LES Paul dies and the Celebrity Death Watch business thrives. Anorak’s Man in LA looks at the man who made so much possible:
Les was the innovator, and a part if the New York City music scene over the years. He pioneered multitrack recording; he invented the solid body guitar; when he shattered his right arm in a car crash, rendering it immobile, he had it set at an angle so he could play continue to guitar; they named the Les Paul after him!
But it’s thirty-third week of 2009 and Les Paul’s is the thirty-eighth celebrity death we’ve highlighted since January 3rd.
Get a load of this list of the people whose passings we’ve mentioned in 2009– so far:
Glenn Goldman of Book Soup
Ray Dennis Steckler, movie auteur
Jon Hager of the Hager Twins
John Updike, author
James Brady, newspaperman
Leroy Cooper, musician
David Fathead Newman, saxman
Hank Crawford, musician
Dewey Martin of Buffalo Springfield
Tom Brumley of Rick Nelson’s band
Lux Interior of The Cramps
Orlando Cachaito López, Buena Vista Social Club bassist
Wendy Richard, Carry On actress
Alan Landers, Winston Man
Altovise Davis, Sammy Davis Jr.’s widow
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Natasha Richardson
Dorothea Holt Redmond, production designer
Peter Rogers, Carry On producer
Danny Gans
Dom DeLuise
Wayne Allwine, voice of Mickey Mouse
David Carradine, actor,
Sam Butera, musician Ed McMahon
Farrah Fawcett
Michael Jackson
Steve Brennan, reporter
Allen Klein
Walter Cronkite
Gidget, Taco Bell pup
Alexis Cohen, American idol Glitter Girl
Rev. Ike
Sidney Zion, journo
Billy Lee Riley, rockabilly legend
John Hughes
Willy DeVille
Les PaulLES Paul dies and the Celebrity Death Watch business thrives. Anorak’s Man in LA... more
Nostalgia for John Hughes films can work in a number of ways – we can feel regret at getting older, we can romanticise the past (let’s not forget that the reason we liked his films was rooted in how much we didn’t like being kids), we can smile a wry smile at the memories of stupid things we did, or courageous. For me, I think of Cameron Frye. Not, himself, the coolest guy in the class; but the friend. Not, himself, the sports hero; but the fan. Not, himself, the king; but just happy to be in the palace grounds. So used to being terrified of what the authorities might do to him when he makes a mistake that his only possible response to complete screw-uppery is to decide he’s going to take it like a man, and in the process, become one.Nostalgia for John Hughes films can work in a number of ways – we can feel regret at... more
Demise of Dash Snow, notorious in New York's downtown art scene, marks the end of an era.
Dash Snow died this past Monday of a heroin overdose, and obituaries all over the world have established him, already, as "iconic," a kind of cipher for the Downtown New York art scene of the past 10 years. They usually begin by identifying him as an artist but nobody really wants to talk about his art. He was a fascinating muse for other artists, but his lifestyle is the most interesting thing about him, involving as it did a devotion to every kind of hedonism possible when a person has no respect for taboos and pots and pots of money. The style of his death also represents the end of a particular moment in the life of American art, the logical conclusion of its utter submission to the glut of money fuelled by fraudulent financial instruments pumping through the world's major cities before the crash. He was an icon of a nasty and empty art so cynical it amounted nearly to nihilism.
Snow was also, in a very direct way, one of the most influential forces on popular culture. Gavin McInnes, the founder of the hipster bible Vice magazine, literally used to follow Snow around recording the smallest detail of his life. The fact is you've seen Dash Snow. You can see him on Ossington tonight if you want. He's the trucker-hat-donning, skinny-jeans-wearing, Pabst-Blue-Ribbon-drinking, Converse-shoe-stepping trustafarian hipster of the past decade who thinks that the good life is staying up until eight in the morning snorting blow in the toilet stalls at after-hours clubs. Snow was the source that Vice magazine used to develop that template.
The comparison with Basquiat, another New York artist who died from consuming massive quantities of drugs, has already begun and it is not flattering to Snow. I caught the Basquiat retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2005, and it was a revelation of his searing originality and consistent growth right up to the point of his death. Basquiat's life was about the work. Even his drug use was about the work. He would snort coke all night to paint and then shoot up in the morning to fall asleep. He poured his demiurge energies into self-education and the mastery of technique, steeping himself in the traditions of Symbolism and Expressionism, which he then melded with street art.
