Off Topic

Very sad news today. We'll sure miss you, Big Man...

Dave is often my first suggestion for people looking to get into Jazz or experiment with timing. He was productive until the very end of his life, releasing live albums last year at the age of 90. He will be missed. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-dave-brubeck-dead-20121205,0,7126256.column

Sad news today... http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/29/10540912-monkees-star-davy-jones-dies-at-66 Thanks for the memories, Davy! I absolutely loved the Monkees TV show. It was part of what made the late 60s such a special time for little kids.

Apparently he decided to cash in the chips today. Sad. The guy had the best name ever, and will be missed. http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/sport/motorsport/north-carolina-trickle-obit/?hpt=hp_t2

Legendary bass player 'Duck' Dunn of Booker T. and the MGs dies in Tokyo at age 70

One of the all time great baseball managers, and a man who wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He died today, at age 82.

RIP Ernie.

One of my favorite radio personalities. He will be missed. RIP Gene. "If someone was homeless, he would treat them with the same amount of respect as he would the president of the United States," said Pat Thurston, a KGO show host and friend of Mr. Burns'.

Steinbrenner dies from heart attack | yankees.com: News

So, in July 2011 my father-in-law passed away, and we inherited his 12 year old cat, Greystone. Greystone was frightened by the ambulance and the police and ran off that day, and it took 3 weeks for my brother-in-law to lure him back into the house. My wife's siblings were unable to keep the cat, so we agreed to take him. When we picked him up he was in poor health, with a mouth full of rotten teeth and he was malnourished and all skin and bone, weighing about 7 lbs. We took him to the vet whom we've used for 6 years with our other pets, and Greystone had to have all of his remaining teeth pulled. We nursed him back to health but he couldn't gain weight. He had norm…

This is kind of sad. She did a lot of good with that site. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57599288-38/surveillance-concerns-bring-an-end-to-crusading-site-groklaw/ The story sort of implies, indirectly, that she must think that corporations can break GPGP. That would be news to me. I thought it wasn't really established that the government could do that on any meaningful scale.

Fine writer. Read every one of his Culture novels and about 75% of his "serious" fiction. A great loss. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/iain-banks-dies-59-cancer

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/28/179666890/janos-starker-a-master-of-the-cello-dies-at-88?ft=1&f=10003 His many renditions of the Bach Cello Suites have always been among my favorites.

Jim Carroll, poet and punk, passed away Friday at the age of 60. Probably most famous for "The Basketball Diaries", I'll remember him for the "Catholic Boy" album - a sweet taste of late 70's NYC punk. "They were all my friends, and they died." NYT Obit

Jim Marshall, creator of the Marshall amp, dies at 88.

RIP Joe Paterno

Probably obscure for many of you, but RIP to a cycling great. AFP: Tributes paid as former Tour winner Fignon dies

Guitar great Les Paul is dead at 94. Huge loss. RIP Les.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/arts/music/lou-reed-dies-at-71.html

I never got to get my $5 for recognizing you.

Always liked watching NFL games with him and John Madden doing the play by play. Much preferable to Cosell, Meredith, etc., at least for me. Not mentioned in a couple of articles was his announcing of the Masters golf tournament for 20+ years, always (IIRC) with Ken Venturi. RIP...

I'm not sure if anyone here watches/ed Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, but Phil Harris, the captain of Cornelia Marie the ship that has been prominently featured on the show, has passed away as a result of a stroke. He will me missed. Deadliest Catch : Discovery Channel

NEW DELHI (AP) — Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over a 10-decade career, died Tuesday. He was 92. A statement on the musician's website said he died in San Diego, near his Southern California home. The musician's foundation issued a statement saying that he had suffered upper respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also confirmed his death and called Shankar a "national treasure." Labeled "the godfather of world music" by George Ha…

RIP Ray. http://www.dolby.com/us/en/about-us/who-we-are/remembering-ray-dolby.html http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-sound-pioneer-ray-dolby-has-died-20130912,0,254453.story http://gizmodo.com/ray-dolby-innovator-of-cinema-sound-has-died-1303210020