A great actor. RIP Mr O'Toole.

Peter O'Toole in Quotes. RIP to an original.

Joan Fontaine died today. She was 96.

96, that's amazing.  I never realized she was the only lead actor or actress to win an Academy Award for a Hitchcock film....

 

RIP Grand Lady

Also recently passed, Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) at 82. I never cared for him or his movies, but what the heck. RIP.

Joan Fontaine died today. She was 96.

Wow,

Can't believe she was still kickin'!

The deHavilland sisters were kinda local celebs so I'm sure they'll be lots of name dropping here.

 

I'm sorry to hear about O'Tool.

Country star Ray Price also passed.

Mikhail Kalashnikov - famous for designing the AK-47 died today at the age of 94.

RIP Yusef Lateef. Wonderful musician. I'll be playing later his Eastern Sounds, one of my favorite jazz albums. I wish there's some sort of wonderful place for people who have brought beauty and some happiness to others in this otherwise pretty fucked up world. Maybe that's just resting in peace.

RIP animator Frederic Back (1924-2013). 

 

Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells and Secret Machines lost his ~year-long fight to cancer earlier.

RIP Yusef Lateef. Wonderful musician. I'll be playing later his Eastern Sounds, one of my favorite jazz albums. I wish there's some sort of wonderful place for people who have brought beauty and some happiness to others in this otherwise pretty fucked up world. Maybe that's just resting in peace.

I hadn't seen this until now. Another great I am so happy I was able to see perform, and in Grace Cathedral no less. RIP Yusef, but shake the place up a bit as per your usual.

NP:

James "Uncle Phil" Avery from Fresh Prince dead at 65

 

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/james-avery-dead-65-fresh-prince-bel-air-190000424-us-weekly.html

Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells and Secret Machines lost his ~year-long fight to cancer earlier.

Yeah, saw that. RIP

Phil Everly, half of one of the most popular and influential music duos of the 1950s and '60s, the Everly Brothers, died Friday at age 74, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mike Vraney, founder of Something Weird video, keeper of the ...well, let's call it what it is...weird movie flame, passed away.   Having formerly been a card-carrying member of Video Vault in Alexandria, VA, I have seen quite a bit of his work.

RIP Run Run Shaw. Thanks for the Kung Fu Genre. http://t.co/cxI8WMPJFR http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/72ec27e4-7742-11e3-807e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2pgb62XmP

I'll file this under 'another' - the last 303 Blockbuster stores today. In between the original owner censorship early and missed streaming opportunities late many may cheer the death of a chain that put a lot of great urban indie vid stores out of business. But like a few other chains it for a while was a possible window to the outside for a lot of smaller places in America. I've lived in the middle of nowhere and Blockbuster was often the only option for many indie and foreign films. I bitched and wanted it to be more, but in the end the list of films discovered there is long.

Saul Zaentz died Jan. 3 at age 92.  Amazing list of movie credits, but also the former owner of Fantasy Records and originally signed Credence (and later had a series of lawsuits with Fogerty et al).

^ Didn't know the Fantasy Records connection.

___________________

RIP John Dobson.

You helped me build a telescope and your followers were always great to see at 9th and Irving. Plus that whole revolutionizing amateur astronomy thing.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/John-Dobson-1915ndash2014-240456881.html

http://www.sidewalkastronomers.us/id32.html

We met John Dobson while camping at Crater Lake.  I have a Dobson mounted telescope too.  He had an interesting life.

 

Also, Russell Johnson, the Professor from Gilligan's island died Thursday.

 

Also, Roger Lloyd Pack, a UK actor was in Doctor Who, Only Fools and Horses and Vicar of  Dibley.

 

Not a  good day so far.

First major telescope was a 10" Dobsonian ... used it well for many many years.. RIP

RIP to a great man. John Dobson single handedly revolutionized backyard astronomy by making it much more accessible to average people.

After my first scope (a classic orange C8) I owned a succession of Dobsonians. I still have my 6" Hardin.

Edited January 16, 201412 yr by MoonShine

Conductor Claudio Abbado, 80, passed away yesterday. I believe my favorite Mahler 2 recording was by him, with the CSO, from the late '80s. Sometimes I think the CSO made a mistake hiring Barenboim instead of Abbado, but I suppose Barenboim left some good influences also.

 

RIP