2017, Philip continued to draw attention, most notably by crashing his car close to the Sandringham Estate in January 2019. He sent a letter of apology to a woman in the other car who was injured in the wreck, and he gave up his driving license. He also drew criticism when he was photographed soon after driving without a seatbelt.
Unlike many men of his generation, Philip took an active role in raising his children. Prince Charles was born in 1948, and his sister, Princess Anne, two years later. There was a nearly 10-year gap before Prince Andrew was born in 1960, and Prince Edward arrived in 1964.
“For a masculine man, who is proactive, who had probably a stellar naval career ahead of him, to take on what is traditionally a wife’s role for someone of his generation, well, it’s an amazing achievement that he managed to do it so graciously,” said Gristwood.
Eight grandchildren also survive Philip: Peter and Zara Phillips; Prince William and Prince Harry; Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie; and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn. He had 10 great-grandchildren.
by Suliso How unfortunate to be so close to 100 and not make it...
by Fastbackss When I saw this thread bumped I presumed it was for DMX (tough to find credible reporting on that) and was thus surprised by the Prince.
That story was great. There was a lot of history that I was not aware of.
by ti-amie I thought the thread was bumped for Earl Simmons (DMX or X) as well. He was only 50. I think the official cause of death is a heart attack.
My daughter introduced me to him back in the day and he's the author/performer of two of my favorites from that era.
May he Rest in Peace.
by Fastbackss Much like the article on the Prince, I learned a lot about DMX in article about him.
It was fair in talking about his challenges both as a kid and an adult. It talked about his music and its origins.
I didn't know his first 5 albums went to #1. I also didn't know that he had 15 kids. That's a lot of legacy
by JazzNU I remember when DMX was breaking out, before his debut album was out. Sharing the stage with basically legends and he was out of place, until he wasn't and it was clear he was included for a reason. Knew it was coming and still very sad. I hope he is at peace.
by ti-amie There's video going around of DMX performing and Snoop dancing while doing sound.
by mmmm8 DMX's life was very complicated. He's certainly a huge part of hip hop history. And he'd had a horrible start at life and a whole lot of pain that comes through in his music. And it seems like he probably generally meant well. But a lot of his very many arrests were for animal cruelty and not paying child support. I think he's getting overglorified a bit as a person posthumously.
by MJ2004 I’ll just leave this here.
Bernie Madoff has died in prison.
Those are all the brain cells I’m going to spend on this topic.
by ponchi101 It is supposed to be sad topic, MJ. Keep the gravitas.
(Yes, that does not bother me much...)
by JazzNU
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:57 pm
I’ll just leave this here.
Bernie Madoff has died in prison.
Those are all the brain cells I’m going to spend on this topic.
Right. The only thought I've got related to this news is why has his wife still not been indicted?
by texasniteowl I don't know if anyone else watched Prince Philip's funeral, but the choir...all of 4 people...were very very good!
by the Moz Even in death his funeral balanced duty and family, and respectfully in the time of COVID.
by skatingfan Walter Mondale, Ex-Vice President and Champion of Liberal Politics, Dies at 93
Under Jimmy Carter, he was the first V.P. to serve as a genuine partner of a president. His own run for the top position ended in a crushing defeat.
skatingfan wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:46 am
Walter Mondale, Ex-Vice President and Champion of Liberal Politics, Dies at 93
Under Jimmy Carter, he was the first V.P. to serve as a genuine partner of a president. His own run for the top position ended in a crushing defeat.
by ponchi101 1984, which kept going what I consider was the beginning of the style of government for the USA: massive deficits, an increase in debt, the ongoing fallacy of trickle-down economics and the believe that "the smallest government" is the best.
Plus presidential unaccountability. The Iran-Contra scandal and the invasion of that major super-power that was a threat to Western Civilization: Granada.
Walter Mondale in 1984. Who knows how different the world would be.
by the Moz
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:59 pm
1984, which kept going what I consider was the beginning of the style of government for the USA: massive deficits, an increase in debt, the ongoing fallacy of trickle-down economics and the believe that "the smallest government" is the best.
Plus presidential unaccountability. The Iran-Contra scandal and the invasion of that major super-power that was a threat to Western Civilization: Granada.
Walter Mondale in 1984. Who knows how different the world would be.
Add Gore 2000 & Hillary 2016 and you have a Dem trio of what coulda been.
by ponchi101 No Bush in 2000 and the USA does not go into two unnecessary wars.
About Hillary, we have been talking about that for 4 years.
by mmmm8
the Moz wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:22 pm
Add Gore 2000 & Hillary 2016 and you have a Dem trio of what coulda been.
the Moz wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:22 pm
Add Gore 2000 & Hillary 2016 and you have a Dem trio of what coulda been.
Those two examples are more of what SHOULDA been
Amen.
by Suliso
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:46 pmNo Bush in 2000 and the USA does not go into two unnecessary wars.
About Hillary, we have been talking about that for 4 years.
Afghanistan would have happened anyway, perhaps not Iraq.
by JTContinental Rapper Shock G (probably best known as alter ego Humpty Hump from Digital Underground) was found dead in his hotel room today. No cause of death was given--he was 57.
by JazzNU Shock G was the co-founder of Digital Underground, is considered a rap visionary, and there is no 2PAC without Shock G, not only elevated Tupac in Digital Underground, but produced his first album and co-wrote and produced one of his biggest hits from a later album. Rough year for the hip hop community. RIP
by meganfernandez
JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 4:15 pm
Not the best tribute. Shock G was the co-founder of Digital Underground, is considered a rap visionary, and there is no 2PAC without Shock G, not only elevated Tupac in Digital Underground, but produced his first album and co-wrote and produced one of his biggest hits from a later album. Rough year for the hip hop community. RIP
Everybody go watch Dope tonight...
by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 4:15 pm
Not the best tribute. Shock G was the co-founder of Digital Underground, is considered a rap visionary, and there is no 2PAC without Shock G, not only elevated Tupac in Digital Underground, but produced his first album and co-wrote and produced one of his biggest hits from a later album. Rough year for the hip hop community. RIP
Well that was from BET so...
Anyway thanks for giving his back story. I had no idea there was a connection between the two men.
by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:14 pm
Well that was from BET so...
Anyway thanks for giving his back story. I had no idea there was a connection between the two men.
No, I meant "this rapper was found dead in a hotel room" is not the best tribute. I deleted that part in case there was confusion. Most black media outlets aren't explaining who Shock G is because he's well known enough that it doesn't need to be explained.
by ponchi101 My friends and I listened to "Sex Packets" so much we almost started to believe it was real.
A great album. Hope he joins his pals in the Universe.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:14 pm
Well that was from BET so...
Anyway thanks for giving his back story. I had no idea there was a connection between the two men.
No, I meant "this rapper was found dead in a hotel room" is not the best tribute. I deleted that part in case there was confusion. Most black media outlets aren't explaining who Shock G is because he's well known enough that it doesn't need to be explained.
I was merely stating a fact, not tributing--not really any different from any of the other posts I make in this thread
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 A member of an even smaller club: the 6 men that orbited the moon while the other two went down.
I wonder how he (they) must have felt when they were over the far side of the moon. They could see out into the universe, in total darkness and with no communications to anybody else. They were truly the loneliest human in the universe in those moments.
May the universe welcome him.
by Deuce"May the universe welcome him." Once more.
by Fastbackss I saw it posted earlier today - and of course now I can't find it - there is a bit by comedian Norm MacDonald talking about this - and what his thoughts might be. Pretty funny if you like his acerbic wit
by Suliso I checked that 10 Apollo astronauts (including 4 who walked on the Moon) are still with us. All in their late eighties or early nineties. Would be cool if at least one of them would live long enough to see the next landing on the moon.
by atlpam We had the honor of meeting the last man to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan. He was the guest speaker for the Georgia Business Aviation Association banquet and presented a scholarship check for my son. My husband and I received it from him as my son was in ND in college at the time.
by ponchi101 I am not saying that the people doing space exploration nowadays are doing a simple task, but the comparison is insane. All of the Apollo missions were basically analogue-technology, with very little computing power on-board. And these men knew it. Perhaps one of the least accurate, yet very famous quotes was that of Chuck Yaeger when he said that these guys were just "monkeys pressing a button", meaning they were not real pilots. So far from that, they were truly brilliant engineers flying a can into space.
I could go on and on. They were truly my heroes and something I always wanted to do. I remember when Pan Am was selling $1 tickets to the moon, redeemable IF they ever covered that route. That was how brazen the spirit for space exploration was.
If I did not have a family down here, I would sign up for Elon Musk's travel to Mars. They will certainly need somebody to clean the dishes.
by Suliso They were pioneers, absolutely all the respect to those guys! Times are changing though and Elon Musk's Starhip if it succeeds will have a crew of up to 100. Just think about how that numbers dwarfs anything we've seen before.
By the way a high altitude test flight of the upper stage is likely as soon as today.
by ptmcmahon
Fastbackss wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:32 am
I saw it posted earlier today - and of course now I can't find it - there is a bit by comedian Norm MacDonald talking about this - and what his thoughts might be. Pretty funny if you like his acerbic wit
A new thing he posted specifically about this? Or something old brought back up? I'm a big fan so will have to go find it.
by dmforever
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:48 pm
I am not saying that the people doing space exploration nowadays are doing a simple task, but the comparison is insane. All of the Apollo missions were basically analogue-technology, with very little computing power on-board. And these men knew it. Perhaps one of the least accurate, yet very famous quotes was that of Chuck Yaeger when he said that these guys were just "monkeys pressing a button", meaning they were not real pilots. So far from that, they were truly brilliant engineers flying a can into space.
I could go on and on. They were truly my heroes and something I always wanted to do. I remember when Pan Am was selling $1 tickets to the moon, redeemable IF they ever covered that route. That was how brazen the spirit for space exploration was.
If I did not have a family down here, I would sign up for Elon Musk's travel to Mars. They will certainly need somebody to clean the dishes.
I watched the first two seasons of For All Mankind and really liked them. It sounds like the series might be something you would like. And they are doing at least one more season.
Kevin
by dryrunguy Olympia Dukakis has passed. She was 89.
by JTContinental One of my favorite actresses of a certain age. She will be missed.
by Fastbackss
ptmcmahon wrote:
A new thing he posted specifically about this? Or something old brought back up? I'm a big fan so will have to go find it.
Brought back up...was very old judging by the quality and his attire
by dryrunguy
JTContinental wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 8:12 pm
One of my favorite actresses of a certain age. She will be missed.
Absolutely. She got the acclaim for Moonstruck, but I always enjoyed Clairee in Steel Magnolias the most.
by the Moz 'Go ahead MaLynne, slap her!'
by dryrunguy If you ever get the opportunity to do so, I would encourage you to watch Three Needles. I think I mentioned it on the old board many, many years ago. Olympia portrayed one of the nuns in the final segment of the epilogue and also narrates.
It's dark. Very, very dark. But I thought it was extremely well done. And Olympia, even in a fairly minor role, was fantastic.
by MJ2004 Charles Grodin died yesterday at age 86.
He was absolutely wonderful in Midnight Run.
by ptmcmahon I first was introduced to him as a kid from The Great Muppet Caper, but definitely enjoyed him in the other stuff I saw him in. The last role I remember was him in was playing an eccentric doctor in Louie (as in Louis CK's show) and was still enjoyable to see there too.
by Deuce I don't really watch movies, but what I remember most about Grodin are his appearances on talk shows. He was always abrasive on those shows - it was all an act, but wonderfully done, and quite funny...
by Fastbackss And now Paul Mooney. That's a lot of funny lost in 24 hours
by ptmcmahon Loved those Grodin clips. I always love when guest show hosts make their appearances interesting with "acts" like this (and you can tell it's not 100% an act, especially with Hannity.) Of a similar age I enjoy watching Harrison Ford's appearances on shows where he squirms... again part act/part actual uncomfortableness with the situation.
by ti-amie I had no idea who Paul Mooney was. Then someone posted the skit he wrote for Richard Pryor involving the "n" word on Twitter.
May he Rest in Peace.
by JazzNU
by Deuce I really liked Gavin MacLeod in Mary Tyler Moore - strong character... but I didn't care for The Love Boat at all.
On the same day, singer B.J. Thomas has died at 78 years old. Some of you will remember several of his well known songs from a simpler time when artists didn't try to be something they're not - 'Hooked on a Feeling', '(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song', and this classic...
by ponchi101 He was not a "One hit wonder", because he had several. Only thing was that this one song was absolutely monumental and was also part of a big movie hit, with one truly memorable scene. Sort of Don Mclean and "American Pie". People think he only wrote that.
It will be 50 years and people will still be listening to it. May the universe welcome him.
by JTContinental Prominent American attorney F. Lee Bailey (probably best known for representing OJ Simpson in his murder trial) has died at age 87. No cause of death listed, but he had been in poor health for some time.
by JazzNU Fair to call him disgraced I'd say as well. Very talented, Unethical, later disbarred. And poor health for some time? I bet, decades of drinking like a guppy will do that to you.
Famous well before OJ's case. He defended Patty Hearst, I'm guessing you all know the Stockholm Syndrome defense and that's where it came to prominence. And he defended a doctor, Sam Sheppard, accused of killing his wife. The Fugitive was based in part on that story.
I went to the same elementary school as one of his kids. Dropped off in a Rolls Royce with a driver opening the door. At a public school. Plenty of kids of wealthy and influential people at my school, but still, that really stood out as very over the top.
by ponchi101 I had no idea of that man's story. Wow! Thanks, JazzNu.
by ti-amieJohn McAfee, software entrepreneur with outlaw persona, dies in prison at 75
John McAfee talks to the media in 2012, after arriving in Miami Beach, Fla., from Guatemala. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By Glenn Rifkin
June 23, 2021 at 4:10 p.m. EDT
John McAfee, the eccentric British American software entrepreneur who sold his eponymous anti-virus company in the 1990s and embarked on a globe-trotting life of bizarre and often allegedly criminal pursuits while embracing the persona of a gun-toting rogue and outlaw, was found dead in his prison cell near Barcelona on June 23. He was 75.
A Catalan government official, who was not authorized to be named, confirmed his death to the Associated Press. A U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately comment.
In a statement that did not mention Mr. McAfee by name, the Catalan justice department announced that an inmate had been found dead in his cell and said that security personnel had been unable to revive him. The cause of death was being investigated, the department added, but it appeared to be a suicide.
Hours before Mr. McAfee’s death, a Spanish court issued a preliminary ruling authorizing his extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges. He had been arrested in Spain in October 2020.
Described as belligerent, attention-seeking and media-savvy, Mr. McAfee was also considered a technology genius. He created high-tech ventures including McAfee Associates, a security-software firm whose product grew into one of the best-selling anti-virus programs.
In the 1980s, as personal computers became mainstream and malware started to emerge, Mr. McAfee, then a successful engineer in Silicon Valley, devised a way to block the first known computer virus, dubbed the Pakistani Brain virus, which wiped clean a PC’s hard drive.
He purposely infected his PC with the virus and then wrote a program to disable the invader. That program became the basis for his company, which he started in 1987 out of his 700-square-foot home in Santa Clara, Calif. Within five years, McAfee Associates controlled nearly 70 percent of the desktop anti-virus market. Half of all Fortune 100 companies were using his software, and Mr. McAfee was making $5 million a year.
With the riches he gained from selling the firm in 1994 — reportedly for $100 million — the self-proclaimed “lover of women, adventure and mystery” commenced a series of exploits that led, by his count, to 21 arrests in 11 countries for crimes involving gun violations, drug trafficking, tax evasion and securities fraud.
Perhaps his strangest odyssey took place in Belize. He had come to the English-speaking Central American country in 2008 to forge a new life after suffering financial setbacks and legal troubles in the United States. Four years later, he became the chief suspect in a murder investigation.
