Obituaries for 2020

[catfish1957]

Two factors: the Baby Boomers turned 13 in 1959, meaning you had a bunch of swooning teen girls coming of age, and organized crime was filtering into the music industry in the major cities. Look at how many of the major names of that era were East Coast Italians. It was no coincidence... it was becoming, in the words of the late Frank Zappa, "strictly commercial."

After the first wave, of say Elvis, JLL, Holly, and a few others, the period 1959-1964 was pretty much a lull, and a bowl of Yellow Snow.  (building on your Zappa meme)

[truth_seeker]

Swooning teen girls are a very good thing.

Most males are driven by the biological mating instinct to please, interface, and be with them.

A good song was and remains a method, even if it comes from the dash of an automobile, or by the Singing cowboy


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[truth_seeker]

Italians were good, too. This vid proves they could keep it up for decades


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[goatprairie]

Two factors: the Baby Boomers turned 13 in 1959, meaning you had a bunch of swooning teen girls coming of age, and organized crime was filtering into the music industry in the major cities. Look at how many of the major names of that era were East Coast Italians. It was no coincidence... it was becoming, in the words of the late Frank Zappa, "strictly commercial."

hmmm.....interesting theory.

[mountaineer]

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Singer Betty Wright Dead at 66
5/10/2020 8:26 AM PT

Betty Wright, a supremely talented R&B singer who popularized the phrase, "No pain, no gain," has died.

Wright's cause of death was not announced when her niece confirmed the passing. Something was clearly wrong though because 2 days ago, Chaka Khan made a plea ... "Calling all my #PrayWarriors. My beloved sister, Betty Wright @MsBettyWright, is now in need of all your prayers."

Wright, whom some in the music industry called one of the most underrated singers of her time, was recently honored on TV One's, "Unsung."

Betty recorded so many songs, including her 1971 hit, "Clean Up Woman. She was only 18 when the song was released, and it turned out to be her biggest song ever. Other hits included "Let Me Be Your Lovermaker," "Shoorah Shoorah," "Tonight is the Night," and "Where is the Love."   ... TMZ

[truth_seeker]

That pink album cover portrays her as a beauty.

Too young.  (her own son died too young from thug violence)

[EasyAce]

hmmm.....interesting theory.

Meanwhile, two titans of music were born in 1959 and spent the next four years maturing:

[sneakypete]

Don't forget Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Link Wray, etal.
One huge question I have is given the talent of those rnr titans, how did rock degenerate so bad in the late fifties until the Beatles arrived on the scene?

@goatprairie

IMNSHO,this happened because it became "big bidnez",and was taken out of the hands of the fans that produced and promoted it,and handed over to the corporations,whose business model is "don't make waves and sell "comfortable product".

Many parents in the 50's and early 60's violently opposed this "demonic music that promotes sex!". At least one song by Link Wray was banned from air play due to being "too suggestive". I THINK it was Rumble,even though there are only guitar riffs (MASTER guitar riffs,btw),but it could have been "Good Time Joe","Backwoods Preacher Man",or any of the others.

My parents,for some odd reason I will never understand,LOVED it. They never even complained about "that noise" when I was cranking up Lynard Skynard and Pink Floyd in the 70's. Sometimes they would even ask me the name of a song they really liked.AFAIK,none of my friends at that time had this experience.

BTW,for those who don't know,Link Wray was still touring and trying to get record contracts,right up to the time he died a few years ago.

When it comes to 50's guitar,Link Wray WAS "the man"!

[truth_seeker]

Late 1950s hetero American males singing for the pleasures of "swooning teenage girls"-non denomic style


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[sneakypete]

Late 1950s hetero American males singing for the pleasures of "swooning teenage girls"-non denomic style


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@truth_seeker

Uhhh,what does this have to do with death notices? Does listening to it make you suicidal?

[Free Vulcan]

Don't forget Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Link Wray, etal.
One huge question I have is given the talent of those rnr titans, how did rock degenerate so bad in the late fifties until the Beatles arrived on the scene?
On Sirius radio some months ago they put on the top hits of 1961. The wife and I gagged at all the maudlin, sappy tunes that were hits at the time. Bob Dylan was right....rock at that time was, in his words,  "a piece of cream."
Frankie Avalon. Paul Anka? 

Buddy Holly, Link Ray, Eddie Cochran and others no doubt were among the early greats, but they came along a few years later.

I agree that rock went blah for the early 60's. But then came along the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and a zillion others right after.

