Donna Summer, the five-time Grammy Award–winning singer and songwriter known as “The Queen of Disco,” died this morning at the age of 63 after a battle with breast cancer.
Read Donna Summer’s and others’ recollections of the disco era in V.F.’s oral history, “Boogie Nights.”
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Carlos Fuentes
Anthony De Palma euloguizes him in the New York Times: Carlos Fuentes, Mexico’s elegant public intellectual and grand man of letters, whose panoramic novels captured the complicated essence of his country’s history for readers around the world, died on Tuesday in Mexico City. Mr. Fuentes was one the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world, a catalyst, along with Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Julio Cortazar, of the explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and ’70s known as “El Boom.” He wrote plays, short stories, political nonfiction and more than a dozen novels, many of them chronicles of tangled love, that were acclaimed throughout Latin America.
Mr. Fuentes received wide recognition in the United States in 1985 with his novel “The Old Gringo,” a convoluted tale of the American writer Ambrose Bierce, who disappeared during the Mexican Revolution. The first book by a Mexican novelist to become a best seller north of the border, it was made into a film starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda, released in 1989.
In the tradition of Latin American writers, Mr. Fuentes was an outspoken public intellectual, writing magazine, newspaper and journal articles that criticized the Mexican government during the long period of sometimes repressive single-party rule that ended in 2000 with the election of an opposition candidate, Vicente Fox Quesada. Mr. Fuentes was more ideological than political. He tended to embrace justice and basic human rights regardless of political labels. He initially supported Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, but turned against it as Castro became increasingly authoritarian. He openly sympathized with Indian rebels in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, and publicly skewered the administration of George W. Bush. Mr. Fuentes was appointed Mexico’s ambassador to France in 1975, but he resigned two years later to protest the appointment of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz as ambassador to Spain. Mr. Díaz Ordaz had been president of Mexico in 1968 when Mexican troops opened fire on student protesters in Mexico City.
An unusual commitment to his ideals.
Mr. Fuentes is survived by his wife, Silvia Lemus, and a daughter, Cecilia, by a previous marriage to the actress Rita Macedo, who died in 1973. Two children from his marriage to Ms. Lemus, Carlos and Natasha, died before him.
How unusual, that bith children died before him.
Time magazine also eulogizes him. Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Mexico's National Council for Culture for the Arts confirmed the death of Mexico's most celebrated novelist. The cause was not immediately known, said the culture official, who was not authorized to speak to the media. Mexican media reported Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital, where he was being treated for heart problems. The loss was immediately mourned worldwide via Twitter and across Mexican airwaves.
In fact, I learned about his passing via Twitter. And there I also saw the tribute given him by Yaoni Sánchez.
In the tradition of Latin American writers, Mr. Fuentes was an outspoken public intellectual, writing magazine, newspaper and journal articles that criticized the Mexican government during the long period of sometimes repressive single-party rule that ended in 2000 with the election of an opposition candidate, Vicente Fox Quesada. Mr. Fuentes was more ideological than political. He tended to embrace justice and basic human rights regardless of political labels. He initially supported Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, but turned against it as Castro became increasingly authoritarian. He openly sympathized with Indian rebels in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, and publicly skewered the administration of George W. Bush. Mr. Fuentes was appointed Mexico’s ambassador to France in 1975, but he resigned two years later to protest the appointment of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz as ambassador to Spain. Mr. Díaz Ordaz had been president of Mexico in 1968 when Mexican troops opened fire on student protesters in Mexico City.
An unusual commitment to his ideals.
Mr. Fuentes is survived by his wife, Silvia Lemus, and a daughter, Cecilia, by a previous marriage to the actress Rita Macedo, who died in 1973. Two children from his marriage to Ms. Lemus, Carlos and Natasha, died before him.
How unusual, that bith children died before him.
Time magazine also eulogizes him. Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Mexico's National Council for Culture for the Arts confirmed the death of Mexico's most celebrated novelist. The cause was not immediately known, said the culture official, who was not authorized to speak to the media. Mexican media reported Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital, where he was being treated for heart problems. The loss was immediately mourned worldwide via Twitter and across Mexican airwaves.
In fact, I learned about his passing via Twitter. And there I also saw the tribute given him by Yaoni Sánchez.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Pioneer of FM Rock
Pete Fornatale,
a disc jockey who helped usher in a musical alternative to Top 40 AM
radio in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s, presenting
progressive rock and long album tracks that AM stations wouldn’t touch
and helping to give WNEW a major presence on the still-young FM dial,
died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 66.