Snow's work is the stuff teenage kids do at parties. His most famous pieces are a photograph of himself snorting coke off a semi-erect penis, and a collection of newspaper pages covered with his sperm. Basquiat's hedonism fuelled his creativity, but for Snow hedonism was the creativity. Ariel Levy's profile of Snow in New York magazine in 2007, which made him famous beyond his immediate circle of friends, began with a description of a game he played semi-regularly with the sculptor Dan Colen called "The Hamster's Nest." "To make a Hamster's Nest, Snow and Colen shred up 30 to 50 phone books, yank around all the blankets and drapes, turn on the taps, take off their clothes, and do drugs – mushrooms, coke, ecstasy – until they feel like hamsters." This is what Snow was good at. His art grew out of running around at night, doing graffiti and stealing. He was proud of being a thief; he believed it gave him authenticity. He paid bums to let him tag their backs. He thought it was cool.
Even the hedonism seems joyless and cynical, fuelled by only the shallowest spirit of rebellion. Because, of course, Dash Snow was rich. He was a de Menil, a member of a family regularly featured on Forbes' list of the richest families in America and one of the greatest art collecting dynasties in history. How else could he have maintained his lifestyle if he were not a scion of one of America's great fortunes? How could he have called himself an artist if he were not a descendant of some of the greatest patrons the world has ever known? His brother has dated Mary-Kate Olsen. His grandmother commissioned the Rothko chapel in Houston. His family sponsoreDemise of Dash Snow, notorious in New York's downtown art scene, marks the end of an... more
Walter Cronkite, an iconic CBS News journalist who defined the role of anchorman for a generation of television viewers, died Friday at the age of 92, his family said.
Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.
“It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism or indeed America without Walter Cronkite,” said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports, in a statement. “More than just the best and most trusted anchor in history, he guided America through our crises, tragedies and also our victories and greatest moments.”
Mr. McManus added: “No matter what the news event was, Walter was always the consummate professional with an un-paralleled sense of compassion, integrity, humanity, warmth, and occasionally even humor. There will never be another figure in American history who will hold the position Walter held in our minds, our hearts and on the television. We were blessed to have this man in our lives and words cannot describe how much he will be missed by those of us at CBS News and by all of America.”
In a review of Mr. Cronkite’s autobiography in 1997, the former New York Times columnist Tom Wicker wrote:
When John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas in 1963, Walter Cronkite stayed on the air for the Columbia Broadcasting System for countless hours. His performance that weekend helped pull together a nation stricken with grief and was a signal event in television’s evolution into the national nervous system.
When Mr. Cronkite came back from Vietnam after the Tet offensive of 1968, he concluded on national television that the war had become no better than a stalemate. Hearing that, President Lyndon Johnson told associates, ”If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” And he had. When Mr. Cronkite asked Robert Kennedy, then a senator from New York, whether he would run for President in 1968, Kennedy turned the tables: he proposed that Mr. Cronkite should run for the Senate. Mr. Cronkite refused, but the idea reflected polls showing that a journalist — a television journalist at that — had become the most trusted man in America.
For his exhaustive and enthusiastic coverage of NASA, Mr. Cronkite was sometimes called “the eighth astronaut.” During the first moon landing in 1969, Mr. Cronkite “was on the air for 27 of the 30 hours that Apollo 11 took to complete its mission,” The Museum of Broadcast Communications notes.Walter Cronkite, an iconic CBS News journalist who defined the role of anchorman for a... more
His mission was to use his photography to build the reputation of architects who were bringing innovative design to the West. His clients included Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolf M. Schindler.
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Julius Shulman, whose luminous photographs of homes and buildings brought fame to a number of mid-20th century modernist architects and made him a household name in the architectural world, has died. He was 98.
Shulman, who had been in declining health, died Wednesday night at his home in Los Angeles, according to his daughter Judy McKee.
Starting with Richard Neutra in 1936, Shulman's roster of clients read like a who's who of pioneering contemporary architecture: Rudolf M. Schindler, Gregory Ain, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Eames, Raphael S. Soriano, John Lautner, Eero Saarinen, Albert Frey, Pierre Koenig, Harwell Harris and many others. His work was contained in virtually every book published on modernist architects.
"He has a sense of visual bravura of composition," wrote the late Robert Sobieszek, photography curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "so that he can take a rather mundane house and make it look exciting, and take a spectacular house and make it look triply spectacular."
MORE @ LinkHis mission was to use his photography to build the reputation of architects who were... more
The hits just keep on coming. The star of "On the Waterfront" and "Streets of San Francisco" is gone at the tragically young age of 97.The hits just keep on coming. The star of "On the Waterfront" and "Streets of San... more
Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early television's biggest stars, has died at age 87.