Then it kinda died again in the early-to-mid-70's until roaring back to life in the late 70's/80's. Same pattern can be said for each decade until finally mostly fizzling out for good around 2010.

[GtHawk]

After the first wave, of say Elvis, JLL, Holly, and a few others, the period 1959-1964 was pretty much a lull, and a bowl of Yellow Snow.  (building on your Zappa meme)

So you're saying it took the music industry some time to get the Dinah Moe Humm?

[catfish1957]

So you're saying it took the music industry some time to get the Dinah Moe Humm?

Actually it took a lead filled snowshoe. 

[GtHawk]

Actually it took a lead filled snowshoe.

What kind of shoe was it when they came up with rap

[Applewood]

Jerry Stiller, comedian and 'Seinfeld' actor, dies at 92

Comedy veteran Jerry Stiller, who launched his career opposite wife Anne Meara in the 1950s and reemerged four decades later as the hysterically high-strung Frank Costanza on the smash television show “Seinfeld,” died at 92, his son Ben Stiller announced Monday.

He died of natural causes, his son — a comedy star himself — said in a tweet.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/jerry-stiller-comedian-seinfeld-actor-dies-92-70611265

 

[catfish1957]

Jerry Stiller, comedian and 'Seinfeld' actor, dies at 92

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/jerry-stiller-comedian-seinfeld-actor-dies-92-70611265

 

Rush was known for having great intro bits before their concerts started.  My favorite , was the one by Jerry Stiller during their R-30 Tour.

His parts are at about 1:50- 3:10, and 6:15- 6:25 on the clip.


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[Gefn]

It really did come in three's this time. RIP, Mr. Stiller. You’re with your beloved wife now.

And thank you and your wife for all the laughter.

 

[verga]

Then it kinda died again in the early-to-mid-70's until roaring back to life in the late 70's/80's. Same pattern can be said for each decade until finally mostly fizzling out for good around 2010.

I will gently remind yoiu that the late 70 had Disco, and the early 80's began the birth of rap/hip hop

[catfish1957]

I will gently remind yoiu that the late 70 had Disco, and the early 80's began the birth of rap/hip hop

And yet, mankind survived.   

[verga]

Rush was known for having great intro bits before their concerts started.  My favorite , was the one by Jerry Stiller during their R-30 Tour.

His parts are at about 1:50- 3:10, and 6:15- 6:25 on the clip.

Silly me, I was expecting to see Rush Limbaugh.

[jmyrlefuller]

And yet, mankind survived.

Not for much longer at this rate.

[Smokin Joe]

Not for much longer at this rate.

Where's your sense of adventure, bro?
 

[EasyAce]

Rush was known for having great intro bits before their concerts started.  My favorite , was the one by Jerry Stiller during their R-30 Tour.

His parts are at about 1:50- 3:10, and 6:15- 6:25 on the clip.


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Stiller & Meara, "The 25,000 Insurance Policy"

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Stiller & Meara, reunited in heaven.

RIP

[goatprairie]

What was great about Seinfeld is that even the secondary characters were often hilarious.
Jerry Stiller, as George Costanza's father, was one of the funniest characters on the show even with limited air time. Ditto for Newman played by Wayne Knight.

[catfish1957]

What was great about Seinfeld is that even the secondary characters were often hilarious.
Jerry Stiller, as George Costanza's father, was one of the funniest characters on the show even with limited air time. Ditto for Newman played by Wayne Knight.

Seinfeld by far had a vencacular that impacted the English Language probably more than any other TV show.

Yada Yada, Regift, Bromanze, Shrinkage, Spongeworthy, Close Talker, Festivus, Man Hands, Soup Nazi, Double Dip, In the Vault, and probably some I missed.  Your right, the supporting cast brought a ton to the table.

[Fishrrman]

Never watched "Seinfeld", not even once.
Why watch a show "about nothing" ???

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

[Applewood]

Never watched "Seinfeld", not even once.
Why watch a show "about nothing" ???

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

I was no fan of Seinfeld either.  But I grew up watching Jerry Stiller with his wife, Anne Meara, when they were frequent guests on the Ed Sullivan Show.  They were funny, as were most comedians back then.  Today's so-called comedians -- not so much.

[EasyAce]

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

You'd better get down on your knees and thank God for laughter, because without it you'd get awful sick from the sound of crying.---Danny Thomas.

[Free Vulcan]

My favorite Jerry Stiller scene of all time. Let's rumble!