Mr. Fornatale was at the forefront of the FM revolution, along with WNEW-FM colleagues like Scott Muni, Rosko, Vin Scelsa, Dennis Elsas, Jonathan Schwartz and Alison Steele (who called herself “the Nightbird”). They played long versions of songs, and sometimes entire albums, and talked to their audiences in a conversational tone very different from the hard-sell approach of their AM counterparts.
Mr. Fornatale was at the forefront of the FM revolution, along with WNEW-FM colleagues like Scott Muni, Rosko, Vin Scelsa, Dennis Elsas, Jonathan Schwartz and Alison Steele (who called herself “the Nightbird”). They played long versions of songs, and sometimes entire albums, and talked to their audiences in a conversational tone very different from the hard-sell approach of their AM counterparts.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Slugger in Yankee Golden Era
Bill Skowron, the slugging first baseman who played on seven pennant-winning teams with the Yankees in the 1950s and early ’60s, died on Friday in Arlington Heights, Ill. He was 81.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Benzion Netanyahu, 102
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/world/middleeast/benzion-netanyahu-dies-at-102.html
Benzion Mileikowsky was born on March 25, 1910, in Warsaw, then part of the Russian empire. His father, Nathan, was a rabbi who toured Europe and America making speeches supporting Zionism. After Nathan took the family to Palestine in 1920, he changed the family name to Netanyahu, which means God-given.
Benzion Mileikowsky was born on March 25, 1910, in Warsaw, then part of the Russian empire. His father, Nathan, was a rabbi who toured Europe and America making speeches supporting Zionism. After Nathan took the family to Palestine in 1920, he changed the family name to Netanyahu, which means God-given.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Levon Helm
Levon Helm, who helped forge a deep-rooted American music as the drummer and singer for the Band, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 71 and lived in Woodstock, N.Y. (Times obit)
Released on July 1, 1968, the year after “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,“ “Music From Big Pink“ was “rebelling against the rebellion,” Mr. Helm wrote. There were no elaborate studio confections, no psychedelic jams, no gimmicks; the music was stately and homespun, with a deliberately old-time tone behind the enigmatic lyrics. Sales were modest but the album’s influence was huge, leading musicians like Eric Clapton and the Grateful Dead back toward concision.
(Rolling Stone obit)
A website for the Band.
(Rolling Stone obit)
A website for the Band.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saying Goodbye to Gil Noble
Friday, April 13, 2012
Please, no children under 18
A tweet from NPR led me to this item:
Blanchard, Michael "Flathead" 1944 ~ 2012 A Celebration of the life of Michael "Flathead" Blanchard will be held on April 14th, 3 pm 8160 Rosemary St, Commerce City. Weary of reading obituaries noting someone's courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors' orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died. Mike was born July 1944 in Colorado to Clyde and Ethel Blanchard. A community activist, he is noted for saving the Dr. Justina Ford house from demolition and defending those who could not defend themselves. He was a Republican delegate, life member of the NRA, founder and President of the Dead Cats MC. He loved music. Mike was preceded in death by Clyde and Ethel Blanchard, survived by his beloved sons Mike and Chopper, former wife Jane Transue, brother Stephen Blanchard (Susan), Uncle Don and Aunt Cynthia Blanchard(his favorite); Uncle Dill and Aunt Dot, cousins and nephews, Baba Yaga can kiss his butt. So many of his childhood friends that weren't killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend.
Published in Denver Post on April 12, 2012
Michael "Flathead" Blanchard
Blanchard, Michael "Flathead" 1944 ~ 2012 A Celebration of the life of Michael "Flathead" Blanchard will be held on April 14th, 3 pm 8160 Rosemary St, Commerce City. Weary of reading obituaries noting someone's courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors' orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died. Mike was born July 1944 in Colorado to Clyde and Ethel Blanchard. A community activist, he is noted for saving the Dr. Justina Ford house from demolition and defending those who could not defend themselves. He was a Republican delegate, life member of the NRA, founder and President of the Dead Cats MC. He loved music. Mike was preceded in death by Clyde and Ethel Blanchard, survived by his beloved sons Mike and Chopper, former wife Jane Transue, brother Stephen Blanchard (Susan), Uncle Don and Aunt Cynthia Blanchard(his favorite); Uncle Dill and Aunt Dot, cousins and nephews, Baba Yaga can kiss his butt. So many of his childhood friends that weren't killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend.
