Archive for the 'obituary' Category
George Carlin: Deceased Truth Teller
George talks, you listen.
Read More..>>Bo Diddley, RIP
Bo Diddley: “Road Runner”
Such a sad day for rock-n-roll.
Bo Diddley, a singer and guitarist who invented his own name, his own guitars, his own beat and, with a handful of other musical pioneers, rock ’n’ roll itself, died Monday at his home in Archer, Fla . He was 79.
The cause was heart failure, a spokeswoman, [...]
RIP, Harvey Korman
Harvey Korman: 1927-2008
Read More..>>Eddy Arnold 1918-2008
I was never a huge fan of Eddy Arnold (although Uncle Fucker covered his hit “Tennesee Stud”), but the guy was a bona fide legend of country music. He started out as a cowboy singer/yodeler, but after a few years in Nashville he became a super-slick balladeer in the Nashvegas style: lots of strings, [...]
Read More..>>Porter Wagoner: 1927-2007
Porter Wagoner, country music legend, died today of lung cancer.
I’ve been a huge fan of Porter Wagoner for years: he was known especially for his garish nudie suits (Wagoner probably kept the rhinestone industry around an extra 50 years on his own), and more importantly for giving Dolly Parton her start. He was a [...]
Madeleine L’Engle: Dead at 88. An Apt Time to Pass.
When I was a kid, the thing I dreaded most were those damned summer reading lists. I had to read at least 5-10 books over the summer and provide next year’s teacher with book reports for five, and brief summaries for the rest. Ploughing through Johnny Tremain wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, [...]
Read More..>>Hank Medress
I used to work in a health food store in New Haven called “Edge of the Woods”. We never quite understood whether the name was chosen because the store was located so close to Edgewood Avenue and the Park that bore the name, or because a few blocks away was one of the [...]
Read More..>>Steve Gilliard, RIP
Steve Gilliard’s gone.
It’s a sad day: I’ll always value his analyses of the war in Iraq, especially his deep knowledge of military history.
I have yet to see one of his predictions not come to pass.
Eat More Possum: a Tribute to Mike O’Ferrall
Mike O’Ferrall was a bass player I met back in 1999 or 2000, when I played a gig in a fire hall in Marydel, Maryland. Mike was one of the organizers, a big-bellied self-described hillbilly in ovreralls and a baseball cap, whose passion for bluegrass, friendliness, and outright hilarity was contagious. We spent [...]
Read More..>>