The actress died Saturday at a convalescent hospital in Danville, said her son, Peter Bonnell. He says she died of natural causes.
Storm was a Texas high schooler named Josephine Owaissa Cottle when she won a talent contest for a radio show called "Gateway to Hollywood" on New Year's Day 1940.
Soon she was in Los Angeles, making movies with Jackie Cooper, Eddie Albert and Audie Murphy.
In 1952 she landed the starring role in "My Little Margie," which quickly became an audience favorite and ran until 1955.Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early... more
Ed McMahon, perhaps the most famous sidekick in television history, has died at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 86.
For 30 years, he sat cheerfully on the couch next to Johnny Carson on the set of NBC's "Tonight Show," and it was his trademark phrase that opened the broadcast every evening: "H-e-e-e-e-e-ere's Johnny!"
His publicist, Howard Bragman, did not give a cause of death, saying only that McMahon had a "multitude of health problems the last few months." He had been hospitalized in February, reportedly with bone cancer, and had also suffered a broken neck in a fall in 2007.
He died early Tuesday morning at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, surrounded by his family, said Bragman.
"It takes a lot more time to not be nice than to be nice," McMahon once said. Audiences will remember him laughing at Carson's jokes, moving aside on the set to make room for the show's featured guests, and smiling through commercial pitches.Ed McMahon, perhaps the most famous sidekick in television history, has died at a Los... more
Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, the master Indian musician and composer who was a pivotal figure in introducing the music of his homeland to the West, has died. He was 87.
The legendary sarod player and teacher died of kidney failure Thursday night at his home in the Bay Area city of San Anselmo, according to an announcement on the website of the Ali Akbar College of Music, Khan's teaching facility in northern California. The announcement said Khan had been a dialysis patient since 2004 but was still teaching at the college until just two weeks ago.
Considered a "National Living Treasure" in India, Khan was the first Indian musician to be honored by the MacArthur Foundation with its so-called genius grant, which he received in 1991.
He was also awarded the National Endowment for the Arts' prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, the highest U.S. honor in traditional arts, in 1997.
He recorded more than 95 albums, was nominated for five Grammy Awards and composed scores for both Indian and Western movies, including the 1963 Merchant-Ivory film "The Householder" and the 1993 Bernardo Bertolucci film "Little Buddha."
But to many, his influence was in expanding the appeal of Indian music.
"He was instrumental in transforming Indian music into an international tradition in a way that was unprecedented," said David Trasoff of Los Angeles, a senior student of Khan's who has studied north Indian classical music and sarod performance for the last 36 years.
"What he attempted to do and, I believe, succeeded in doing was to transplant this very deep musical tradition by committing himself to a level of teaching that resulted in a number of proteges who have gone on to present this music throughout the world," Trasoff said.Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, the master Indian musician and composer who was a pivotal... more
I wanted to honor my friend's grandfather who passed yesterday. If you are employed in California he has effected your life.
Leaders react to Jack Henning's death
Government, union and political officials reacted today to the death of legendary labor leader Jack Henning:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Jack Henning was a premier labor leader who led a long and distinguished career in public service both at the state and national level. He dedicated his life to improving the lives of others, revolutionized the labor movement and had an enormous impact on California. Maria and I join all Californians in remembering Jack's service and our hearts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time."
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis: "Today American workers lost a tireless advocate, and I lost a dear a friend. I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of John F. 'Jack' Henning. For most of his life, Jack Henning was on the front lines of the labor movement, fighting for civil rights, equality and justice for working Americans. He was a man of modest means, with a thirst for knowledge and a tremendous sense of compassion for his fellow man. His life story is one that inspires me and many Americans. His career began in his home state of California, where he fought for the most vulnerable - the working poor and underclass - fighting to improve their standard of living. A master orator, Jack began a steady climb within the labor movement and later served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as the U.S. undersecretary of labor. As a testament to his work, President Johnson later named him ambassador to New Zealand. Jack Henning was a champion, visionary and unwavering voice on behalf of the working women and men of the United States and of the world. We are all indebted to his leadership, and he will be missed."
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg: "All Californians lost a true friend today in Jack Henning. Jack Henning's commitment to working people and social justice serves as an inspiration to us in these recessionary times. Workers still benefit from his leadership on farmworker rights, workplace safety, worker's compensation and in many other areas. Jack Henning was a giant and he will be missed."