Published in Denver Post on April 12, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Improbable PC pioneer
The PC industry is so young that a remarkable percentage of its most significant figures are still with us. But it lost a key one on Sunday when Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore, died at 83. Commodore was one of the first important PC companies, and Tramiel, in his own idiosyncratic manner, played a vital role in getting the PC revolution underway.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
60s Session Guitarist
Billy Strange, a prolific Los Angeles session guitarist who recorded with Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole and the Beach Boys, wrote a No. 1 single for Chubby Checker and arranged Nancy Sinatra’s No. 1 pop hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” died on Wednesday in Franklin, Tenn. He was 81. A mainstay of the celebrated team of Hollywood studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, Mr. Strange played on psychedelic touchstones like the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Love’s “Forever Changes.” In 1962 he arranged and played on Cole’s hit “Ramblin’ Rose.”
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Jeffrey Zaslow
Jeffrey Zaslow, a longtime Wall Street Journal writer and best-selling author with a rare gift for writing about love, loss, and other life passages with humor and empathy, died at age 53 on Friday of injuries suffered in a car crash in northern Michigan. He died after losing control of his car while driving on a snowy road and colliding with a truck, according to his wife and the Antrim County Sheriff's Office. The condition of the truck driver wasn't available.
In addition to writing hundreds of memorable Journal articles and columns, Mr. Zaslow did a long stint as an advice columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, succeeding Ann Landers—a job he won after he entered a competition for the position as an angle for a Journal front-page feature.
At the Journal his subjects ranged from the anguish of losing a car in the Disney World parking lot, to the power of fathers' lunchbox letters to their daughters, to the distinctive pain of watching a beloved childhood stadium go under the wrecking ball.
More recently, he became one of America's best-selling nonfiction writers, known internationally for such books as "The Girls from Ames," the story of a 40-year friendship among 10 women, and "The Last Lecture," about Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor who in 2007 was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only a few months to live.
After Mr. Pausch gave an inspirational multimedia presentation about his life's lessons, Mr. Zaslow—a 1980 Carnegie Mellon graduate—wrote a Journal column about the lecture and posted it on the Journal's website with a video that became an online sensation. The resulting book spent more than a year on best-seller lists and was translated into dozens of languages.
I distinctly remember reading that column in the newspaper, back in the days when I read the physical paper (and when I had a subscription to it, before the tragedy - well, not tragedy; his death is a tragedy - the misfortune of Murdoch buying the paper).
The newspaper article that probably had the greatest impact on Mr. Zaslow’s own life was one he wrote in 1987 about a contest The Chicago Sun-Times was holding to fill the job left vacant when its advice columnist, Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers), de-camped for a competitor, The Chicago Tribune.
Mr. Zaslow, who was then a feature writer for The Wall Street Journal, entered the contest for the fun of it. And he won. In an interview with The New York Times, he said some people thought he was underqualified. “How could you have the audacity to give advice?,” people scolded him, he said. “My reply: ‘I’m 28, but I have the wisdom of a 29-year-old.’ ” He wrote the advice column, “All That Zazz,” until 2001. His annual singles party for charity, Zazz Bash, drew 7,000 readers a year and resulted in 78 marriages.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Byron Donzis
Bruce Bennett/Houston Post
Byron Donzis with one of his inventions, aluminum shoulder pads.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Papito
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I.—A Colombian immigrant who pioneered the way for his compatriots to work in Rhode Island mills was remembered Thursday as a key figure in the state's Latino community and textile industry.
Pedro Cano, who was recruited in the 1960s to move to Rhode Island for work, died Saturday at age 92. Cano, known to relatives as "Papito," was the patriarch of a family that spanned five generations, including 32 grandchildren, 31 great grandchildren and a great-great grandson.
"He was very important to the Industrial Revolution here in Rhode Island," the Rev. John Sullivan said in Spanish.
Cano spent more than 70 years in the textile industry before retiring and was featured in a documentary called "Telares," his obituary said. He also is credited with recruiting other Colombians to work in mills throughout the Blackstone Valley. The city of Providence declared Aug. 19 to be Pedro M. Cano Day during the administration of former Mayor David Cicilline, according to his obituary.
Canola said her grandfather often said in Spanish: "Life is a struggle."