Authorities accused Mr. McAfee of assembling a private army of well-armed ex-convicts and becoming a drug trafficker, charges he denied. He had a reputation for paranoia and allowed his guard dogs to roam free on the beach near his home.
Mr. McAfee’s neighbor, a 52-year-old American expatriate businessman named Gregory Faull, became concerned that the dogs were biting and menacing people and repeatedly complained to their owner, to no avail.
When four of the canines were found poisoned, Mr. McAfee reportedly raged that Faull was to blame. Two days later, on Nov. 11, 2012, Faull was found shot to death in his home.
The police investigation centered on Mr. McAfee, who fled Belize, illegally crossed the border into Guatemala and was arrested after a reporter and photographer inadvertently revealed his hiding spot. Mr. McAfee admitted that as the authorities were preparing to extradite him to Belize, he faked a heart attack and was deported to the United States — a saga that triggered a worldwide media frenzy.
He was never formally charged with Faull’s death, and he explained that his decision to flee was not an admission of guilt, but rather the product of his fear that the gang suppression unit of the Belize police would torture and kill him once they had him in custody. Dean Barrow, then the prime minister of Belize, called Mr. McAfee “bonkers.”
In the years after his departure from Belize, Mr. McAfee became increasingly erratic. In a 2013 YouTube video spoof he made on how to uninstall McAfee software — a program he claimed to have grown to detest, claiming his successors had ruined it — Mr. McAfee is identified as an “eccentric millionaire” and offered an edgy, tongue-in-cheek tutorial while setting money on fire to light his cigar, snorting fake cocaine, swearing profusely and cavorting with nubile young women.
At the end, he declares that he has found the solution to uninstalling the software. He stands, pulls out a pistol and shoots the laptop.
“I’m a madman to some people because I don’t follow the normal rules,” he told ABC’s “20/20” in 2017. “You know, the drummer that leads me is an odd drummer, but I follow the sound.”
Mr. McAfee boasted about his anomalous sex life, bragging about relationships with sex workers and teenagers. “I gravitate to the world’s outcasts,” he emailed a Wired reporter for a profile published in 2013. “Prostitutes, thieves, the handicapped & For some reason I have always been fascinated by these subcultures.”
For years, he had also boasted about his refusal to pay taxes, citing his libertarian belief that it is wrong to force people to do so. He made a quixotic run for the Libertarian Party’s nomination for the U.S. presidency in 2016.
Despite his mounting legal troubles, Mr. McAfee reinvented himself and found a following as a technology pundit and promoter of cryptocurrency, a form of digital money. He presented himself as a cybersecurity guru, warning about the dangers hackers presented, and made paid appearances at conferences and on television.
In March 2019, when a Florida court ordered him to pay $25 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Faull’s estate, Mr. McAfee announced on Twitter that he would not pay and called the ruling a “legal extortion game aimed at America’s wealthy class.”
That same year, prosecutors in Tennessee — where he was living after returning from Guatemala — accused him of hiding property and other assets from the IRS. Mr. McAfee and his wife Janice quickly boarded their yacht, the Great Mystery, and traveled from port to port in the Caribbean.
After being detained in the Dominican Republic for carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition and military-style gear, he hired local lawyers who managed to get him sent to England. By 2020 he had made it to Spain, where he was arrested and jailed while awaiting extradition to the United States.
In March 2021, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York indicted Mr. McAfee and his bodyguard, Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., for orchestrating a “pump and dump” scheme to bilk cryptocurrency investors out of millions of dollars.
They alleged that Mr. McAfee had bought large amounts of cheap cryptocurrency altcoins and then promoted them on Twitter posts with “false and misleading endorsement tweets” to inflate their market prices. Such was his influence that one tweet to his 1 million followers caused the price of one cryptocurrency to rise in value between 50 and 350 percent. He and Gale allegedly earned up to $23 million that they sought to conceal from authorities.
“I’m the only person in the crypto field that has openly divulged the outrageous amounts of money charged by crypto promoters,” Mr. McAfee told the London Independent in 2018. “It’s embarrassingly huge, but it’s true. I have been getting these fees for over six months.”
John David McAfee was born at a U.S. Army base in Gloucestershire, England, on Sept. 18, 1945. His father, an American soldier, later became a road surveyor, and his British mother worked as a bank teller. When he was 2, the family moved to Salem, Va., where Mr. McAfee, an only child, grew up. He was 15 when his father, whom he said was an abusive drunk, killed himself.
Mr. McAfee received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Roanoke College in 1967 and began a career as a programmer. He worked for NASA, Univac and Xerox in software design and operations. He moved to Silicon Valley, where his entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his passion for alcohol and recreational drugs, kicked in.
He told Wired that he had snorted lines of cocaine and downed a bottle of Scotch each day at his desk at an information storage systems company called Omex. An early marriage, to Judith Stump, ended in divorce, and he found himself adrift without a job or friends. He entered Alcoholics Anonymous, later claiming it saved his life.
A significant catalyst to the success of his anti-virus software was his own paranoia-fueled marketing prowess. He railed about the dire threat of computer viruses, sometimes hyping the danger well beyond reality.
When the Michelangelo virus appeared in 1991, he used his growing celebrity to predict doom for the world’s PCs, a tactic that earned him criticism for overstating the threat and scrutiny for fraud. But it also sent McAfee sales skyrocketing, helping his company capture the bulk of the anti-virus software market.
By his own admission, Mr. McAfee was not cut out to run a burgeoning tech start-up.
“The company grew so fast, it was no longer enjoyable,” he told the South China Morning Post in 2013. “When you’re the CEO of a firm that employs 10,000 people, you can no longer do the things that you love, which is programming.” Personnel problems, shareholders and board meetings were “not my cup of tea,” he said.
After selling his company, he built nine homes and bought a fleet of planes and antique cars, as well as a 200-acre parcel of land in Colorado where he set up a yoga retreat. He started two other unsuccessful technology ventures.
He also immersed himself in jet skiing and helped develop a new sport called aerotrekking that involved flying small vehicles at fast speeds close to the ground. A nephew who was working for him took a client out for a lesson and crashed, killing both, which resulted in a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2008 by the client’s family and in which Mr. McAfee was named.
At that time, he claimed the global recession had wiped out much of his fortune, leading him to sell off his properties and leave the country. He later said that it was the lawsuit that drove him to Belize.
In 2013, he married Janice Dyson, whom he reportedly met after hiring her as a prostitute. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
“Boy, I do live an exciting life,” Mr. McAfee told the South China Morning Post. “It’s too exciting, sometimes. But that happens if you live on the edge, which I like to do because that’s where most discoveries are made. I’m a curious person, but sometimes I fall off. Like in Belize, I went too far. But this is my life. It’s a true story, and there’s even more to it than even the world knows.”
Paulina Villegas and Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.
by ponchi101 HBO MAX, NETFLIX, HULU, AMAZON, APPLE and GOOGLE must be stampeding for the movie rights.
I followed him for several years, meaning I read the news. He was truly either insane to the gills, or a genius.
by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:41 pm
HBO MAX, NETFLIX, HULU, AMAZON, APPLE and GOOGLE must be stampeding for the movie rights.
I followed him for several years, meaning I read the news. He was truly either insane to the gills, or a genius.
LOL I was wondering who would be cast to play him even as I was posting his obit.
by JazzNU I'm really not familiar with him. But given who I see tweeting about him, I think I know all I need to know about what he's been up to in recent years.
And his software sucks.
by ponchi101 He was no longer involved with McAffe. He sold it precisely because he felt that the way the company was going sucky.
Casting: Ethan Hawke in middle life, Nick Nolte old. The man was ravaged by age.
by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 11:10 pm
He was no longer involved with McAffe. He sold it precisely because he felt that the way the company was going sucky.
Casting: Ethan Hawke in middle life, Nick Nolte old. The man was ravaged by age.
Since I don't remember a time it was ever good, my comment stands.
Keep Ethan far away from this. He sounds completely sick in the head. I don't want Ethan doing the whale storyline that would probably have to make it into the movie.
by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 11:10 pm
He was no longer involved with McAffe. He sold it precisely because he felt that the way the company was going sucky.
Casting: Ethan Hawke in middle life, Nick Nolte old. The man was ravaged by age.
Ethan Hawke - yes
Nick Nolte - eh
by JazzNU This is a good, eye opening thread on the guy. Read some of the first comments if you don't know the whale story too. And there's a Netflix doc on him called Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee along with many other looks into his life.
JazzNU wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:58 am
This is a good, eye opening thread on the guy. Read some of the first comments if you don't know the whale story too. And there's a Netflix doc on him called Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee along with many other looks into his life.
by Suliso Donald Rumsfeld, former US secretary of defense, has died at age 88.
His famous quote about unknown unknowns: "As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know"
by ponchi101 Sadly, he was right. It was an interesting quote.
But, he was part of one of the darkest administrations on Earth, for a democratic country. Rumsfeld, Cheney and Rice were truly bad consiglieri for W. Too fast and eager to go to war.
by Suliso
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:46 pm
Sadly, he was right. It was an interesting quote.
I think the concept of unknown unknowns is not that different from Taleb's black swan. If so of course he was right.
by JazzNU
by JazzNU This year man. RIP
by JTContinental RIP Biz--I believe that he went on from his rap career to being a very successful DJ
by ti-amie I was watching a baseball game last night and the organist played "Just A Friend".
RIP Biz.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 He was also the inventor of the American dream.
(Bad joke).
May the universe welcome him.
by ponchi101 Charlie Watts, drummer for The Rolling Stones, has died, at age 80.
There is no way you can wish a "Rolling Stone" to rest in peace. All these men did during all their lives has been anything but bring joy and happiness to millions of people, but certainly not peacefully. If anything, he, and his buddies, are the definition of joyous mayhem. So: may the universe allow him to keep raising hell, if he so wishes.
by Deuce Charlie Watts was known as the 'tame' member of the band. He wasn't into the 'rock star lifestyle'... I think he was married for several decades (to the same woman!)...
While his peers were going to more and more elaborate, complex drum sets, Charlie always played a very basic set, having no need nor desire to make things more complicated than they needed to be.
His death seemed to come out of nowhere.
I met him once, by chance, about 20 - 25 years ago...
I was standing on a downtown sidewalk, waiting to say 'Hi' to my dad, as he walked that route to get to the train to go home. A man passed by me, and I knew that I 'knew' him from somewhere, but I couldn't place from where. He could have been someone I played in a tennis tournament... an old school friend... Finally, about 20 seconds after he passed me, I realized it was Charlie Watts. The Stones were in town to do a concert or two at that time, and I put 2 and 2 together...
I saw that he had gone into a shopping complex - so I went in to find him, just for the hell of it. I found him in that complex within 2 or 3 minutes. He was completely alone - no bodyguards, no 'entourage', no friends around him at all. I was surprised, as he was a member of arguably the most 'famous' band that was still playing together.
I knew at the time that he was considered the 'tame' member of the band, and because of that, I figured there was a good chance that he'd be approachable. Once I found him, I approached him and said "Hi. I know who you are, and I'm not going to make a big deal about it and attract a lot of attention to you. I don't want an autograph or a photo or anything like that... I was just wondering if you'd have 10 or 15 minutes to sit down and discuss the influence that music and musicians have on kids." (I was working with 'troubled youth' at the time, and I had a genuine interest in the subject, and would have loved to talk with someone like that about it.)
Charlie looked at me and quietly said "I can't just talk about that subject flippantly like that." (So... he wanted to rehearse first?) Then he said "Besides - I'm shopping."
I wasn't thrilled with his response - it seemed arrogant, which surprised me somewhat, as this was the most 'down to Earth' member of the band. But 'down to Earth' is all relative, right?
Also - I'm quite sure that not a lot of people over the course of his career had asked him to discuss that particular subject. Usually, the request is for an autograph, or a photo, or a piece of their hair, etc. I figured a unique request might pique his interest.
But it didn't.
So when he said "I'm shopping", I said,, knowing that he'd been a multi-millionaire for a couple of decades already "You don't have enough stuff yet?" A snotty response, sure - but, at the time, I figured I'd fight fire with fire.
With that, I walked away.
By this time, I had missed the time my dad would be walking by outside - so I stayed in the shopping complex. About 10 - 15 minutes after my encounter with Charlie, I was on the top floor of the complex. As fate would have it, so was Charlie. He was still completely alone - and certainly seemed to go completely undetected during his time in the very public shopping complex (perhaps some people saw him, but said to themselves - Nah - it can't be Charlie - if it was him, he'd have an 'entourage', body guards, etc.) This time, HE approached ME. No, not because he had changed his mind about discussing the influence that music and musicians have on kids... but rather to ask me "Would you happen to know the fastest way to get down to the lower levels?"
I looked at him and simply said "Please don't bother me, sir - I'm shopping."
True story.
RIP, Charlie.
I wish we could have had that talk.
It's been a tough week for music fans, as Don Everly (Everly Brothers) died a few days before Charlie.
.
by ti-amie
by ti-amie
by Deuce ‘Lou Grant’ was a wonderful character - both in ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and in ‘Lou Grant’.
And funny enough, she is/was the oldest of all of them (barely older than Ted Knight though!)
by nelslus John just let me know, and I confirmed over the internet: Michael K. Williams was found dead in his apartment (with drug paraphernalia found in his apartment, according to reports.) 54 years old.
A truly great actor. I am just feeling sick and heartbroken over this.
by ponchi101 I can only wish you what I wish everybody that goes through something like this. May all your memories of him be full of love.
by Suliso Jean-Paul Belmondo has died at age 88.
by ponchi101 For the French, a true great one.
by skatingfan
by ti-amie
by mmmm8 Very sad on both of these.
Belmondo was a childhood favorite (He refused to appear in English-language films, so American audiences might be most familiar with him from Breathless, but he was a great comedic actor too).
by JTContinental Comedian and former SNL cast member Norm MacDonald has died at age 61. He was privately battling cancer for the last 10 years
by dryrunguy Wow. He was a phenomenal talent. I had no idea he was battling cancer.
by ptmcmahon I was a huge fan of his comedic style. Very sad to hear the news, had no idea. He had lost some weight recently but just assumed it was from diet.
by JTContinental Actor Willie Garson, probably best known for his role as Carrie Bradshaw's sidekick Stanford in Sex and the City, has died at age 57. No cause of death was given, but I've seen on social media that he died of cancer.
by ti-amie RIP
by JazzNU Melvin Van Peebles passed away yesterday. He was a trailblazer. RIP.
by ti-amie Trailblazer is the right word to describe him. May he RIP.
by ponchi101 I had to look him up, as I was not familiar with his work. Quite a resume.
Indeed, RIP.
by JazzNU This was mentioned on Tennis Channel today. Didn't think it had been posted on the forum yet.
by ponchi101 Sorry for Andre. May his memories of his father be beautiful.
by mmmm8 He was at Agassi's Hall of Fame induction and went through the museum trying to talk to anyone who would listen about Andre's achievements. I was one of those people. I was still just a year or two from reading Open , which described some very abusive behavior, and really wanted to hate him but couldn't really. He and Andre seemed quite loving with each other at this point, too.
by dave g Colin Powell has died from COVID complications.
by ponchi101 A decent man, strangely imbedded in a group of people that were anything but that.
May the universe welcome him.
by MJ2004
dave g wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:18 pm
Colin Powell has died from COVID complications.
He was fully vaccinated, or so I read. Scary.
by dryrunguy You know how you look at a presidential administration and have respect for only one of the people you see? Yeah, for me, that was Colin Powell. This was incredibly sad news to wake up to this morning. RIP.
dave g wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:18 pm
Colin Powell has died from COVID complications.