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass: "Jack Henning spent his life trying to make California a better place to live and work. He was a tireless fighter for the labor movement and for social and economic justice. Jack Henning served the public well as Ambassador to New Zealand and as a Regent of the University of California. With his passing we reflect on Jack's love for the working men and women of California and his great love for his family, including his adored late wife Betty and his son Pat, who became his own fixture in the Capitol community. My colleagues and I in the Assembly send our sincere condolences to Jack's children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters in labor and his countless friends. We will adjourn Assembly session in his honor next week."
California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton: "Jack Henning dedicated himself to improving the lives of poor and middle-class workers in California - and across the nation. In 26 years at the helm of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, Jack fought to protect farm workers, men and women who were injured on the job, low-wage workers, the unemployed, women and children. Under his leadership, the Labor Federation set the standard for unions across the country. A San Francisco native whose father was a charter member of the Plumbers union, Jack never forgot where he came from or who he was. Not only was Jack Henning a strong advocate for the working men and women of California, but also he was a personal friend of mine for decades. The California Democratic Party sends condolences to Jack's seven children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren and to the labor community on this loss..."I wanted to honor my friend's grandfather who passed yesterday. If you are employed... more
A Dublin student changed the Wikipedia entry for Maurice Jarre shortly after he died to add a false quote - only to later see it appearing in obituaries from the likes of The Guardian, The Indy and the BBC Music magazine.
I guess the art of accurate obituary writing is, er, dead.A Dublin student changed the Wikipedia entry for Maurice Jarre shortly after he died... more
The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.
His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill "for several years" and had died on Sunday morning.
Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Ballard said his books were instead "picturing the psychology of the future".
His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China.
The author of 15 novels and scores of short stories, Ballard grew up amongst the ex-patriot community in Shanghai.
During World War II, at the age of 12, he was interned for three years in a camp run by the Japanese.
He later moved to Britain and in the early 1960s became a full-time writer.
Ballard built up a passionate readership, particularly after Empire of The Sun, a fictionalised account of his childhood, was made into a film by Steven Spielberg.
He said of his experiences: "I have - I won't say happy - not unpleasant memories of the camp. I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on, but at the same time we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time!"
Director David Cronenberg brought Ballard's infamous book about the sexual desires stimulated by car crashes to the screen in the film Crash.
The film caused a media stir, adding to Ballard's reputation for courting controversy.
In later years he wrote other acclaimed novels such as Super-Cannes and Millennium People.The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died... more
Liam Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave were photographed leaving Lennox Hill Hospital last night, just hours after it was announced that actress Natasha Richardson had died from injuries suffered in a skiing accident in Canada. PHOTOSLiam Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave were photographed leaving Lennox Hill Hospital last... more
The beloved cat of the Clinton Administration has passed away at 18 years old...
He was battling throat cancer.
What a sad day it is for fans of White House pets.The beloved cat of the Clinton Administration has passed away at 18 years old...
He... more
Former NFL linebacker Brad Van Pelt has died at the age of 58 of an apparent heart attack on February 17, 2009. A Michigan State University standout, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001 and was nominated in 2005 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Former NFL linebacker Brad Van Pelt has died at the age of 58 of an apparent heart... more
Estelle Bennett founded The Ronettes along with her cousin and sister. The group had such 60's hits as "(Walking) in the Rain", "Baby, I Love You", and "Be My Baby." She was 67.Estelle Bennett founded The Ronettes along with her cousin and sister. The group had... more
James Whitmore, actor of film, television and Broadway, has died at age 87 of lung cancer. He was best known for his one man shows, where he portrayed Will Rogers, and former president's Harry Truman and Teddy Roosevelt.James Whitmore, actor of film, television and Broadway, has died at age 87 of lung... more
The B-movie inspired rockabilly infused punk outfit The Cramps has lost their lead singer. Erick Purkhiser aka Lux Interior passed away this weekend.The B-movie inspired rockabilly infused punk outfit The Cramps has lost their lead... more
On January 28, 2009 Billy Powell, 56, died at his condo in Orange Park, Florida. Orange Park Police Lt. Mark Cornett said that Powell called 911 just before 1 a.m. complaining of difficulty breathing. Paramedics found him unresponsive in his bedroom still holding the phone. They performed CPR but he was pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m.On January 28, 2009 Billy Powell, 56, died at his condo in Orange Park, Florida.... more
Acclaimed novelist John Updike, has died of cancer at age 76.
Updike won nearly every literary prize, including two Pulitzers, for "Rabbit Is Rich" and "Rabbit at Rest," as well as two National Book Awards.Acclaimed novelist John Updike, has died of cancer at age 76.
Updike won nearly... more