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Jazz icon Sam Rivers dead at 88
Joy was the word that resurfaced again and again when musicians and friends remembered Sam Rivers, a saxophonist, flutist and composer whose long list of credits included work with the legendary Miles Davis. Rivers, an internationally known jazz icon and fixture on the Orlando music scene for roughly two decades, died Monday night from pneumonia, his daughter confirmed Tuesday. He was 88. Until September, Rivers had continued his weekly open rehearsals with his powerful big band, the Rivbea Orchestra, at the Orlando musician's union hall.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Hitch 62
From the NY Times obituary: Christopher Hitchens, a slashing polemicist in the tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell who trained his sights on targets as various as Henry Kissinger, the British monarchy and Mother Teresa, wrote a best-seller attacking religious belief, and dismayed his former comrades on the left by enthusiastically supporting the American-led war in Iraq, died on Thursday in Houston. He was 62.
The WS Journal called him a militant pundit.
As he looked in 1999.
He took pains to emphasize that he had not revised his position on atheism, articulated in his best-selling 2007 book, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” although he did express amused appreciation at the hope, among some concerned Christians, that he might undergo a late-life conversion.
Armed with a quick wit and a keen appetite for combat, Mr. Hitchens was in constant demand as a speaker on television, radio and the debating platform, where he held forth in a sonorous, plummily accented voice that seemed at odds with his disheveled appearance. He was a master of the extended peroration, peppered with literary allusions, and of the bright, off-the-cuff remark. In 2007, when the interviewer Sean Hannity tried to make the case for an all-seeing God, Mr. Hitchens dismissed the idea with contempt. “It would be like living in North Korea,” he said.
For Hannity, surely, God is a Republican, a conservative with no patience for his liberal children.
Though it strained the family budget, Christopher was sent to private schools in Tavistock and Cambridge, at the insistence of his mother. “If there is going to be an upper class in this country, then Christopher is going to be in it,” he overheard his mother saying to his father, clinching a spirited argument.
He became a staff writer and editor for The New Statesman in the late 1970s and fell in with a literary clique that included Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, James Fenton, Clive James and Ian McEwan. The group liked to play a game in which members came up with the sentence least likely to be uttered by one of their number. Mr. Hitchens’s was “I don’t care how rich you are, I’m not coming to your party.”
The WS Journal called him a militant pundit.
He took pains to emphasize that he had not revised his position on atheism, articulated in his best-selling 2007 book, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” although he did express amused appreciation at the hope, among some concerned Christians, that he might undergo a late-life conversion.
Armed with a quick wit and a keen appetite for combat, Mr. Hitchens was in constant demand as a speaker on television, radio and the debating platform, where he held forth in a sonorous, plummily accented voice that seemed at odds with his disheveled appearance. He was a master of the extended peroration, peppered with literary allusions, and of the bright, off-the-cuff remark. In 2007, when the interviewer Sean Hannity tried to make the case for an all-seeing God, Mr. Hitchens dismissed the idea with contempt. “It would be like living in North Korea,” he said.
For Hannity, surely, God is a Republican, a conservative with no patience for his liberal children.
He became a staff writer and editor for The New Statesman in the late 1970s and fell in with a literary clique that included Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, James Fenton, Clive James and Ian McEwan. The group liked to play a game in which members came up with the sentence least likely to be uttered by one of their number. Mr. Hitchens’s was “I don’t care how rich you are, I’m not coming to your party.”
Times Topic: Christopher Hitchens
-
A Voice, Still Vibrant, Reflects on Mortality (October 10, 2011)
-
Sunday Book Review: ‘Arguably: Essays’ by Christopher Hitchens (September 11, 2011)
Related in Opinion
-
Op-Classic: In His Own Words (December 16, 2011)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Man prints fake obit of mom to get time off
(AP) BROOKVILLE, Pa. - Authorities say a U.S. man published a fake obituary for his living mother in a ploy to get paid bereavement time off from work. Relatives called The Jeffersonian Democrat newspaper in Pennsylvania after the obit appeared to say the woman was actually alive and well. The woman herself then visited the paper. Police charged 45-year-old Scott Bennett on Tuesday with disorderly conduct. Newspaper editor Randy Bartley says he accepted the obituary in good faith after being unable to confirm the funeral arrangements at press time. He told The Derrick newspaper on Friday that the woman was very understanding. Police Chief Ken Dworek says Bennett wrote up the memorial notice because he didn't want to get fired for taking time off.
to many fans he was first and foremost Col. Sherman T. Potter
Colonel Potter’s office had several personal touches. The picture on his desk was of Mr. Morgan’s wife, Eileen Detchon. To relax, the colonel liked to paint and look after his horse, Sophie — a sort of inside joke, since the real Harry Morgan raised quarter horses on a ranch in Santa Rosa. Sophie, to whom Colonel Potter says goodbye in the final episode, was Mr. Morgan’s own horse. In 1980 his Colonel Potter earned him an Emmy Award as best supporting actor in a comedy series. During the shooting of the final episode, he was asked about his feelings. “Sadness and an aching heart,” he replied.