He was fully vaccinated, or so I read. Scary.
Yes, but he was also 84 and had cancer. I hope you're in neither category.
Thanks. I had known about the 84, but not the cancer.
by JazzNU Yes, he had multiple myeloma. Unfortunately, the vaccine is less effective in those with immune systems that are that compromised.
by ponchi101 Ok. We suspect my brother's cancer started with a myeloma, and those are very hard. So if he is being listed as dying of C19, perhaps an asterisk is needed.
As Dry says, he was the sole person in the W administration that was respectable. Which I think was the reason he stayed there. He was needed to bring a slight veneer of decency to that bunch of dogs of war.
dave g wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:18 pm
Colin Powell has died from COVID complications.
He was fully vaccinated, or so I read. Scary.
Yes, but he was also 84 and had cancer. I hope you're in neither category.
Me personally, no. But scary in general, for older people especially.
by the Moz A far more respectable Republican I could support than the garbage of the moment. RIP CP.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie RIP
by MJ2004 Sean Connery has died at age 90.
Scratch that - year old story.
For some reason popped up on my bbc feed.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
by ti-amie
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:34 pm
Sean Connery has died at age 90.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
He was my favorite Bond until Daniel Craig recreated the character.
May he Rest in Peace.
by JazzNU
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:34 pm
Sean Connery has died at age 90.
Scratch that - year old story.
I thought it was familiar.
And yet somehow, still alarming and sad to see it written out.
by MJ2004 Wow, our memory banks just refused to store that data.
by ptmcmahon It was fresh in my memory from the Celebrity Jeopardy connection. "Real" Alex Trebek & Sean Connery - reminded by the death of Turd Ferguson.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 A very recognizable face that I could not place a name for. He was good. May the universe welcome him.
by ptmcmahon As a sci-fi guy I know him as "Number One."
by the Moz He was brilliant in Blue Velvet
by JazzNU Even though I didn't watch it a ton, I definitely think of him as being from Quantum Leap. In terms of excellent roles though, him and Mercedes Ruehl stole the show in Married to the Mob. Priceless. RIP.
by ponchi101
the Moz wrote: ↑Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:47 pm
He was brilliant in Blue Velvet
And thanks for that. Indeed, now he becomes clearer.
by ponchi101 Frederik De Klerk has died. The last South African president that started his term under the apartheid regime. He shared the Nobel Peace prize with Mandela for ending it.
by the Moz Stephen Sondheim, a giant of the American songbook - has passed away at 91.
by JTContinental Oh sorry—I came in here and posted about Virgil Abloh before I noticed several people already did so I edited my comment to reflect my spilling of old tea
by JazzNU
by dryrunguy CBS is reporting that former U.S. presidential candidate Bob Dole has passed away. He was 98.
by ponchi101 One of the last respectable Republicans. At a time in which they could be counted to have SOME morals on what they were doing.
(And mind you, I do not speak highly of Republicans, as you know. I believe that Ronald Reagan was a terrible US President FOR THE WORLD, for example).
May Dole RIP.
by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:10 pm
One of the last respectable Republicans. At a time in which they could be counted to have SOME morals on what they were doing.
(And mind you, I do not speak highly of Republicans, as you know. I believe that Ronald Reagan was a terrible US President FOR THE WORLD, for example).
May Dole RIP.
There was a time--long, LONG ago--when I was actually receptive to the idea of an Elizabeth Dole presidency. I always preferred her over Bob. That said, yes, all things considered, Bob Dole was a decent man.
by JazzNU
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:24 pm
There was a time--long, LONG ago--when I was actually receptive to the idea of an Elizabeth Dole presidency. I always preferred her over Bob. That said, yes, all things considered, Bob Dole was a decent man.
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:24 pm
There was a time--long, LONG ago--when I was actually receptive to the idea of an Elizabeth Dole presidency. I always preferred her over Bob. That said, yes, all things considered, Bob Dole was a decent man.
I find all of this rather shocking.
Dole kept his sleaze to a minimum, the way it was done back in the day. Publicly his positions were mainstream and acceptable and he didn't think political discourse consisted of insults and doxxing. Looking at what now passes for the GOP I think the word decent is applicable.
by JazzNU I was talking more about the idea of Elizabeth Dole being an acceptable presidential candidate, more than Bob Dole. The best thing I can say about her is that she's better than Jesse Helms, and that's not remotely meant as a compliment.
As for Bob Dole. Given he'd been a public supporter of Insurrectionist in Chief, voted for him twice, and his support continued after the coup attempt, the way he conducted himself before is unlikely to be the way he'd have conducted himself now if he still held public office.
by dryrunguy The opening portion of my response to ponchi was the key part: "There was a time, long, LONG ago--..." That would have been around the time she was Secretary of Labor for George H. W. Bush and her transition to leading the American Red Cross. So, long before she became a U.S. Senator, which is when she permanently landed on my (expletive) list.
I'll freely admit I wasn't fully cooked in the early 1990s (and I'm still not fully cooked--no one ever is). That was also right before my belief system was completely transformed.
by ponchi101 Two deaths in the sports world:
Demaryus Thomas, 33, died yesterday. Seems from a medical condition. 5 time Pro Bowl in the the NFL, SB champion with the Broncos.
Al Unser Sr, 4 times Indy 500 winner, died at age 82. Pretty much a legend in racing, that is for sure.
May the universe welcome them.
by ti-amie May they both RIP.
by Deuce Michael Nesmith of 'The Monkeys' musical group - and whose mother invented 'Liquid Paper' - has died.
This leaves Mickey Dolenz as the only surviving member of the group.
by MJ2004 The best male Spanish tennis player until Rafa came along, and a great mentor. RIP
by ashkor87 There are stories that he started out as a ball-boy and played his first few matches barefoot.... An inspiration..
by the MozAnnieAnne Rice and Mel Lastman - a pre-Rob Ford mayoral embarrassment for the city of Toronto - have passed away.
by JazzNU
the Moz wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 3:50 pm
Annie Rice and Mel Lastman - a pre-Rob Ford mayoral embarrassment for the city of Toronto - have passed away.
I need to wake up a bit more. I read this as a married couple that unfortunately passed away today, like in a car accident or something.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie "Annie" threw me off. Anne Rice's early work, including "Interview With the Vampire" is classic horror. May she Rest in Peace.
by JazzNU
by ashkor87
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 7:17 pm
The best male Spanish tennis player until Rafa came along, and a great mentor. RIP
Maybe so but let us not forget Andres Gimeno..does not have the majors because he was a pro but he won several tournaments beating the likes of Rosewall and Laver in their prime..
no disrespect to the great Manolo..
He might be obscure to some people here. To put it in perspective: he was to Rancheras what Johnny Cash was to Country. A huge musical figure in L. America.
(Although Cash covered other musical genres too).
by JTContinental Legendary author Joan Didion has died at age 87, from complications due to Parkinson's. This hurts especially as she is a personal favorite--Slouching Toward Bethlehem and The Year of Magical Thinking are both fantastic.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie May she RIP
by ti-amie South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has passed away aged 90. Someone posted this remarkable exchange.
May he RIP
by dryrunguy Wow. RIP
by ponchi101 A towering figure. Together with Mandela, and one man that I believe has been slightly forgotten, Bantu Stephen Biko.
May the universe welcome him.
by Deuce
ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun Dec 26, 2021 6:44 pm
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has passed away aged 90. Someone posted this remarkable exchange.
This is wonderful.
They behave as if they've been close friends since they were 3 years old.
Two men of principle. We've been very fortunate to have them in our lifetime - and we should cherish them in life and in death, for persons of principle are becoming more and more rare.
by JazzNU Damn. RIP
by ponchi101 Wow. Major loss for football, indeed. As some people say, he was the face of the game for several generations.
by ti-amie When I think of a great football coach I think of Madden not Lombardi. May he RIP.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie Another old school politician who knew where the bodies are hidden.
May he RIP
by ponchi101 I was thinking that it has been a while since one of the "bad people" in the world has taken the final exit.
by JTContinental Betty White has died at age 99, just a few weeks before her 100th birthday
by JazzNU
by ti-amie Why do they always forget her performance in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"? The counterpoint between her Sue Ann and Ms Moore's "Mary" and Cloris Leachman's character is fascinating and funny. She brought so much joy and laughter to so many people over the years. Rest in Peace Ms White.
by ponchi101 Never saw one single episode of the GG's, but she was clearly beloved. Indeed, RIP.
by ti-amie
by the Moz Thanks for the laughs BW
by Fastbackss F*cking 2021...ugh.
by dryrunguy No words. Absolutely no words.
My favorite Betty White scene from Golden Girls (and I agree, her work on Mary Tyler Moore should not be forgotten).
by JazzNU I loved Betty in so many different movies and TV shows, not just Golden Girls, though that's where it started. But one of my favorite things watching her on were game shows. By far, one of the best celebrity contestants ever. Password, Pyramid, Match Game, whatever the show, she was exceptional at playing it while still being incredibly witty and endearing.
by patrick Matter of fact, I just saw Betty White on an old Match Game re-run. She was there with Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson-Reilly and Gene Rayburn
by Deuce
patrick wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 11:54 pm
Matter of fact, I just saw Betty White on an old Match Game re-run. She was there with Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson-Reilly and Gene Rayburn
patrick wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 11:54 pm
Matter of fact, I just saw Betty White on an old Match Game re-run. She was there with Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson-Reilly and Gene Rayburn
Brett Somers must have been there, too - no?
Correct. I do remember her on that particular re-run
by ti-amie
by JazzNU
by the MozThe Last Picture Show is a brilliant film
by MJ2004 Sydney Poitier has died, age 94.
by ponchi101 One of the great ones.
by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 4:09 pm
One of the great ones.
Indeed. The bizarre thing, for me at least, is that when you consider his vast body of exceptional work, I see the name Sidney Poitier, and I immediately think of Six Degrees of Separation, which he wasn't even IN.
by the Moz Sidney Poitier is a class act
by ti-amie
by JazzNU
Sidney Poitier, Regal Star of the Big Screen, Dies at 94
The Oscar-winning actor, memorable in such films as 'Lilies of the Field,' 'To Sir, With Love' and 'In the Heat of the Night,' broke barriers and served as an inspiration for generations.
BY DUANE BYRGE, MIKE BARNES
Sidney Poitier, the noble leading man whose work in such films as No Way Out, Lilies of the Field and In the Heat of the Night paved the way for minority actors and actresses everywhere, has died. He was 94.
His death was confirmed Friday by the press secretary for the Bahamas’ deputy prime minister. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis announced that the Bahamian flag is being hung at half-mast in the country as well as at the nation’s various embassies around the globe.
In his statement, the prime minister celebrated “the life of a great Bahamian, a cultural icon, an actor and film director, an entrepreneur, a civil rights activist and a diplomat,” and highlighted Poitier’s colossal achievements as well as his personal “strength of character,” as someone willing “to stand up and be counted.”
“My dear friends, it is with great sadness that I learned this morning of the passing of Sir. Sidney Poitier,” Davis said. “The boy who moved from the tomato farm on Cat Island, to moving and becoming a waiter in the United States, a young man who not only taught himself to read and write but who made words and thoughts and feelings central to his career. The man who expressed his rage against racial injustice through quiet dignity. The humanitarian, who used a steely determination, to not just better himself, but better the world he lived in.”
Poitier was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor when he was acknowledged for his portrayal of a good-hearted handyman for Arizona nuns in Lilies of the Field (1963).
He received an earlier best actor nomination for his turn as a convict on the run in The Defiant Ones (1958).
In 2002, he received an honorary Oscar from the Academy “for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the motion picture industry with dignity, style and intelligence throughout the world.”
Poitier was the first actor to star in mainstream Hollywood movies that depicted a Black man in a non-stereotypical fashion, and his influence, especially during the 1950s and ’60s as role model and image-maker, was immeasurable.
His deliberate and lilting voice contained grace and his mesmeric manner made him one of the most beloved stars in Hollywood history.
Poitier also was the first Black actor to become the nation’s top box office draw, attaining that distinction in 1967 when he starred in three memorable films: To Sir, With Love, as a teacher in London; In the Heat of the Night, as Philadelphia Detective Virgil Tibbs; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, as the fiance of a white woman. All were benchmark performances.
“I made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy — as was the case at Metro. I was the lone guy in town,” he told Newsweek in 1988.
Since his big-screen debut as an extra in 1947, Poitier appeared in more than 40 films, including Blackboard Jungle (1955) and the landmark A Raisin in the Sun (1961).
In 1969, Poitier teamed with Paul Newman and Barbra Streisand (later joined by Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman) to launch the independent production company First Artists, broadening his talents to include writing and directing.
He guided Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in the box office hit Stir Crazy (1980) and directed other films like the comedy Hanky Panky (1982) and the musical Fast Forward (1985).
Poitier was born in Miami on Feb. 20, 1927. His parents traveled back and forth from Cat Island in the Bahamas to Miami, where they sold tomatoes from their small farm. A complication in his mother’s pregnancy forced her to enter a hospital, where she delivered Poitier prematurely.
As a child, Poitier had just two years of formal schooling. Around age 11, he became fascinated with movies and while a teenager left for New York City, determined to be an actor. Arriving with virtually no money, he worked such odds jobs as porter, busboy and chicken plucker while living in bus terminals, lavatory booths and on rooftops overlooking Broadway.
After a stint in the Army and while working as a dishwasher, Poitier answered a want ad placed by the American Negro Theater looking for actors. He auditioned, but his performance, marred by his thick accent, did not win him a spot.
He began listening to the radio to perfect his English and auditioned again — and was turned down once more — but he convinced the company to hire him as a janitor. He made his way to understudy and became friends with a classmate, Harry Belafonte.
Gradually, Poitier won acceptance and was rewarded in 1946 with a small part on Broadway in an all-Black production of Lysistrata. He continued to perform minor roles until writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz offered him $750 a week to play a big part in the influential film No Way Out (1950).
In what was the first major movie to feature a Black actor in the role of an intelligent professional, Poitier plays a young doctor just starting out who is confronted by a racist patient (Richard Widmark).
His strong turn won him a role as a South African clergyman in Cry, the Beloved Country (1952), and he went on to break through as one of the rebellious high school students in Richard Brooks’ Blackboard Jungle, a searing look at inner-city education.
Poitier further distinguished himself in Edge of the City (1957) opposite John Cassavetes in a rare movie about an interracial friendship, and he starred again for Brooks in Something of Value (1957), in which he played a Kenyan. Now critics were trumpeting him as a deserving Oscar nominee.
The following year, Poitier received a best actor Oscar nom for his performance as an escaped convict opposite Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones. He followed that by playing Walter Lee Younger in the film adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun, one of his most demanding roles (he had played it on Broadway, landing a Tony nomination), then won the Oscar for his turn as Homer Smith, a traveling handyman who helps nuns build a church in the desert, in Lilies of the Field.
With his status as a power player, Poitier helped launch First Artists and returned as his Heat of the Night character (now working out of San Francisco) in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1969) and The Organization (1971).
Soon after, Poitier entered a deal with Columbia Pictures to star in and produce two movies. He teamed with Belafonte to make the post-Civil War tale Buck and the Preacher (1972) and jump-start his directorial career. In all, he would helm nine movies, running the gamut from interracial confrontations to slapstick and light comedies, including A Warm December (1973), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Let’s Do It Again (1975), A Piece of the Action (1977) and Ghost Dad (1990).
For Poitier, the ’70s were a relatively fallow period, a time when blaxploitation was in full force with street-smart, swaggering superheroes like John Shaft. Poitier’s serious dramas were out of vogue, and he retreated to the Bahamas at the start of the decade to reflect and recharge.