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[goatprairie]

Never watched "Seinfeld", not even once.
Why watch a show "about nothing" ???

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

Because it's the all-time greatest sitcom, that's why. You're cheating yourself out of laughs...which there aren't a lot of lately.

[jmyrlefuller]

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

To live without humor is to live without life.

[goatprairie]

Never watched "Seinfeld", not even once.
Why watch a show "about nothing" ???

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

What do you laugh at, if anything? Not counting corrupt pols, that is.

[mountaineer]

To live without humor is to live without life.

[Smokin Joe]

Never watched "Seinfeld", not even once.
Why watch a show "about nothing" ???

(I have little tolerance for comedies or "comedians" of any kind, anyway...)

I am not a fan of most comedies, simply because (the more modern stuff, anyway) there is little I find funny. But watch Bob Hope in his prime, or George Burns and Gracie Allen, even up to Archie Bunker or Sanford and Son, and there are chuckles there, and on occasion, a belly laugh. Some of the classic comedians will elicit a laugh, because they were having fun with human nature, (Carlin did that, too, best when he wasn't using vocal prompts as a signal to laugh).

But I have sat through more modern fare without so much as a grin, and that's depressing.

It doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humour, much I believe as you do, just that I find other things far more amusing than the politically correct agenda driven joke du jour with a laugh track to hold up the 'applause sign".

[sneakypete]

 

@

I am not a fan of most comedies, simply because (the more modern stuff, anyway) there is little I find funny. But watch Bob Hope in his prime, or George Burns and Gracie Allen, even up to Archie Bunker or Sanford and Son, and there are chuckles there, and on occasion, a belly laugh. Some of the classic comedians will elicit a laugh, because they were having fun with human nature, (Carlin did that, too, best when he wasn't using vocal prompts as a signal to laugh).

But I have sat through more modern fare without so much as a grin, and that's depressing.

It doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humour, much I believe as you do, just that I find other things far more amusing than the politically correct agenda driven joke du jour with a laugh track to hold up the 'applause sign".

@Smokin Joe

I pull in,and record,stuff like the Carol Burnette Show,You Bet Your Life (Groucho),Tales from the Crypt,and Alfred Hitchcock Presents on my 43 buck RCA HD tv antenna.

Some may be more sardonic than slapstick,but the humor is there.

ANYBODY that doesn't think Conway and Korman from the Carole Burnett Show isn't funny needs a funny bone implant. That was some PRIME stuff!

[GrouchoTex]

Groucho Marx, my hero!

Carlin was great, could be the best.
Robin Williams stand up was pretty amazing.

Even though we have all watched it a million times, I dare any of you to watch Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first" and not laugh.

Harpo, Chico and Groucho in the Mirror scene from the movie "Duck Soup" will get you every time.
(Lucille Ball re-did the Mirror Scene on TV with Harpo later on).

Tim Conway and Carol Burnett were flat out hilarious.

[EasyAce]

I am not a fan of most comedies, simply because (the more modern stuff, anyway) there is little I find funny. But watch Bob Hope in his prime, or George Burns and Gracie Allen, even up to Archie Bunker or Sanford and Son, and there are chuckles there, and on occasion, a belly laugh . . .

Bob Hope and Burns & Allen were far funnier in their radio years:

The Bob Hope Show
The Burns & Allen Show
(Look especially for the 1940 "Gracie for President" running gag, when she ran a comical campaign as the nominee of the Surprise Party.)

. . . and even they were bested in the radio years by . . .

The Jack Benny Program
Texaco Star Theater with Fred Allen
The Fred Allen Show
Easy Aces
The Henry Morgan Show
You Bet Your Life
Fibber McGee & Molly
The Big Show
Vic & Sade
The Goldbergs

At those links are complete surviving installments of those shows' runs. Free downloading.

(The Big Show was a 1950-52 attempt by NBC to revive classic radio variety shows---with a truckload of comedy including Fred Allen (a very frequent guest and co-writer), Bob Burns, Jack Carson, Jimmy Durante, Phil Harris, Bob Hope, George Jessel, Bert Lahr, Groucho Marx, Danny Thomas, and others. The whole shebang was hosted by Tallulah Bankhead and the writing staff was headed by Easy Aces mastermind Goodman Ace.)

[Smokin Joe]

@
@Smokin Joe

I pull in,and record,stuff like the Carol Burnette Show,You Bet Your Life (Groucho),Tales from the Crypt,and Alfred Hitchcock Presents on my 43 buck RCA HD tv antenna.