A particular favorite of mine.
A particular favorite of mine.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Countess Felicia Gizycka
In a front-page essay reviewing two books, entitled Dynasts of the Daily Press, Joseph Epstein quotes the countess, great-granddaughter of Joseph Medill, whose only flaw in his otherwise perfect game plan was his children. He had no sons but three daughters, one of whom died young. The surviving daughters, Katherine and Elinor, he described as “the worst two she-devils in all Chicago.” His great-granddaughter Felicia Gizycka claimed that this was the bowdlerized description and that what he had actually said was “the two biggest bitches in Christendom.”
This obituary from the Tuesday, 18 May 1999 edition of the UK's Independent, perfectly displays a style that no US newspaper would dare use.
It was also a custom of the era to view American heiresses as the easiest method to restore European aristocratic fortunes and Cissy was pursued by an impoverished nobleman, Count Josef Gizycki, a hard-drinking ladies' man with a bankrupt estate in Russian Poland. Cissy fell for dashing Count "Gigi" and, despite pleas from her family, married him. No sooner did she reach his dilapidated, freezing "castle" in Narvosielica than she realised her mistake; he told her bluntly that they had sex only to make a child and so that he could gain her $30,000 a year income. In 1905 that child, Felicia, was born whilst the Count was away whoring.
Epstein writes: Cissy, after a wretched marriage to a Russian-Polish aristocrat named Josef Gizycki — he disappeared on her on their wedding night, drank heavily, beat her and absconded with their daughter, Felicia — flounced about Washington as the Countess Gizycka, a social butterfly with the fangs of a viper.
No whoring allowed in the New York Times, or, at least, on its printed and web pages.
This obituary from the Tuesday, 18 May 1999 edition of the UK's Independent, perfectly displays a style that no US newspaper would dare use.
It was also a custom of the era to view American heiresses as the easiest method to restore European aristocratic fortunes and Cissy was pursued by an impoverished nobleman, Count Josef Gizycki, a hard-drinking ladies' man with a bankrupt estate in Russian Poland. Cissy fell for dashing Count "Gigi" and, despite pleas from her family, married him. No sooner did she reach his dilapidated, freezing "castle" in Narvosielica than she realised her mistake; he told her bluntly that they had sex only to make a child and so that he could gain her $30,000 a year income. In 1905 that child, Felicia, was born whilst the Count was away whoring.
Epstein writes: Cissy, after a wretched marriage to a Russian-Polish aristocrat named Josef Gizycki — he disappeared on her on their wedding night, drank heavily, beat her and absconded with their daughter, Felicia — flounced about Washington as the Countess Gizycka, a social butterfly with the fangs of a viper.
No whoring allowed in the New York Times, or, at least, on its printed and web pages.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Audio systems pioneer
Edgar Villchur, who went from repairing radios in his New York City shop to inventing ground-breaking audio equipment and hearing aids, has died, his family said Tuesday. He was 94.Villchur's daughter, Miriam Villchur Berg, said her father died of natural causes Monday at his Woodstock home.
After serving as an Army electronics officer in World War II, the Manhattan native opened a radio repair shop in Greenwich Village, where he built custom home high-fidelity sets. He moved to Woodstock in 1952, and it was while living there and teaching an acoustics class at New York University that he came up with the idea for the acoustic suspension loudspeaker, said Berg, of Woodstock. The closed-cabinet device was much smaller than the audio equipment of the era, and Villchur's invention was credited with bringing hi-fi into people's homes. His AR-3 speaker is on display in the Smithsonian Institute.
"He found that loudspeakers didn't need to be six feet tall. They could sit on a book shelf," his daughter told The Associated Press.
After serving as an Army electronics officer in World War II, the Manhattan native opened a radio repair shop in Greenwich Village, where he built custom home high-fidelity sets. He moved to Woodstock in 1952, and it was while living there and teaching an acoustics class at New York University that he came up with the idea for the acoustic suspension loudspeaker, said Berg, of Woodstock. The closed-cabinet device was much smaller than the audio equipment of the era, and Villchur's invention was credited with bringing hi-fi into people's homes. His AR-3 speaker is on display in the Smithsonian Institute.
"He found that loudspeakers didn't need to be six feet tall. They could sit on a book shelf," his daughter told The Associated Press.
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