In 1980, he directed Stir Crazy, which went on to become a runaway hit, and reunited with Wilder (and Gilda Radner) to helm Hanky Panky.
He wrote a 1980 autobiography, This Life, documenting his journey from the tomato fields of the Bahamas to the pinnacle of Hollywood success, and directed Fast Forward, a dance musical about young people with big dreams. In essence, it was a story similar to his real-life saga.
After 10 years behind the camera, Poitier re-emerged as an actor. In Little Nikita (1988), he played an investigator trying to subvert Russian spies, and in Shoot to Kill (1988), he was a city-slicker FBI agent who teams with a reclusive mountain man (Tom Berenger) to chase down a psychopath across the Pacific Northwest.
He later co-starred with Robert Redford and Dan Aykroyd in Sneakers (1992) and played the deputy director of the FBI in The Jackal (1997), opposite Bruce Willis.
On television, Poitier played Nelson Mandela in the 1997 Showtime telefilm Mandela and de Klerk and narrated the documentary Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey (2001). In 1997, he was appointed ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan.
He was the father of six daughters: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina (with first wife Juanita Hardy) and Anika and Sydney (with Joanna Shimkus, whom he married in 1975).
In his 2002 Oscar speech, Poitier reflected on the “courageous, unselfish choices made by a handful of visionary American filmmakers, directors, writers and producers” that shaped his career.
“Each [had] a strong sense of citizenship responsibility to the times in which they lived; each [was] unafraid to permit their art to reflect their views and values, ethical and moral, and moreover, acknowledge them as their own. They knew the odds that stood against them, and their efforts were overwhelming and likely could have proved too high to overcome.
“Still those filmmakers persevered, speaking through their art to the best in all of us. And I’ve benefited from their effort. The industry benefited from their effort. America benefited from their effort. And in ways large and small, the world has also benefited.”
by Deuce A man of class and principle.
These types are already very rare... and we're sadly losing more of them than we're gaining.
by JazzNU If you're not familiar with the name, worth reading an article written about her today. Clearly a giant in the songwriting world. Many, many songs, movie scores, TV themes across many decades. May she RIP.
by ponchi101 Didn't know the name, but did know the songs. Quite a collection.
Indeed, RIP.
by Owendonovan Sinead O'Connor's 17 yo son, Shane, committed suicide. I don't know how she gets through this one given her own mental health struggles.
by JazzNU
by ptmcmahon Full House may have been the show we watched most when we were kids… and now my kids have watched it too. Definitely a sad one for many.
by JTContinental Convicted murderer Robert Durst, who famously admitted to his crimes on a hot mic in a bathroom on the HBO documentary The Jinx, has died of cardiac arrest at age 78
by ponchi101 I gather this is not the time to wish him a restful entrance into the thereafter...
by JTContinental
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:23 pm
I gather this is not the time to wish him a restful entrance into the thereafter...
Definitely not--likely he was a serial killer, even though he was only convicted for one.
The Jinx is a classic American true crime documentary that likely had a big part in launching the latest craze on the subject.
by Deuce Ronnie Spector of the singing group ‘The Ronettes’ (with her sister and cousin) has died of cancer at 78.
She was born Veronica Bennett, and later had the misfortune of marrying music producer, convicted murderer, and notorious overall bad person Phil Spector.
This is from Wikipedia, about her life with him - incredible, sad stuff...
Bennett and Phil Spector began having an affair soon after she was signed to his label in 1963. Early in their relationship, she was unaware that he was married. Once, Bennett was busted by house detectives for prostitution at the Delmonico hotel in New York City after leaving a room they had booked. She was allowed to call Spector, who threatened the hotel, and then they allowed her to leave. After Spector divorced his wife in 1965, he purchased a home in Beverly Hills, where he lived with Bennett.
They married at Beverly Hills City Hall on April 14, 1968. Bennett changed her surname and became known as Ronnie Spector. Their son Donté Phillip was adopted in 1969. Two years later, Phil surprised her for Christmas with adopted twins, Louis and Gary.
Bennett revealed in her 1990 memoir, Be My Baby, that after they married, Phil subjected her to years of psychological torment and sabotaged her career by forbidding her to perform. He surrounded their house with barbed wire and guard dogs, and confiscated her shoes to prevent her from leaving. On the rare occasions he allowed her out alone, she had to drive with a life-size dummy of Phil. Bennett stated that Phil installed a gold coffin with a glass top in the basement, promising that he would kill her and display her corpse if she ever left him.
She deserves to find peace in death.
by ti-amie I was today years old when I found out about this video with Ronnie and Eddie Money.
by dmforever It's getting so I just don't want to open this page anymore.
Kevin
by JazzNU Damn. 2022, you're not inspiring confidence. Rest in Power Andre.
by ti-amie When I was younger I always read his column in Vogue. May he RIP.
by JazzNU
by JazzNU
by JTContinental Wow, the hits just keep on coming this winter
by ti-amie I used to listen to Brazilian music a lot but the habit faded over the years. Yesterday, The Guardian, in its daily photo montage I saw a mural featuring a woman I'd never heard of. The caption said she had been named one of the Singers of the Millenium by the BBC. Elza Soares passed away at 91 in her native Rio.
This is her in 1971 from her Wiki.
The mural featured in The Guardian
When we talk about a life lived hers is one. May she RIP
Elza da Conceição Soares, known professionally as Elza Soares (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈɛwzɐ ˈswaɾis]; 23 June 1930 – 20 January 2022) was a Brazilian samba singer. In 1999, she was named Singer of the Millennium along with Tina Turner by BBC Radio.[1]
The raw emotion of her "End of the World Woman" got to me.
A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo
Elza Soares
My cry is nothing but carnival
Meu choro não é nada além de carnaval
It's a samba tear on tiptoe
É lágrima de samba na ponta dos pés
The crowd surges forward like a gale
A multidão avança como vendaval
Throw me on the avenue that I don't know which one
Me joga na avenida que não sei qualé
Pirate and Superman sing the heat
Pirata e Super Homem cantam o calor
A yellow fish kisses my hand
Um peixe amarelo beija minha mão
An angel's wings unleashed on the ground
As asas de um anjo soltas pelo chão
In the confetti rain I leave my pain
Na chuva de confetes deixo a minha dor
On the avenue I left it there
Na avenida deixei lá
The black skin and my voice
A pele preta e a minha voz
On the avenue I left it there
Na avenida deixei lá
my speech, my opinion
A minha fala, minha opinião
My home, my solitude
A minha casa, minha solidão
I played from the top of the third floor
Joguei do alto do terceiro andar
I broke my face and got rid of the rest of this life
Quebrei a cara e me livrei do resto dessa vida
On the avenue it lasts until the end
Na avenida dura até o fim
end of the world woman
Mulher do fim do mundo
I am and I will sing until the end
Eu sou e vou até o fim cantar
My cry is nothing but carnival
Meu choro não é nada além de carnaval
It's a samba tear on tiptoe
É lágrima de samba na ponta dos pés
The crowd surges forward like a gale
A multidão avança como vendaval
Throw me on the avenue that I don't know which one
Me joga na avenida que não sei qualé
Pirate and Superman sing the heat
Pirata e Super Homem cantam o calor
A yellow fish kisses my hand
Um peixe amarelo beija minha mão
An angel's wings unleashed on the ground
As asas de um anjo soltas pelo chão
In the confetti rain I leave my pain
Na chuva de confetes deixo a minha dor
On the avenue I left it there
Na avenida deixei lá
The black skin and my voice
A pele preta e a minha voz
On the avenue I left it there
Na avenida deixei lá
my speech, my opinion
A minha fala, minha opinião
My home, my solitude
A minha casa, minha solidão
I played from the top of the third floor
Joguei do alto do terceiro andar
I broke my face and got rid of the rest of this life
Quebrei a cara e me livrei do resto dessa vida
On the avenue it lasts until the end
Na avenida dura até o fim
end of the world woman
Mulher do fim do mundo
I am and I will sing until the end
Eu sou e vou até o fim cantar
end of the world woman
Mulher do fim do mundo
I am, I will sing to the end
Eu sou, eu vou até o fim cantar
Sing
Cantar
I want to sing until the end
Eu quero cantar até o fim
let me sing until the end
Me deixem cantar até o fim
Until the end I will sing
Até o fim eu vou cantar
I will sing until the end
Eu vou cantar até o fim
I am a woman from the end of the world
Eu sou mulher do fim do mundo
I will, I will, I will sing, let me sing to the end
Eu vou, eu vou, eu vou cantar, me deixem cantar até o fim
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, ya, la, la, la, ya
La, la, la, ia, la, la, la, ia
Until the end I will sing, I want to sing
Até o fim eu vou cantar, eu quero cantar
I want to sing, I will sing until the end
Eu quero é cantar, eu vou cantar até o fim
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, ia
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, ia
I will sing, I will sing, let me sing to the end
Eu vou cantar, eu vou cantar, me deixem cantar até o fim
let me sing until the end
Me deixem cantar até o fim
let me sing
Me deixem cantar
let me sing until the end
Me deixem cantar até o fim
Source: Musixmatch
by mmmm8 Sadly, MeatLoaf apparently died from COVID and was an anti-vaxxer.
His turn in Rocky Horror Picture Show will always be a favorite.
by Deuce It's not sure whether he was vaccinated or not.
I haven't read anywhere that he was 'anti-vaxx' - but he was known to be strongly against vaccine mandates and said that he'd 'rather die than go through another lockdown'.
Deuce wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:00 am
It's not sure whether he was vaccinated or not.
I haven't read anywhere that he was 'anti-vaxx' - but he was known to be strongly against vaccine mandates and said that he'd 'rather die than go through another lockdown'.
You are right, I didn't read carefully enough, he was against Covid-19 protection orders, but not clear if vaccinated.
by JazzNU Not sure about others, but I missed this news, I assume the timing (Super Bowl Sunday) may have something to do with that.
by ti-amie
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 A lovely lady. May the universe welcome her back.
by ti-amie I loved her as Hot Lips. May she RIP
by ponchi101 William Hurt has died.
One of my favorite actors of all time. I can still quote almost all of BODY HEAT.
May the universe welcome you, William.
by MJ2004 I was too young to watch Body Heat when it came out, but I loved him in Broadcast News.
by ponchi101
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:22 amI was too young to watch Body Heat when it came out, but I loved him in Broadcast News.
Well worth the search. Him and Kathleen Turner really scorched on scene, and as a noir detective movie it is almost flawless. Ted Danson is brilliant in his role, and Mickey Rourke plays a small time thief to perfection.
It was just too steamy for any sort of awards.
by ponchi101 A sad day for American politics.
Biden has ordered the flag to be flown at half staff in all federal buildings. His popularity will drop two more points.
by ptmcmahon Why would doing that lower his popularity?
by dryrunguy
ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Thu Mar 24, 2022 4:18 pm
Why would doing that lower his popularity?
Because that's generally how 25-30% of the U.S. population responds when Biden does anything.
by ptmcmahon Oh ok, thought there was some backstory I didn't know about.
by ponchi101 Because of what Dry said. For some reason, the kneejerk reaction of all Americans when a president does something decent is to dislike him for that.
You would not know, you are Canadian!
by JTContinental Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died after a long illness. He was 67.
by ti-amie He was one of my favorites. RIP.
by ponchi101 I did not recognize him by name, and then I saw the picture. He was brilliant. Indeed, may the universe welcome him.
by ti-amie This clip takes five minutes of your time. Gottfried at his loony best.
by Fastbackss That clip was great. The other "tribute" I saw online was from the roast of Hef a few weeks after 9/11.
He pivots during it to do a rendition of "The Aristocrats.". I won't post here because of how blue it was - but I will say the other comedians were rolling on the floor laughing - which is the true tribute to how masterful he was at his craft.
by ponchi101 I saw The Aristocrats. As you say, Gilbert's rendition forces you to hit PAUSE and catch your breath or you die laughing.
by dryrunguy Former Utah senator Orin Hatch (R) has died. He was 88.
by JazzNU Real broken up by that news that a raging racist, homophobic, misogynist has passed. The Never Trump and Reagan Republicans who like to pretend like the GOP was some moral and ethical space pre-2016 while they propped up the likes of Hatch, Helms, and Thurmond for decades upon decades live in glass houses as they throw stones.
by dryrunguy
JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 4:10 pm
Real broken up by that news that a raging racist, homophobic, misogynist has passed. The Never Trump and Reagan Republicans who like to pretend like the GOP was some moral and ethical space pre-2016 while they propped up the likes of Hatch, Helms, and Thurmond for decades upon decades live in glass houses as they throw stones.
I'm not following how you REALLY feel about it, Jazz...
by Deuce Naomi Judd - the mother in the mother-daughter singing duo - has died at 76 years old. "We lost our beautiful mother to the terrible disease of mental illness."
Sounds like a possible suicide.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 2:00 am
Dementia? Alzheimers?
^ Not likely, given that they were scheduled to begin touring again.
Are dementia and Alzheimer's considered 'mental illnesses'?
I don't know what the cause of death is, obviously... but when I see that the family says it was 'caused by mental illness', my first thought goes to suicide.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 2:00 am
Dementia? Alzheimers?
^ Not likely, given that they were scheduled to begin touring again.
Are dementia and Alzheimer's considered 'mental illnesses'?
I don't know what the cause of death is, obviously... but when I see that the family says it was 'caused by mental illness', my first thought goes to suicide.
The statement I read mentioned that she suffered for years from anxiety and depression.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 2:00 am
Dementia? Alzheimers?
^ Not likely, given that they were scheduled to begin touring again.
Are dementia and Alzheimer's considered 'mental illnesses'?
I don't know what the cause of death is, obviously... but when I see that the family says it was 'caused by mental illness', my first thought goes to suicide.
The statement I read mentioned that she suffered for years from anxiety and depression.
Oh wow. That makes the statement above a distinct possibility. UGH
by Deuce I just saw part of an interview done with her I don't know when - where she talked of her depression and suicidal thoughts...
She and her daughter had concrete plans to get back together and tour... They were going to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame tonight.
Tragically, suicides often precede major positive events in one's life - because these positive events accentuate their feelings of unworthiness.
by Deuce No age is immune to depression and suicide, sadly...
I don't think it's at all a co-incidence that the increased suicide rate aligns with the time that the internet began infiltrating most homes in North America - and then an even steeper increase from around the time that cell phone use exploded and internet access via cell phone was in everyone's pocket...
. Suicides Increased by 35% from 1999 to 2018...
As for the age range breakdown of suicides...
.
by JazzNU
by JazzNU ^^ You may not know him by name, but it's very likely he's appeared in one, two, or ten movies you've seen over the years. And the movies you know him from the most may not be the ones referenced in the article (which is the case for me). Many genres, over many decades. May he RIP.
by ponchi101 I consider him to be a predecessor of Willem Dafoe. A damn fine actor that was never household.
Indeed, RIP.
by Deuce Greek musician and composer Vangelis has died at 79 years old, reportedly of COVID-19.
His real name was Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou.
Here is his most well known composition - the 'Chariots of Fire' theme, followed by a lesser known collaboration with 'Yes' lead singer Jon Anderson, 'The Friends of Mr. Cairo' - their tribute to the 'golden age' of film...
by mmmm8
JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 4:10 pm
Real broken up by that news that a raging racist, homophobic, misogynist has passed. The Never Trump and Reagan Republicans who like to pretend like the GOP was some moral and ethical space pre-2016 while they propped up the likes of Hatch, Helms, and Thurmond for decades upon decades live in glass houses as they throw stones.
Agree on substance.
I did meet Orrin Hatch once. I do think there was some line of civility and general level of intelligence/wordliness that was in place with his ilk (I think Helms and Thurmond might be a notch below that ilk) that is absent in today's rising GOP ranks.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 2:00 am
Dementia? Alzheimers?