Some may be more sardonic than slapstick,but the humor is there.

ANYBODY that doesn't think Conway and Korman from the Carole Burnett Show isn't funny needs a funny bone implant. That was some PRIME stuff!

The Burnett show was great stuff. Conway as the dentist is a classic. Those are all great shows, but there is little new in the same vein that isn't laced with PC and gratuitous faggotry.

[Applewood]

The Burnett show was great stuff. Conway as the dentist is a classic. Those are all great shows, but there is little new in the same vein that isn't laced with PC and gratuitous faggotry.

Conway and Korman were hysterical together.  Korman was just funny because, especially with Conway, he could not keep a straight face in any skit.  My favorite skits had Conway as the "world's oldest" something -- it changed weekly.  One skit had Conway as the world's oldest fireman.  Poor Harvey Korman could barely get out his lines; he was laughing so much.

The show also spoofed movies and tv shows.  A classic was Burnett's takeoff on Gone With the Wind (titled "Went With the Wind" for the Carol Burnett Show).  In the movie there is a  scene where Scarlett has Mammy make her a dress from drapes  In the Burnett spoof, Carol as Scarlett descends a staircase wearing a dress made out of drapery material -- and a drapery rod across her back.  The story goes that the taping of that scene had to be halted for a good ten or fifteen minutes.  The studio audience was laughing so hard, the performers could not continue with the skit. 

By the way, that drapery dress from the Carol Burnett Show is now in the Smithsonian. 

[goatprairie]

The Burnett show was great stuff. Conway as the dentist is a classic. Those are all great shows, but there is little new in the same vein that isn't laced with PC and gratuitous faggotry.

The modern p.c. is the worst thing. Plus, the incessant foul language from many "comedians."
A great many of them are liberals who while quite willing to skewer Christian public (or private) figures, but sheath their swords about Islam.
In short, they are cowardly hypocrites.
I've seen a number of skits on YouTube by so-called major comedians like Louis C.K. and some others. Not even a slight titter out of me.
I did see a Norm MacDonald sketch a while back that left me helpless with laughter.
So there are a few comedians today who are actually funny. Just not many of them.
Jeff Dunham is real good.
The wife and I watch Johnny Carson shows from forty years ago and still laugh.
Rodney Dangerfield was on one time, and  Carson was so convulsed he could barely speak.

[sneakypete]

Groucho Marx, my hero!

Carlin was great, could be the best.
Robin Williams stand up was pretty amazing.

Even though we have all watched it a million times, I dare any of you to watch Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first" and not laugh.

Harpo, Chico and Groucho in the Mirror scene from the movie "Duck Soup" will get you every time.
(Lucille Ball re-did the Mirror Scene on TV with Harpo later on).

Tim Conway and Carol Burnett were flat out hilarious.

@GrouchoTex

Don't forget Harvey Korman. He and Tim Conway provided the hysterical laughter. Carol Burnette was a great comedic actress on her own,but when Conway and Korman were on camera doing their thing,she was more of a "straight man" and a witness than anything else.

[sneakypete]

The modern p.c. is the worst thing. Plus, the incessant foul language from many "comedians."
A great many of them are liberals who while quite willing to skewer Christian public (or private) figures, but sheath their swords about Islam.
In short, they are cowardly hypocrites.
I've seen a number of skits on YouTube by so-called major comedians like Louis C.K. and some others. Not even a slight titter out of me.
I did see a Norm MacDonald sketch a while back that left me helpless with laughter.
So there are a few comedians today who are actually funny. Just not many of them.
Jeff Dunham is real good.
The wife and I watch Johnny Carson shows from forty years ago and still laugh.
Rodney Dangerfield was on one time, and  Carson was so convulsed he could barely speak.

@goatprairie

Norm is so anti-PC he can't even get a gig working for free. I sorta vaguely remember his blowing his career by making fun of the Clintons on SNL and various other teebee shows,and that is what did him in. He actually had a hit comedy series on teebee at the time,and it was cancelled in mid-season and I think there were still taped episodes that were never seen.

Ron White is another one. Maybe the biggest compliment I got in my life was a good friend of mine called me on the phone one night,practically hysterical with laughter as he told me he had just seen a comedian on tv "that's doing your stuff! I had to look hard to make sure it wasn't you!"

I have to admit I had never heard of White at the time,and had to look him up on youtube to check for myself. Sure enough,he was saying a lot of the same things I had been saying,but better.