^ Not likely, given that they were scheduled to begin touring again. Are dementia and Alzheimer's considered 'mental illnesses'?
I don't know what the cause of death is, obviously... but when I see that the family says it was 'caused by mental illness', my first thought goes to suicide.
Yes, they're categorized as Neurocognitive Disorders on the DSM-5, which is what is typically accepted by mental health professionals as the list of mental health conditions.
by ponchi101 Vangelis. A towering figure in the electronic music world. I remember my first album I bought from him: Albedo 0.39, an absolute masterpiece of the genre.
I like many electronic guys, but I would put him alone at the top, together with Larry Fast (of SYNERGY fame). A bit above Jean Michel Jarre, Ennio Morriconne and Tomita.
Of course, Blade Runner being my favorite movie of all times, his soundtrack for the movie remains my default album to listen to when I am introspective.
May the Gods of Olympus welcome him. I will toast this man tonight.
JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 4:10 pm
Real broken up by that news that a raging racist, homophobic, misogynist has passed. The Never Trump and Reagan Republicans who like to pretend like the GOP was some moral and ethical space pre-2016 while they propped up the likes of Hatch, Helms, and Thurmond for decades upon decades live in glass houses as they throw stones.
Agree on substance.
I did meet Orrin Hatch once. I do think there was some line of civility and general level of intelligence/wordliness that was in place with his ilk (I think Helms and Thurmond might be a notch below that ilk) that is absent in today's rising GOP ranks.
I've seen people say things like this on here more than once. Putting a more polished and gentlemanly face on it doesn't change it from what it is. A "nice" or "kind" slave owner was still a slave owner.
JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 4:10 pm
Real broken up by that news that a raging racist, homophobic, misogynist has passed. The Never Trump and Reagan Republicans who like to pretend like the GOP was some moral and ethical space pre-2016 while they propped up the likes of Hatch, Helms, and Thurmond for decades upon decades live in glass houses as they throw stones.
Agree on substance.
I did meet Orrin Hatch once. I do think there was some line of civility and general level of intelligence/wordliness that was in place with his ilk (I think Helms and Thurmond might be a notch below that ilk) that is absent in today's rising GOP ranks.
I've seen people say things like this on here more than once. Putting a more polished and gentlemanly face on it doesn't change it from what it is. A "nice" or "kind" slave owner was still a slave owner.
I'm just saying it was a different approach to politics, I'm not saying it was better for society/humanity.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 Always got it right in his films. And HE was the actual star in Goodfellas.
Will be missed by many.
by texasniteowl oh wow. and only 67?
by ti-amie May he RIP. I loved his acting.
by ponchi101 Andrew Fletcher, keyboardist for Depeche Mode, died today of natural causes at age 60.
An indelible part of the soundtrack of my youth (meaning, from long ago).
I gather "Songs of faith and devotion" must be played tonight, in respect.
He will be be missed.
by ti-amie Depeche Mode provided most of the soundtrack for the "La Femme Nikita" television show. That's how I became a fan. RIP
by Deuce Not a good day today - one more...
Alan White - best known as the drummer for the music group 'Yes', and who was also the drummer on John Lennon's 'Imagine' and George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' - has died at 72 years old.
This is the second friend and collaborator of 'yes' lead singer Jon Anderson's to die in a week, with the other being Vangelis.
... and a rather unique acoustic version of 'Roundabout'...
.
by dryrunguy Actor Ray Liotta, best known for his role in the movie Goodfellas, has passed away. He was only 67. Apparently he died in his sleep while filming a movie in the Dominican Republic.
by JazzNU
by MJ2004 James Caan has died at age 82. RIP.
Of course, an iconic role in The Godfather.
I have a soft spot for his role in Bottle Rocket. The part was written by an unknown Wes Anderson/Owen Wilson writing team and then they convinced him to play it. Here's a quote that happened during filming:
"At one point Luke, Owen and Wes asked Caan what it was like working with the late Marlon Brando on “The Godfather.” To this Caan replied, “It’s like you guys working with me.”"
by ponchi101 Very fond of him. But, to me, Rollerball. At the time it was a breakthrough.
by Cuckoo4Coco James Caan, I know of him from his great work as Buddy The Elf's dad in the awesome Christmas Movie Elf. RIP
by ti-amie May he RIP
by ptmcmahon
Cuckoo4Coco wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:41 pm
James Caan, I know of him from his great work as Buddy The Elf's dad in the awesome Christmas Movie Elf. RIP
Strangely enough, we just were watching the fake movie trailer for that last night (where it is a "thriller" instead)
Cuckoo4Coco wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:41 pm
James Caan, I know of him from his great work as Buddy The Elf's dad in the awesome Christmas Movie Elf. RIP
Strangely enough, we just were watching the fake movie trailer for that last night (where it is a "thriller" instead)
Elf is my favorite Christmas movie.
by dryrunguy I've always thought Kathy Bates' performance in Misery was one of the best performances I've ever seen. But I also have always thought that Caan's reactions to her and interplay with her in that film made Bates' performance even more compelling. It was almost as if his primary purpose in that role was to allow her to shine even more. RIP.
by MJ2004
dryrunguy wrote:It was almost as if his primary purpose in that role was to allow her to shine even more.
I love this observation. Similar to what Ethan Hawke did in Training Day and not as easy as it looks.
by Deuce
One of the best - and most touching -movies ever made. Because it was a true story.
Here it is...
by ponchi101 Ivana Trump, Tiny's ex-wife, has died.
God, we said "This Low Life", not "His Old Wife". Pay attention, please.
by JTContinental Nichelle Nichols has died at age 89.
by ponchi101 G'bye, Bill Russell. A giant of a player, a giant of a person.
by ti-amie Lest we forget what Bill Russell and his family endured while he was playing in Boston.
by Deuce .
Vin Scully, the most genuine - and best - broadcaster sports has ever known, has died at 94 years old.
Here he is telling one of his wonderful stories - in the form of a history lesson - in the middle of a game, which he was still doing late in his career...
Classic Vin...
by JTContinental Australian superstar Olivia Newton-John has died at age 73. She battled breast cancer for over 20 years, according to the article I read on Hollywood Reporter
by Deuce That's kind of a shocker.
Even to learn that she was 73 is shocking, as I remember her most from the 'Let's Get Physical' days when she seemed to be a very fit and athletic 30 year old. I'm sure that's the image many people retained of her, as it was one of the first music videos, I believe, and was everywhere.
by dryrunguy Damn.
by ponchi101 An official part of my adolescence died.
Goodbye, ONJ. You were a gorgeous person, inside and out
by Canucklehead Some of you may not know of this brave little warrior, but many Canadians sure will and also those who follow hockey. 6 year old Ben Stelter has passed away from his battle with brain cancer. He was the super fan for the Edmonton Oilers NHL team. He rarely missed a game and loved the team so much. Not only the Edmonton Oilers, but the entire NHL is mourning the loss of this brave and strong little boy who fought this horrible disease to the bitter end. RIP, Little Angel Ben.
by JTContinental Reports that Anne Heche has been declared brain dead and removed from life support.
by Deuce
Canucklehead wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 3:44 am
Some of you may not know of this brave little warrior, but many Canadians sure will and also those who follow hockey. 6 year old Ben Stelter has passed away from his battle with brain cancer. He was the super fan for the Edmonton Oilers NHL team. He rarely missed a game and loved the team so much. Not only the Edmonton Oilers, but the entire NHL is mourning the loss of this brave and strong little boy who fought this horrible disease to the bitter end. RIP, Little Angel Ben.
JTContinental wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 4:12 am
Reports that Anne Heche has been declared brain dead and removed from life support.
I'm hearing she's still on it while they check to see if any of her organs can be donated...but otherwise the same
by ti-amie May Anne Heche RIP
by JTContinental Anne Heche has died as a result of injuries sustained last week in a high speed car crash. She was 53.
by Deuce ... and narcotics were found in her blood.
No surprise, given the accounts of her erratic and dangerous driving just prior to the main crash.
Despite (or perhaps BECAUSE OF) being a 'famous celebrity', she was obviously quite screwed up. To the point where she was not only a danger to herself, but was also a danger to others.
It's very fortunate that she didn't kill anyone else.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 One of the most important men in the 20th century.
Generally, I approved of him. RIP.
by dryrunguy As Soviet/Russian leaders go, he seemed like a more benign sort.
That said, he made the opening scene of a Naked Gun film, along with a whole bunch of nefarious leaders (see 0:14), so...
by ti-amie
by ponchi101 Our condolences to our UK members, and those other members part of the Commonwealth.
by JazzNU A true trailblazer and legend. RIP
by Deuce Troubled rapper 'Coolio' - real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr. - has died at age 59.
He was apparently found dead in a friend's bathroom.
His most well known song was 'Gangsta's Paradise' in 1995.
He was a troubled man...
WARNING - Strong Language (a lot of it)...
But he could also be endearing...
From the description of the video below: "My house mates and I acoustic jamming sesh of 'Gangster's Paradise' with the one and only Coolio. After making a guest appearance at a local club in Preston UCLAN, we got him back the next day to cook us a 3 course meal and share stories of his life and have a laugh! One of the most bizarre, surreal nights of my life. Not many people can say they've had dinner, been to Tesco supermarket and sang 'Gangster's Paradise' with Coolio."
And this interview (below) is somewhat strange... but I like and very much agree with what he says at the end of it...
Warning - some strong language again - but not as much as the first video.
(Sorry - I don't see a way of getting around the 25 second ad at the beginning)
by ti-amie May he RIP
by Deuce Country singer Loretta Lynn has died at the age of 90...
by JTContinental Legendary British actress Angela Lansbury has died at age 96
by ti-amie Lansbury's imperishable scene from "The Manchurian Candidate"
by JTContinental Character actor Leslie Jordan (probably best known for Will & Grace) has died at age 67. He suffered a medical emergency while driving and crashed his car into the side of a building.
by ti-amie 12 of Leslie Jordan's best Will & Grace moments. May he RIP
by Deuce Violent deaths in the rap world have become commonplace - from local rappers to those known internationally.
The TV wrestling world and the UFC world are similar - people within those groups are also dying young at a significantly more rapid rate than that of the average population - though in these two latter groups, there are also suicides and other causes of death to go along with the violent deaths.
It seems that every week, we hear of the death of a young person in one of these three groups.
If you play with fire, you'll eventually get burned.
by ti-amie I was aware of the group Migos mostly because they came up from time to time in music/rap threads on Twitter. It's sad that the person who got pissed because he was losing a craps game is a member of the group and was literally just shooting at random.
by JazzNU Not sure where you're getting that, but the investigation hasn't concluded and there are a lot of unsubstantiated claims about what went on that should be taken with a large grain of salt.
by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: ↑Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:16 am
Not sure where you're getting that, but the investigation hasn't concluded and there are a lot of unsubstantiated claims about what went on that should be taken with a large grain of salt.
That was the original report I saw.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 Didn't know she is his daughter.
May the universe receive him.
by texasniteowl
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 14, 2022 7:18 pm
Didn't know she is his daughter.
May the universe receive him.
It was a big thing at one time in the media because they were estranged for a long time. I think they did reconcile at some point. I hope that is the case anyway. RIP.
by JazzNU They reconciled awhile ago. She presented the lifetime achievement award to him at the Daytime Emmys. No way she does that if they weren't back on good terms.
Not trying to make this about Jennifer though. He was fantastic on Days of Our Lives. They were lucky to have him and the show wouldn't have been anywhere as good without him. Victor Kiriakis was of the best villains ever on daytime soaps.
by ti-amie I really enjoyed his character on Days of our Lives. RIP
by JTContinental I’m seeing reports that Nick Bolletierri has passed at age 91, following a long illness.
by ponchi101 He changed the game, inside and out of the court. Some for good, some for other.
But I found him an honest man. RIP.
by ti-amie RIP
by JTContinental There are now conflicting reports that this may have been a false alarm. I'm seeing a statement supposedly from Nick other people's Twitter accounts and linked to Nick's official Instagram page stating he's still alive and kicking. However, I don't actually see that post when I go to his IG page.
by Deuce I see nothing official announcing Bollettieri's death. Some are speculating - other tennis forums, some 2nd rate online tennis sites... but no official announcement.
The only official statement I've seen comes from Nick's daughter, which states that he "is close to transitioning to the next place", with a photo. It can be seen here... https://tennistonic.com/tennis-news/489 ... pass-away/
In every case, out of respect for the individual and their family, people should wait until official confirmation of one's death before speculating or announcing anything about it online/publicly.
by ti-amie
by ti-amie
Deuce wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 10:57 pm
I see nothing official announcing Bollettieri's death. Some are speculating - other tennis forums, some 2nd rate online tennis sites... but no official announcement.
The only official statement I've seen comes from Nick's daughter, which states that he "is close to transitioning to the next place", with a photo. It can be seen here... https://tennistonic.com/tennis-news/489 ... pass-away/
In every case, out of respect for the individual and their family, people should wait until official confirmation of one's death before speculating or announcing anything about it online/publicly.
by ponchi101 Well, good that it was not true.
How come that happened?
by JTContinental
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:14 pm
Well, good that it was not true.
How come that happened?
Twitter, as usual, where rumors spread like wildfire.
Fleetwood Mac's songs are too numerous to mention. But here is one that few people know she wrote, because it was recorded by numerous others, as well as this original Fleetwood Mac version...
by ponchi101 A part of my youth. May the universe welcome you, Christine
by ti-amie Thanks for posting that Deuce. May she Rest in Peace.
by dryrunguy I think I have become my maternal grandmother. When I was little kid and would go to her house, it involved 2 or more hours of listening to who had died, who had "parted", etc. A buffet of bad news.
But now that I am older, I catch myself, at times, being affected by news of death. Much more often than I was when I was a kid.
I know it's the product of getting older.
I just don't like it.
For the record, Everywhere is my favorite Fleetwood Mac/Christine McVie song. It's the only Fleetwood Mac song I have on my playlist. I can't put my finger on it, but that song just always resonated with me. (Don't care for the music video, though.) Strange how that song has recently popped up in advertisements--after all this time.
And now this. RIP.
by ponchi101
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 12:29 am
I think I have become my maternal grandmother. When I was little kid and would go to her house, it involved 2 or more hours of listening to who had died, who had "parted", etc. A buffet of bad news.
But now that I am older, I catch myself, at times, being affected by news of death. Much more often than I was when I was a kid.
I know it's the product of getting older.
I just don't like it.
For the record, Everywhere is my favorite Fleetwood Mac/Christine McVie song. It's the only Fleetwood Mac song I have on my playlist. I can't put my finger on it, but that song just always resonated with me. (Don't care for the music video, though.) Strange how that song has recently popped up in advertisements--after all this time.
And now this. RIP.
...
And the random function in the music player brings memories without a warning. Sometimes, very good and warm memories. But sometimes...
by New England Nitemare This is sad news indeed. I love Fleetwood Mac. Christine McVie is one of my favorite singers. I got to see the classic Fleetwood Mac Line-up in Boston back in 2016. It was one great concert. Fleetwood Mac had so many great songs, it's hard for me to choose one. Say You Love Me and Over My Head might be my two favorite songs that Christine sang lead on. RIP Ms. McVie
by ti-amie
by skatingfan
by mmmm8 Probably the most influential coach in tennis in the last half-century. May he RIP
by ponchi101
mmmm8 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:57 pmProbably the most influential coach in tennis in the last half-century. May he RIP
For sure. The basic architect of the modern "Big Forehand and little else" game. He was there developing Arias, Krickstein and many others.
I never liked that approach, but it was his and he had success with it. Indeed, RIP.
by ptmcmahon For anyone who grew up on Sesame Street like I did...
by ti-amie His influence over US tennis can't be denied. He created the big forehand approach and while that tactic is beginning to weaken it will affect at least another generation of US players.
May he RIP
by ashkor87 Waiting to hear what his students like Agassi and McEnroe have to say...
by ashkor87 On the plus side-:he transformed tennis into a game of global scale and scope..on the minus side, he tried to create clones of Arias and Krickstein..and destroyed an entire generation of US players ...
by ponchi101 Agassi has posted condolences and a short message of how much he was a friend.
I don't recall Mac being a student of him. When Bolletieri's first "big" player came around (Arias) mac was already an established player.
About him destroying a full generation of US players. I am not sure I would go that far. But he stunted a few; his reliance on only forehands was not good for everybody.
by Deuce I was not/am not a fan of his 'assembly line' way of trying to turn every player into essentially a clone of the type of player he wanted to see.
As others have noted, his approach was far too one-dimensional for my liking, as well.
He obviously had a major impact/influence on the game. But, honestly, I liked the game better before his input.
That said, here's Leylah's little tribute - a photo of her and younger sister Bianca (and an unidentified boy) with Nick from it seems about 10 or 12 years ago...
by MJ2004 Kirstie Alley has died of cancer. She was 71. RIP.
by ashkor87
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:52 am
Agassi has posted condolences and a short message of how much he was a friend.
I don't recall Mac being a student of him. When Bolletieri's first "big" player came around (Arias) mac was already an established player.
About him destroying a full generation of US players. I am not sure I would go that far. But he stunted a few; his reliance on only forehands was not good for everybody.
If you read Agassi's Open...as for McEnroe, he did briefly attend the academy but left soon..later, I remember him saying Nick doesn't know a xxx thing about tennis!
by dryrunguy Kirstie Alley, arguably best known for her role on Cheers, has died after a brief battle with cancer. She was 71.
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:14 am
Kirstie Alley, arguably best known for her role on Cheers, has died after a brief battle with cancer. She was 71.
by MJ2004 Because I live in a black hole news-wise, I did not know she was a Trump supporter/Republican and a loon. I vaguely remember some older controversy about her but not what it was.
I’ll just remember her from Cheers. Enough said.
by ti-amie
by ponchi101 You can feel this thing slowly starting to spiral down a toilet...
(And I am trying to be respectful of her. I mean the QAnon loonies).
by MJ2004 The FT ran an obituary on Nick Bolletieri:
Nick Bollettieri, tennis coach, 1931-2022
His methods were notorious, but the best young players flocked to his Florida academy
After a young Andre Agassi won an important match while wearing jeans, make-up and earrings, his coach Nick Bollettieri summoned him to appear in front of his 200 tennis academy classmates. As punishment for having “defiled” the centre of excellence, Agassi was sentenced to scrub all the toilets on site. At the next tournament, his coach threatened him, he would have to play wearing a skirt.
Few people can claim to have produced more champions than the self-styled “Michelangelo of tennis”. Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and both the Williams sisters all trained under the watchful eye of Bollettieri, the groundbreaking instructor, who has died aged 91.
In the late 1970s, Bollettieri pioneered the live-in academy for young athletes looking to achieve greatness. But his methods were as notorious as they were innovative. He would stand bare-chested on the court, berating his young protégés over every stray shot or wrongly angled grip, as they repeated the same actions thousands of times over.
The vision was to gather together the best young players in one place where they would “play, break rackets, gamble, fight, punch”. Students were banned from watching TV, listening to the radio, eating junk food or calling home during the week. Punishment for misdemeanours on the court involved forced runs without water. But at the end of every training session, the kids would file past their mentor uttering the mantra, “Thanks, Nick.”
In his memoirs, Agassi described the academy as a “glorified prison camp. And not all that glorified.” Yet those aiming for the top continued to flock there. And despite Bollettieri’s abrasive and obsessive reputation — he woke every morning at 4:30am to stretch and lift weights — many of those he taught speak of him affectionately as a substitute parent. They became winners too. Of the tens of thousands of players who trained under him, ten would reach the rank of world number one.
“I was living my dream”, Sharapova, who joined the academy aged eight, told the FT in 2015. “I saw all these great champions come through and practise. And I woke up every morning and couldn’t wait for my alarm to ring at 6.30am and go and have my lesson.”
Nicholas James Bollettieri was born in 1931 in the town of Pelham, New York. His parents were Italian immigrants. He was a quarterback on the high school football team, before his uncle convinced him to try the “sissy sport” of tennis.
After studying philosophy at college in Alabama, Bollettieri joined the army, becoming a paratrooper and reaching the rank of lieutenant. His time in the military would be central to his coaching ethos later in life. “I began to learn a lot being a paratrooper — discipline, the feeling you’re the best in the world, that you can do anything,” he said.
After leaving the armed forces in 1957, he enrolled to study law at the University of Miami. To help make ends meet, he began offering tennis lessons for $1.50 an hour, despite having no experience as a coach and not much more as a player. After less than a year, he dropped his studies to devote himself to tennis.
“A lot of coaches know far more tennis than I do”, he said. “What I do know is how to work with you as a person.”
In 1961, he spotted Brian Gottfried, then nine years old, on the court and took him under his wing. Gottfried would later become Bollettieri’s first successful product, reaching number 3 in the world in 1977.
That same year, after a spell teaching rich hotel clients to play tennis, he landed at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort near Sarasota, Florida. A year later, he would establish the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
He went on to borrow $1mn to turn 40 acres of tomato plants in Bradenton, Florida into a sprawling tennis boot camp, which opened in 1981. Agassi referred to his time there as “Lord of the Flies with forehands”, but attended for free. His father only had the money to pay for three months’ tuition, but Bollettieri called him to say he was “tearing up the cheque” after seeing how good he was. The pair had an emotional split in 1993, soon after Agassi won the first of his eight Grand Slam titles.
Bollettieri was known for his trouble managing money. And with financial problems looming, he sold the academy to IMG in 1987. But he stayed on to run it.
Today the site covers around 600 acres, and teaches a wide range of sports to 1,200 full-time boarders and thousands more children and adults who attend sports camps there. In 2014, Bollettieri was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, one of only four coaches to receive the accolade.
Josh Noble
by JazzNU Ceremony to retire his number was this weekend, and other special commemoration for the 50th Anniversary of the Immaculate Reception as well. He's been celebrated plenty in his retirement, but very sad he was unable to have enjoy those celebrations this weekend. RIP
by ti-amie May he RIP. That catch still makes you sit up and cheer.
by ptmcmahon Once Madden left last year I guess he no longer needed to defend the catch anymore? They even referenced it at the end of the Raiders game this weekend - "50 years after the immaculate reception, what do we call this?" RIP. Brother is a die hard Steelers fan and was excited for this weekend.
by ti-amie
RIP Edson Arantes do Nascimento
by ti-amie
by ponchi101 Mexico 70 was the first World Cup that was televised LIVE worldwide. So, not only was he the greatest football star ever. He was, perhaps, the first worldwide sports star, because he so dominated that tournament.
One case of being in the right place at the right time. My father bought a new, larger TV for Germany 74, and it was basically to watch Brasil play. And you watched Brasil because even though Pele was no longer the great player, he was still Pele.
by dryrunguy My understanding is he suffered horribly in the end. It always breaks my heart when that happens. RIP.
by ponchi101
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 12:28 am
My understanding is he suffered horribly in the end. It always breaks my heart when that happens. RIP.
Colon cancer. Not that there is any cancer that is "easy" but that one is especially rough. Unless it is discovered at a super early stage, your chances are negligible.
by Deuce Journalist Barbara Walters has died at 93 years old.
by Suliso Pope Benedict XVI has died age 95.
by Fastbackss Quite a triumvirate
by MJ2004 I don't think Vivian Westwood has been mentioned here, who died at age 81.
by ti-amie
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:38 pm
I don't think Vivian Westwood has been mentioned here, who died at age 81.
When I think of her I think of her wild ideas but then someone posted this the other day and I realized that Ms Westwood had a career before she went full "bohemian".
May she RIP
This is what she is known for though...
Two of the three gowns shown in the montage were designed by andreas kronthaler after he became creative director of vw
Via o•o @bluballisters
by ti-amie I knew I had seen this picture and I finally found it again.
by ponchi101 Jeff Beck, without a doubt one of the finest guitar players of the rock era, has died.
He stands with a few others in the serious contention for #2 as the best guitar player of all time. He was truly special. RIP.
by ptmcmahon Well I had to google some lists to see where he would rank. Not sure what the Best one to go by was, but Rolling Stone has it Hendrix/Clapton/Page/Richards/Beck.
I was a little surprised to see Keith Richards #4
by ponchi101 Clapton at #2. A guy that plays just one chord.
Well, everybody to his own taste.
by ptmcmahon I don't get that? I don't know him as a one chord player? I mean the most well known song is Layla of course which I wouldn't call a one chord song
by JazzNU Definitely gone too soon. Her cause of death is breast cancer. I didn't remember her name like the other supermodels of that time, but her face is very recognizable and I easily remember her from the Freedom video.
by JazzNU
by Deuce Like many children of 'celebrities', Lisa Marie Presley had a troubled life... Addiction issues, several marriages and divorces... a son who committed suicide...
It's very sad that she died without experiencing peace and happiness in her life.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 The three goddesses of Italian cinema of the 60's: Sofia Loren, Gina, and Claudia Cardinale.
RIP, Gina.
by ti-amie
by ponchi101 The soundtrack of a lot of people's youth.
RIP.
by JazzNU Where my mind went beyond his music
by Deuce While David Crosby was an integral part of some influential musical groups who created great music, he was also a complicated and troubled man who alienated many friends due to his personality.
by JazzNU So sad. Quite shocking. She was great in everything I saw her in.
by Owendonovan ^What is the deal with gofundme's for any death not occurring at the prescribed time society demands? $250k for a family who likely is doing ok financially? Gofundme's too often rub the wrong the way for me.
by skatingfan
Owendonovan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:25 pm
^What is the deal with gofundme's for any death not occurring at the prescribed time society demands? $250k for a family who likely is doing ok financially? Gofundme's too often rub the wrong the way for me.
Funerals are expensive, and then add in the costs of lawyers, and other representatives, it can get pretty costly.
by ptmcmahon Which is the same issues non Hollywood people have too They just haven't potentially made millions on TV/in movies.
Owendonovan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:25 pm
^What is the deal with gofundme's for any death not occurring at the prescribed time society demands? $250k for a family who likely is doing ok financially? Gofundme's too often rub the wrong the way for me.
Not everyone is prepared for the financial burden that comes with a lengthy illness or untimely death. Gofundme wasn't a thing before, but people used to set up funds, informally or formally, for families and friends to donate to long ago, especially when, like this, there were young children left behind. She had 3 sons.
I just took a look at Annie's GoFund Me. If you're familiar with her work and look at the donation page, you'll find most of the top donations are from her co-workers and friends and it was setup by an actress that was a co-worker and friend. It's just a modern way to go about an older practice to me. The sharing of it publicly is different, but not much else.
I wouldn't assume that Annie's family was financially well off. I'd have to assume she was the breadwinner by a hefty margin in her family, and she's well known, but far from a household name. More often a recurring character than a leading one. I'd think she'd have to keep working to maintain whatever their current comfortable livelihood is.
by Deuce The HUGE difference, of course, between then and now in terms of 'setting up funds' after someone dies is that 'GoFundMe' and similar services reach FAR MORE people than the old methods ever did.
Because the internet is... uhh... much further reaching - worldwide, in fact...
More people reached equals more money received, obviously.
Therefore, any comparisons between 'setting up funds' pre-internet and 'setting up funds' since the internet is beyond apples and oranges.
by ptmcmahon True we can't assume. But still seems a little off to me - like you said they probably had a comfortable livelihood. So asking for money to maintain then when there are plenty of others who wouldn't have had that lifestyle...but like you said it was setup for by a friend, so it's probably just weirder to see it so publicly I guess.
Owendonovan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:25 pm
^What is the deal with gofundme's for any death not occurring at the prescribed time society demands? $250k for a family who likely is doing ok financially? Gofundme's too often rub the wrong the way for me.
Funerals are expensive, and then add in the costs of lawyers, and other representatives, it can get pretty costly.
Owendonovan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:25 pm
^What is the deal with gofundme's for any death not occurring at the prescribed time society demands? $250k for a family who likely is doing ok financially? Gofundme's too often rub the wrong the way for me.
Funerals are expensive, and then add in the costs of lawyers, and other representatives, it can get pretty costly.
What are the lawyers for in such a case?
Splitting the inheritance, especially if she left no written will. Paying off any debts, settling estate taxes. Mortgages, loans, etc.
If you are rich, better have a will at any time of your life. Otherwise, it can get messy. And, if your family is not harmonious, it can get very messy.
by Suliso I haven't got a will... Have you?
by ponchi101
Suliso wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:17 pm
I haven't got a will... Have you?
Yes. I have to update it because there are some things that have changed, but basically, all the info on where my money is and what I own is there.
A will down to who gets my watches (I have a small collection).
My racquets are to be buried with me. Or cremated with me.
by Suliso Wow, that's impressive!
by ptmcmahon Even in simple cases you need lawyers. When my dad died he left house to my mom and then split his investments four ways between me and siblings. We were all 100% harmonious but still needed lawyer to open probate, etc etc.
by JazzNU I don't think it was meant to do this, but this is ignoring that an actress in her 40s passed away. One that I really enjoyed and one that I'll miss seeing in future projects. Usually there's discussion that might distract on people who have lived sht lives and who gives a damn, but that's not the case with Annie. So, I hope people are actually taking note she unfortunately passed away from cancer.
And Barrett Strong also passed away as posted above and that may have been missed as well. He's also a singer not just a Motown songwriter and you're likely familiar with his song Money. But you've certainly heard of many of the songs he wrote including Heard it Through the Grapevine, War, and several of The Temptations' hit songs.
He wrote the music to many songs we know well - including these two...
And here he is at 86 years old, with one of his most well known songs...
by ti-amie Oh wow. He and Dionne gave us so much wonderful music. RIP
by ponchi101 A lot of the music from my childhood. Too many memories. RIP.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie De La Soul was always and probably still is considered the most influential group in it's genre. It's on me that I listened to one of their tracks for the first time today and I have to say I was impressed by what he and his group were doing back then.
May he RIP
by ponchi101 Rachel Welch has died, at age 82.
I hope it is understood I say this with the upmost respect: an angel becomes an angel. RIP.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie May she RIP
by skatingfan
by JazzNU
by ti-amie Belzer was one of my faves. May he RIP
by JazzNU This put a smile on my face
by ptmcmahon Not mentioned here yet but Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. I don't know a lot about his presidency but from what I've seen it seems like he was an extraordinary human being.
by JazzNU
ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 4:13 am
Not mentioned here yet but Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. I don't know a lot about his presidency but from what I've seen it seems like he was an extraordinary human being.
Indeed he is. It was posted about in the Politics thread. I think there or National News is where you'll hear about him until we get to this point.
ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 4:13 am
Not mentioned here yet but Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. I don't know a lot about his presidency but from what I've seen it seems like he was an extraordinary human being.
Indeed he is. It was posted about in the Politics thread. I think there or National News is where you'll hear about him until we get to this point.
He is more revered for the humanitarian work he has done since being president.
by ptmcmahon Oops sorry, I usually don't go the national news thread... makes sense though!
by skatingfan Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, who starred in 'Away From Her,' has died at 92
Gordon Pinsent, the adored Canadian actor whose career hit its peak well into his 70s with an award-winning performance as the heartbroken husband in “Away From Her,” has died.
Pinsent died on Saturday evening at age 92, his friend actor Mark Critch confirmed.
The Newfoundland native, a household name in Canada for decades after his many appearances on stage and screen, became known internationally after his Genie Award-winning turn as Grant in Sarah Polley's acclaimed directorial debut.
His dignified portrayal so impressed Daniel Day-Lewis, who went on to win the best actor Oscar in 2008 for “There Will Be Blood,” that he sent an email to Polley praising Pinsent's performance as one of the most “astonishing” he'd ever seen.
Those types of kudos tickled the modest Pinsent. Well into the final years of his life, the actor remained mischievous, giggly and often as giddy as a schoolboy whenever any praise was sent his way.
“Now you see, I don't talk that way about myself, so I was pleased — it was just terrific,” Pinsent said with a laugh in an interview with The Canadian Press of Day-Lewis's email and the continuing raves he was getting for “Away From Her,” especially since he didn't garner the kind of international awards recognition some critics said he deserved for the role.
Pinsent was "suave, classy elegant, well-spoken," said Critch, a fellow Newfoundlander and family friend who says he became close with Pinsent after working they worked together on a YouTube project.
Actors in Canada are following "on a path that (Pinsent) cut through a forest," said Critch in a phone interview.
"He never forgot anything. Like he would call you on Christmas, he'd call you on your birthday, he'd call you on Father's Day, and we'd have a Facetime or a call," said Critch.
"I will miss my great mentor and this hero, this giant colossus of Canadian entertainment, but I'll miss my friend Gordon Pinsent from Newfoundland because he was an even better friend than he was an actor," said Critch.
Born in Grand Falls, N.L., in 1930, Pinsent was the youngest of six children born to Stephen Pinsent, a papermill worker and cobbler, and his wife, Flossie.
The actor described himself as an awkward child who once suffered from rickets. His schoolmates called him “Porky.”
But by the age of 17, the previously shy Pinsent had discovered acting, and was soon performing in stage productions in Newfoundland and then further afield, in Winnipeg. Possessing a deep baritone, Pinsent also took on roles in radio drama on the CBC, and before long moved on to film and television too.
In the early 1950s, Pinsent took a break from acting and joined the Canadian Army, serving for about four years.
But acting remained his true love, and he became a stalwart on some children's shows in the early 1960s, including CBC's “The Forest Rangers.” He went on to appear in dozens of Canada's best-known television shows, including “The Red Green Show,” “Due South,” “Wind at My Back” and Paul Gross's “H20: The Last Prime Minister.”
Pinsent's film resume was equally impressive. He wrote and starred in “The Rowdyman,” a Canadian classic about a troubled Newfoundlander whose best intentions go unnoticed by those closest to him.
Pinsent also had memorable roles in “Who Has Seen The Wind” and “The Shipping News,” a major Hollywood production starring Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett. Pinsent played newspaperman Billy Pretty in the 2001 film, and also cheerfully provided lessons in perfecting the Newfoundland accent to the rest of the cast.
In 2013 he starred in Don McKellar's acclaimed Newfoundland-set comedy "The Grand Seduction," which earned him a Canadian Screen Award for best supporting actor.
But it was “Away From Her,” a role that came to him when he was 76, that truly sealed his reputation as a “national institution,” as Polley once described him.
The actress and director said from the moment she finished reading the Alice Munro short story, “The Bear Came Over The Mountain,” she envisioned a film starring Pinsent as Grant, the bewildered husband who loses his wife of 45 years not just to Alzheimer's, but to another man. Pinsent was happy to oblige.
“She didn't have much convincing to do,” Pinsent said in an interview in February 2007. “You know, you can be a working actor in this country all your life, and it's just terrific, but you don't always get the stuff that's a bit more challenging.”
“Away From Her” was particularly poignant for him - his own wife of 45 years, actress Charmion King, died just a couple of months before the film's mainstream release, forcing Pinsent to re-examine the many themes of quiet despair explored in “Away From Her.”
“It was something I wasn't necessarily drawing on except in the general sense of how anyone must feel at a certain time of life after spending so many years with a partner,” an emotional Pinsent said during the interview, conducted just a few weeks after King's death from emphysema.
“It's almost impossible to grasp ... how do you prepare? Where does love go? Where do you go, the leftover?”
King and Pinsent had one child together, actress Leah Pinsent. Pinsent also had two children from an earlier marriage, Barry and Beverly.
Leah Pinsent was extremely close to her father, accompanying him to many events in the aftermath of her mother's death and honouring him in June 2007 when he was inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame. She described her father as her “truest inspiration and one of my best friends” at the event.
Pinsent, for his part, brought the house down with his joke about fellow inductees Nickelback, the Alberta rock band.
“Nickelback! What can you say? I've got all their LPs and 45s!” he said as the crowd roared.
Pinsent's sense of humour, in fact, was one of his most endearing qualities, and was in full force during the making of “Away From Her.”
At a pre-Genie brunch honouring the film in March 2008, Pinsent told of hijinks involving his co-star, Julie Christie, an animal rights activist and environmentalist.
He came to the set one day and told Christie that he'd bought a Prius, the environmentally friendly electric automobile favoured by celebrities.
“She said: ‘Good for you, Gordon.' And I told her how quiet the car was, and how lovely that was, and she agreed. And then I said: ‘All the better for sneaking up on the baby seals!' And she wasn't too happy about that.”
But for all the outpouring of praise and admiration for Pinsent in the wake of “Away From Her,” movie offers didn't come pouring in after its release. He got passed up for a role in a Tom Cruise film, and turned down a part in a Luke Wilson movie.
“I suppose if I was out there pounding the pavement and working rooms, there might be more coming my way, but that's just not me,” Pinsent said. “I don't work rooms anymore. I tried that as a younger man and didn't like it very much.”
After his role in the 1968 Steve McQueen movie, “The Thomas Crown Affair,” and playing the U.S. president in the Milos Forman film, “Colossus: The Forbin Project,” Pinsent and King lived in L.A. for six years in an attempt to launch his Hollywood career.
“I did a lot of stuff, a few movies, four pilots that didn't go anywhere, but I was brought down to play the president in ‘Colossus,' the Forman project that became kind of a cult thing with university students. So I decided to hang out down there for awhile, but it was because I started to write that I came back,” he recalled.
“I wanted to work where I wanted to live. You could spend three or four lifetimes down there, just standing around waiting for something, waiting for good material to happen.”
Pinsent, in fact, wrote his novel “The Rowdyman” while he was in Los Angeles, but wanted to film it in his beloved Newfoundland. The Pinsents returned to Canada and stayed put.
“I had a chance to sell it down there but didn't. I wanted to do it on my own home turf, and it cost very little — it was coffee money for most movies, and it was great to be home.”
Throughout his life, in fact, the actor remained devoted to his native province, returning two or three times a year to visit his brothers.
“I kind of need to go there a lot,” Pinsent said. “I began to write from that place, from that perspective. But the family used to be much larger; it's dwindled now, even though my nephews and nieces make up half the island.”
Pinsent's lifelong passion for creating never faded — in 2018 he released a short film he wrote and self-funded called "Martin's Hagge," about a middle-aged writer burdened by a personified version of anxiety and depression.
“I really love writing ... writing is good, it's even better than good when you hit those peaks, and it's the same feeling oddly enough in acting. It's that lovely thing where you get that zone, that peak of joy, and it reminds you of why you started it all.”
by skatingfan Chaim Topol, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ actor, dies age 87
By Hafsa Khalil, CNN
Updated 10:10 AM EST, Thu March 9, 2023
CNN
—
Chaim Topol, the actor best known for playing Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” has died in Israel following “a long illness,” his representative confirmed to CNN Thursday. He was 87.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to Topol on Thursday and conveyed his condolences, calling him a “multi-faceted artist, with great charisma and energy.”
“Sadly, the fiddler on the roof is no longer with us. The strings of the fiddle have fallen silent. The story of Haim Topol’s life has been sealed but I am certain that his contribution to Israeli culture will live on for generations,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “He greatly loved the land of Israel, and the people of Israel loved him in return.”
Born September 9, 1935 in Tel Aviv, Topol was known by his surname throughout his career.
He began his career as an actor after being assigned to the entertainment troop while doing army service in Israel. It was while serving that he also met his future wife, Galia Topol.
His acting saw him win many international film awards, including two Golden Globes: Most promising newcomer in 1965 for playing in the title role “Sallah Shabati” and best actor in a motion picture comedy or musical for “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1972.
He was also Oscar-nominated for his performance of Tevye the milkman in 1971.
Other notable roles he played were Dr. Hans Zarkov in “Flash Gordon” (1980) and Milos Columbo alongside Roger Moore’s James Bond in “For Your Eyes Only” (1981).
Although Topol is recognized for his acclaimed part in a musical, music was like “organized noise” for the actor-singer, who said he couldn’t play an instrument or read music.
“I actually was deprived of music until the age of 12,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 1983. “We didn’t have a radio in the house.”
Before the big screen foray as Tevye, Topol said he had temporarily filled in the role on stage in Tel Aviv, and was later asked to play the part in London’s West End.
“They were very brave to let me have that part … Considering that my English was so limited,” with a “vocabulary of 50 words,” he added. “I still don’t understand how they let me have the part.”
Eight years ago, Netanyahu awarded Topol with the Israel Prize, which is regarded as the country’s most prestigious and highest form of honor in culture.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also released a statement on Twitter Thursday, paying tribute to the late actor.
“From fiddler on the roof to the roof of the world, Haim Topol, who has passed away from us, was one of the most outstanding Israeli stage artists, a gifted actor who conquered many stages in Israel and overseas, filled the cinema screens with his presence and above all entered deep into our hearts.”
According to Herzog and Netanyahu, Topol was also involved in charity work with sick and disabled children.
“Topol was one of the giants of Israeli culture and he will be greatly missed,” Herzog tweeted.
Topol is survived by his wife and their three children.
by ti-amie He's the actor I always remember in that role. May he RIP
by JazzNU Two versions of posts about this. Wild that some are leaving out the murder charge aspect from the headline.
by Scoob May they both RIP.
by JazzNU This one hurts.
by ponchi101 It does. One fantastic song, from my youth. The rest of the album was a bit odd, but interesting.
Will play it later on.
by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:01 pm
This one hurts.
May he RIP.
by ponchi101 I just played "What you don't do..."
It is a perfect tune.
by Fastbackss
by JazzNU I'm gonna go cry. Not Lance! Rest in Power.
by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:29 pm
I'm gonna go cry. Not Lance! Rest in Power.
Loved him and his work. RIP
by ponchi101 He was brilliant in the J. Wick movies. And too young to go. RIP.
by mmmm8 Oh no, much too young! He was brilliant in The Wire and also on Bosch.
by JazzNU
by ponchi101 Never saw him. Before my time. But a man just a tiny step below Russel and Chamberlain.
by JazzNU
by ti-amie He fought long and hard. May he Rest in deserved Peace
by dryrunguy An icon and groundbreaker. RIP.
by ponchi101 Jerry Springer has died.
How influential was this man on today's culture? The show was a total disgrace; I believe that can be agreed upon. But that it was also completely influential is without a doubt. How much of today's Kardasian culture is linked to his show and that style?
Sure, R.I.P. He was not a criminal or anything like that. But I would like to see some study about how that single show changed so many things. If it did.
by JazzNU
by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 3:32 pm
Sure, R.I.P. He was not a criminal or anything like that.
The actual opposite, which is why I posted the above announcement. It's important to remember he had a full, respectable multi-faceted career before he had The Jerry Springer Show.
by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 3:32 pm
Jerry Springer has died.
How influential was this man on today's culture? The show was a total disgrace; I believe that can be agreed upon. But that it was also completely influential is without a doubt. How much of today's Kardasian culture is linked to his show and that style?
It was influential, but not to the level you seem to be giving it to me at all. The Kardashians? No. And Jerry Springer was far from a pioneer in that brand of talk show genre, so others like Geraldo Rivera would be examples of being as influential in shaping that brand of TV at that time.
by ti-amie I think without Springer the Trashians, and all the various Housewives shows, some of which use actual criminals in their story lines, wouldn't have come about. In that sense he was a pioneer and it is a shame that that is what he will be remembered for. May he RIP.
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 3:32 pm
Jerry Springer has died.
How influential was this man on today's culture? The show was a total disgrace; I believe that can be agreed upon. But that it was also completely influential is without a doubt. How much of today's Kardasian culture is linked to his show and that style?
It was influential, but not to the level you seem to be giving it to me at all. The Kardashians? No. And Jerry Springer was far from a pioneer in that brand of talk show genre, so others like Geraldo Rivera would be examples of being as influential in shaping that brand of TV at that time.
As I say, I would like to know. Geraldo had a veneer of journalism that saved him from many criticisms; of course, he was NOT a real journalist but people than started to believe that was a proper way to report the news. Springer (and, BTW, I never as much as saw one single show of his) got rid of even that patina of respectability. It was who can scream and shout the loudest.
Therefore, I do wonder about his level of influence. How much is he responsible for the modern concept of washing the dirty laundry in public as acceptable spectacle?
by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:53 pm
As I say, I would like to know. Geraldo had a veneer of journalism that saved him from many criticisms; of course, he was NOT a real journalist but people than started to believe that was a proper way to report the news. Springer (and, BTW, I never as much as saw one single show of his) got rid of even that patina of respectability. It was who can scream and shout the loudest.
Therefore, I do wonder about his level of influence. How much is he responsible for the modern concept of washing the dirty laundry in public as acceptable spectacle?
I gave Geraldo as an example because I thought it was a name you would recognize. Morton Downey Jr. and Richard Bey are others who I didn't think you'd know but who popularized this form before Jerry. Jerry's show was a copycat, not an original in any way. It was unsuccessful and had to remodel itself into a new format borrowing from more successful shows at the time, of that ilk and a few others that weren't nearly as controversial, to become popular.
by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 6:37 pm
I think without Springer the Trashians, and all the various Housewives shows, some of which use actual criminals in their story lines, wouldn't have come about. In that sense he was a pioneer and it is a shame that that is what he will be remembered for. May he RIP.
I completely disagree. And I think one of the issues here is that your and @ponchi's perception may come from outside. Have you guys watched any of the shows you are talking about? And if so, for how long? Because I have watched just about everything that was highly influential for an extended period of time at one point or another of the various influences of what is current reality TV. I think if you understand and appreciate the appeal of the genre, than you'd get more why I'm saying Springer and the like aren't heavy influences of it at all.
by ti-amie I admit I've never watched "reality" tv unless you count HGTV and Food Network (when it was really about food and cooking) those kind of shows as part of the genre.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 6:37 pm
I think without Springer the Trashians, and all the various Housewives shows, some of which use actual criminals in their story lines, wouldn't have come about. In that sense he was a pioneer and it is a shame that that is what he will be remembered for. May he RIP.
I completely disagree. And I think one of the issues here is that your and @ponchi's perception may come from outside. Have you guys watched any of the shows you are talking about? And if so, for how long? Because I have watched just about everything that was highly influential for an extended period of time at one point or another of the various influences of what is current reality TV. I think if you understand and appreciate the appeal of the genre, than you'd get more why I'm saying Springer and the like aren't heavy influences of it at all.
Oh, you have me there. I never saw a single Springer show, and never have watched a single KUWTK or RHOf. Plus, didn't even know the names you are mentioning, so I gather I yield. Txs.
by patrick Jerry, Jerry, Jerry
by JazzNU
by JazzNU
by JTContinental This one stings
Legendary rock icon Tina Turner has died at age 83
by ti-amie
by ti-amie
by ti-amie
by ti-amie And a brief "Simply the Best"
by Owendonovan
Pat Robertson, conservative evangelist and Christian Coalition founder, dies at 93
Early in his 1988 presidential bid, he was criticized for appearing to exaggerate his military service record. In interviews at the time, Marine veterans claimed that Robertson, the son of a politician, used political influence to avoid hard combat duty. Robertson denied the allegations.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Roberson and fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell were harshly condemned for appearing to put blame on abortion doctors, feminists, gay people and the American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pa ... -rcna61662
by ponchi101 Let's not forget. Katrina slammed and destroyed New Orleans because one single lesbian comedian lived there. God did not decide to kill such comedian (heart attack, cancer, conveniently located banana peel on a sidewalk in Bourbon Street, lightning) but rather destroyed a city and killed thousands because of what one adult was doing with another of the same sex.
Hard to feel sorry indeed.
by ponchi101 On the hard to feel sorry side of this topic.
Silvio Berlusconni, a man that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Trump, Putin and many another scoundrel, has died.
This was a man that once said, NOT ON A LIVE MIC BUT AFTER A SERIOUS QUESTION, that he could not believe he was being indicted after "all the money I have spent paying judges".
He jumped it back and said he meant paying LAWYERS, but... talk about a slip.
by JTContinental Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy has died at age 89 from "natural causes."
by JTContinental
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2023 3:05 pm
On the hard to feel sorry side of this topic.
Silvio Berlusconni, a man that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Trump, Putin and many another scoundrel, has died.
This was a man that once said, NOT ON A LIVE MIC BUT AFTER A SERIOUS QUESTION, that he could not believe he was being indicted after "all the money I have spent paying judges".
He jumped it back and said he meant paying LAWYERS, but... talk about a slip.
Has Italy seen its last bunga bunga party?
by MJ2004 Alan Arkin has died. One of the best.
The Russians are Coming and Wait Until Dark are two of my favorites.
by ponchi101 Catch 22.
by mmmm8 So many great roles!
by dryrunguy Since no one has mentioned it yet... Tony Bennett has passed away. He was 96.
by ponchi101
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 21, 2023 5:32 pm
Since no one has mentioned it yet... Tony Bennett has passed away. He was 96.
I didn't see it. A sad loss. Not only he has some great songs, he was also very "hip" in that he helped and worked together with many younger artists. KD Lang, Amy Whinehouse, Elvis Costello (although he was already well established).
And his rendition of "The Shadow of your Smile" will always be a top classic.
by ti-amie Tony Bennett born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, was one of the greatest singers of his generation in my opinion. His voice was distinctive and like Francis Albert immediately recognizable.
Nina Bernstein
@NinaBernstein1@journa.host
Tony Bennett was thrilled as a young G.I. In WWII Germany when he ran into a high school friend, also in uniform. Rabid, institutional racism turned their reunion into a horror show that he never forgot.
Gift link.
I still quote Pee Wee's Big Adventure near daily... especially when with my siblings and their or my kids.
by ti-amie He went through so much for nothing. May he RIP
by JTContinental A big part of my Saturday morning childhood--RIP
by dryrunguy The NY Times is reporting that Bob Barker--longtime host of the U.S. game show, The Price is Right--has passed away. He was 99.
by ti-amie May he RIP
by ptmcmahon
by dryrunguy NY Times is reporting Dianne Feinstein has passed. She was 90.
by JTContinental Friends star Matthew Perry has died at age 54. Cause of death is reportedly drowning. He was found at home in his hot tub.
by ptmcmahon No drugs found on site, but you have to assume his history with them played a factor somehow. Sad news, he was the character I most identified with (as a fellow sarcastic wise-cracking jerk )
by ashkor87
JTContinental wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2023 1:50 am
Friends star Matthew Perry has died at age 54. Cause of death is reportedly drowning. He was found at home in his hot tub.
He had just returned from playing pickleball, I hear...
by mmmm8
ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2023 1:52 am
No drugs found on site, but you have to assume his history with them played a factor somehow. Sad news, he was the character I most identified with (as a fellow sarcastic wise-cracking jerk )
Me too.
by ponchi101
ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2023 1:52 am
No drugs found on site, but you have to assume his history with them played a factor somehow. Sad news, he was the character I most identified with (as a fellow sarcastic wise-cracking jerk )
I could never identify with a man that was married to "Monica".
Sad news. He seemed like a good person.
by ti-amie wta
@WTA
·
3h
"Friends" star Matthew Perry was a tennis superfan whose presence was felt in the sport throughout his life
by ponchi101 Perry was not only a tennis super fan. It was well documented that he was a fine junior player with some potential that, well, went on to greener pastures.
by mmmm8
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2023 11:17 pm
Perry was not only a tennis super fan. It was well documented that he was a fine junior player with some potential that, well, went on to greener pastures.
If I recall, his tennis career was derailed by injury.
by mmmm8 I came of age along with Friends and always identified most with Chandler, so there is a bit. I think he's done some other fantastic comedic work elsewhere, too, and I was even one of the handful of people who didn't hate Studio 60. Finding out later and especially after his memoir was released that he did a lot of his work in the throes of addiction was sad but in a way, impressive.
P.S. Reportedly, he had just returned from playing pickleball yesterday... so at least we can blame it on that (too soon... sorry)
by ponchi101 I have always felt that, when a comedian dies, NOT making jokes is in bad taste.
I mean, they lived for that, and should be celebrated in the same way.
Now, about that pickleball: now more than ever, I am not coming close to THAT game
by ptmcmahon Exactly. We can all say now we know a Friend killed by pickleball.
by texasniteowl Wow. RIP Bobby Knight.
Love him, hate him; admire him, despise him. He was something else. I followed IU in the 80's just to vex my dad who was Purdue grad. The run in '87 with Steve Alford and Keith Smart.
by dryrunguy Former First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn Carter, has passed away. She was 96 and had been living with dementia.
by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:46 pm
Former First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn Carter, has passed away. She was 96 and had been living with dementia.
Carter with her husband at his inaugural ball in 1977. (AP)
She brought nothing but respect to her role as FLOTUS. May she RIP
by patrick Yes, indeed. Did the job with little fanfare.
by ashkor87 Long after they left the WH they continued to work hard for peace ..no other Presidential couple has come close...
by ti-amie Their work with Habitat for Humanity even after they were "old" speaks to the type of people they are/were.
by ponchi101 Can't forgive him for certifying that the referendum that kept Chavez in power in 2004 was legit.
(It wasn't).
by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 3:57 pm
Can't forgive him for certifying that the referendum that kept Chavez in power in 2004 was legit.
(It wasn't).
Politics, especially on the international stage, sometimes means you have to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.
by ponchi101 This was choosing between the devil and the beach. As biased as my opinion can be.
by ti-amie A photo essay from the Washington Post for former FLOTUS Rosalynn Carter.
by dryrunguy The NY Times is reporting that Henry Kissinger has died. He was 100.
by ti-amie Re Kissinger:
Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević.
Anthony Bourdain
He's also the man who brought us Pinochet and the dirty war in Argentina.
by ti-amie It seems that MAGAts are the only ones who want to celebrate this man.
by MJ2004 This is making the rounds:
by MJ2004 In sadder news, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues has died at age 65.
by ti-amie
MJ2004 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 12:25 pm
In sadder news, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues has died at age 65.
I'm not familiar with his music but there seems to be wide spread grief about his passing.
by mmmm8
ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:34 am
It seems that MAGAts are the only ones who want to celebrate this man.
When I was in college studying political science in the early 2000s, I had to read a lot of stuff and was recommended books that glorified Kissinger's foreign affairs expertise, especially in the Cold War. I could never understand why he was so revered as he seemed to really hate humanity and not wish well on most of the world's peoples.
Maybe I somehow missed any wide criticism of him at the time, but I've enjoyed watching the tide turn around on the public opinion of him.
ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:34 am
It seems that MAGAts are the only ones who want to celebrate this man.
When I was in college studying political science in the early 2000s, I had to read a lot of stuff and was recommended books that glorified Kissinger's foreign affairs expertise, especially in the Cold War. I could never understand why he was so revered as he seemed to really hate humanity and not wish well on most of the world's peoples.
Maybe I somehow missed any wide criticism of him at the time, but I've enjoyed watching the tide turn around on the public opinion of him.
It's amazing how there are more people quoting Anthony Bourdain than any msm organization. Rolling Stone did an obituary that was spot on. Very long, but spot on.
Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies
The infamy of Nixon's foreign-policy architect sits, eternally, beside that of history's worst mass murderers. A deeper shame attaches to the country that celebrates him
The reporting on SE Asia and the rise of Pinochet alone are worth the read.
by dryrunguy NY Times is reporting that former U.S. Supreme Court Justice and the first woman appointed to the court, Sandra Day O'Connor, has died at the age of 93.
by ti-amieAndre Braugher was seriously good
The actor knew how to wield his extraordinary gravitas — even when it was a punchline
Perspective by Travis M. Andrews
December 13, 2023 at 5:25 p.m. EST
Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton in “Homicide: Life on the Street.” (Eric Liebowitz/NBC/Everett Collection)
You didn’t want to end up in the box with Andre Braugher.
That is to say, you wouldn’t want to be interrogated by Detective Frank Pembleton, or Capt. Raymond Holt, or any of the other lawmen and soldiers Braugher — who died Monday at 61 after what his publicist described as “a brief illness” — inhabited in his career. The interrogation room was his greatest stage. As Pembleton, his fiercely religious and religiously fierce detective from NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street,” he described how a person might end up there.
“You are a citizen of a free nation. Having lived your adult life in the land of guaranteed civil liberties, you commit a crime of violence, whereupon you are jacked up, dragged down to police headquarters and deposited in a claustrophobic anteroom containing three chairs, a table and cold brick walls,” he intoned.
“Have a seat, please.”
Braugher tackled serious roles with an almost frightening intensity. Trained at Juilliard, his career began in 1989 as Kojak’s partner, Detective Winston Blake, on the small screen and as a free man who joins the Union Army in the film “Glory.” A few years later, he became Pembleton, the resolute, self-righteous Baltimore detective on “Homicide,” a role that earned him his first of two Emmys. (The second was for “Thief.”) “I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors,” David Simon, who worked on that show and who wrote the book on which it was based, posted on X. “I’ll never work with one better” than Braugher.
If Pembleton is one pillar of his TV-acting legacy, Holt — the no-nonsense leader of a band of clownish (but still competent) detectives in the sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — is the other.
The show finds Holt consistently exasperated by his people, even when he’s impressed by their work. Playing opposite Andy Samberg and a bunch of other goofballs, Braugher used his gravitas to elevate the comedy, allowing us to imagine what would happen if one of his aging hard-bitten cops had been plucked off the set of a gritty drama and dropped into a sitcom universe.
No episode exemplified this better than Season 5’s “The Box” (of course), which finds a tuxedo-clad Holt en route to the theater. But Detective Jake Peralta (Samberg) has a dentist (Sterling K. Brown) suspected of murdering his business partner in the interrogation room. They don’t have enough evidence to put him away, so they need a confession. “An interrogation with a ticking clock and everything on the line,” Holt says. “I better call Kevin and tell him I won’t be attending the opera. There’s someone else I’d rather hear sing.”
He then calls his husband and reminds him the tickets are under his name. He spells it out: “H. O. L. T.”
What follows is an homage to “Homicide,” which also featured an episode-length interrogation, only this time it’s played for laughs. Holt and Peralta spend the night trying to break the dentist. At one point, Holt loses his temper during an argument about the validity of a dentist considering himself a doctor.
“Most people want to become actual doctors,” he says.
“That’s ridiculous,” replies Brown’s character. “It’s not like we’re college professors calling ourselves doctors. … When someone has a heart attack on a plane, do they yell out, ‘Yo, does anybody here have an art history PhD?’”
Holt flies off the handle, a white-hot temper taking over — the full-on Pembleton. But instead of screaming something Pembletonian, such as, “Son, you are ignorance personified!” he says this: “A PhD is a doctor-ate. It’s literally describing a doctor. ... The problem here is that medical practitioners have co-opted the word ‘doctor.’ I know we live in a world where ANYTHING CAN MEAN ANYTHING AND NOBODY EVEN CARES ABOUT ETYMOLOGY!”
Braugher was always in complete control of his instrument: a baritone that could fluctuate between plush velvet and serrated blade. His intensity could be a warm embrace or a deadly chokehold.
Consider another line from that same “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” episode:
“I imagine a bear mistook the rotting corpse for a female of its species and had intercourse with it,” Holt says, remarking on a victim’s body that was found by hikers in a desecrated state. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
Those are grisly sentences, the stuff of true crime, twisted thrillers and terrifying horrors. Braugher gets the laugh by stating it matter-of-factly, almost as if he’s put off by having to explain something so obvious.
Some people say the role of Holt ruined Braugher’s career. These people are wrong.
Whether he was playing the title role in Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” or investigator Tommy Goodman in “Primal Fear,” or the thief in “Thief,” Braugher practiced total and absolute dedication to understanding the characters. Just because one was in a 22-minute network sitcom didn’t mean it required less conscientiousness, less commitment. So when an episode of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” revolved around Holt’s knowledge of “Sex and the City,” Braugher began studying.
“It deeply bothered Andre that he didn’t know the show so we spent days getting him up to speed. He was quizzing his wife at night too. He cared so deeply and was so so funny,” wrote Ryan Case, a director and editor who worked on the show, on X. “My ‘challenge’ editing him in the Brooklyn pilot was finding takes where he wasn’t smiling. We wanted to save that for the end. He was like a giddy school child doing his first comedy and it was so wonderful.”
But the most impressive thing about Braugher, as many have noted since his death, might be the opportunities he didn’t take, because his family, his wife and fellow “Homicide” actress Ami Brabson and their three sons, came first — a fact many tributes to the actor are quick to point out. Critic Alan Sepinwall wrote in Rolling Stone about his time interviewing the actor: “The part that stayed with me wasn’t about Andre Braugher, world-class thespian, but rather when he talked about how he had worked out to a science how to maximize time with Brabson and the kids, despite working 3,000 miles away from them.”
In a 2020 interview with Variety, Braugher talked about how he hadn’t done as much as he might have, if his priorities had been different. “I think it could have been larger,” he said of his career. “I think it could have spanned more disciplines: directing, producing, all these other different things. But it would have been at the expense of my own life.”
“I haven’t been in Australia. I haven’t been in Prague. I haven’t been shooting in San Paolo or whatever,” he said. “I’ve got three boys, and I want them to know me as someone other than the guy who takes them to the circus every once in a while. I wanted to be there through the course of their life because I know how important fathers are.”
The rest of us were lucky for the time we got to spend watching Braugher in the box, grateful we weren’t the ones in there with him.
by ti-amie I never watched him in "Brooklyn 99" but I'm very familiar with his other work. He was one of the actors that if you saw him working in a production you knew it was going to be something worth watching. May he RIP.
by mmmm8 His comedic performance on Brooklyn 99 was very impressive and he seemed like a lovely person, very sad
by ashkor87https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/re ... -metallica
It is reported that he was once asked after losing to Gonzales, ' did his serve trouble you?' , his reply 'Pancho' s serve is a thing of beauty..how can a thing of beauty be a trouble?'..he used to hang out with Jeff Borowiak, and they used to practice at 2 am or something...a unique person, never before, never again probably, to grace this earth and teach us that, in the end, it is the game, the beautiful game...!
by ashkor87 Once he was leading Newcombe 2 sets to love, when a butterfly flew into his face and caused him to stop...his only comment was 'am I a butterfly dreaming I am a man or a man dreaming I am a butterfly?'
by ponchi101 And it happened at match point, and he went on to lose the match.
A truly unique individual. May the universe welcome him back.
by Oploskoffie Shonen manga artist Akira Toriyama, synonymous with the Dragon Ball series, passed away on the first of March.
. He did that all night long. In the end, he played very little, and we noticed that. Everybody actually paid for one of his drinks, which was what you had in the table.
Elf is my favorite Christmas movie.