[roamer_1]

To live without humor is to live without life.

I fart, therefore I am.   

[jmyrlefuller]

Barry Farber
Famed conservative talk radio pioneer and language enthusiast dies at 90



Farber enjoyed a radio career lasting six decades, much of that based in New York City. At various times his work was nationally syndicated, first through Kaiser Broadcasting for a brief period in the late 1970s, by ABC in the late 1980s, and then through both Cable Radio Network and Talk Radio Network (the latter also using Farber as a frequent fill-in for Laura Ingraham and their other talk hosts) beginning in the 1990s. He was still hosting shows for CRN at the time of his death, desiring never to retire.

An enthusiastic learner of languages and foreign traveler, Farber claimed knowledge of about 25 foreign languages. He wrote three books during his lifetime: Making People Talk: You Can Turn Every Conversation into a Magic Moment; How to Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own; and How to Not Make the Same Mistake Once. He was, for a brief time in the late 1970s, a political gadfly, running as a Republican against Congresswoman Bella Abzug and the Conservative Party nominee for NYC mayor against Ed Koch, losing both races but earning respectable publicity.

Farber died May 6, one day after his 90th birthday, from complications from a series of falls.

Obituary from Newsbrig.com

Wikipedia

[EasyAce]

Barry Farber
Famed conservative talk radio pioneer and language enthusiast dies at 90



Farber enjoyed a radio career lasting six decades, much of that based in New York City. At various times his work was nationally syndicated, first through Kaiser Broadcasting for a brief period in the late 1970s, by ABC in the late 1980s, and then through both Cable Radio Network and Talk Radio Network (the latter also using Farber as a frequent fill-in for Laura Ingraham and their other talk hosts) beginning in the 1990s. He was still hosting shows for CRN at the time of his death, desiring never to retire.

An enthusiastic learner of languages and foreign traveler, Farber claimed knowledge of about 25 foreign languages. He wrote three books during his lifetime: Making People Talk: You Can Turn Every Conversation into a Magic Moment; How to Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own; and How to Not Make the Same Mistake Once. He was, for a brief time in the late 1970s, a political gadfly, running as a Republican against Congresswoman Bella Abzug and the Conservative Party nominee for NYC mayor against Ed Koch, losing both races but earning respectable publicity.

Farber died May 6, one day after his 90th birthday, from complications from a series of falls.

Obituary from Newsbrig.com

Wikipedia

I met Barry Farber in 1989, when he was the MC for Congressional legend Hamilton Fish's 101st birthday affair in New York and I was covering the affair for the upstate New York daily for which I worked at the time. He was a nice man who'd answer any question you asked honestly. And he wasn't a bombastic B.S. artist like a lot of radio's talking heads were beginning to become at the time I met him.

RIP Mr. Farber.

[Applewood]

Medal of Honor recipient Ronald Shurer, hero combat medic in Afghanistan, dies at 41 from cancer

...Shurer was a senior medical sergeant in the special forces on April 6, 2008, when his team encountered machine gun and sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades from militants.

Shurer stabilized one soldier, then fought his way amid gunfire up a mountain to the lead members of the unit. There, he treated and stabilized four more soldiers. Shurer helped evacuate them. He lowered the wounded down the steep mountainside while using his body to shield them from enemy fire.

After he had loaded the wounded in an evacuation helicopter, Shurer went back up the mountain to fight.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/15/ronald-shurer-medal-honor-recipient-41-dies-cancer/5196854002/

***

This guy was a real hero.  Rest in peace, Sgt. Shurer.

[Cyber Liberty]

Medal of Honor recipient Ronald Shurer, hero combat medic in Afghanistan, dies at 41 from cancer

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/15/ronald-shurer-medal-honor-recipient-41-dies-cancer/5196854002/

***

This guy was a real hero.  Rest in peace, Sgt. Shurer.

Way, way too young!  RIP, Sarge!

[sneakypete]

Medal of Honor recipient Ronald Shurer, hero combat medic in Afghanistan, dies at 41 from cancer

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/15/ronald-shurer-medal-honor-recipient-41-dies-cancer/5196854002/

***

This guy was a real hero.  Rest in peace, Sgt. Shurer.

@Applewood

That he was,but as tough as he was,nobody is tougher than cancer when it wants to take you.

A damn shame. He surely had so much more to contribute.

[Smokin Joe]

RIP Sergeant...and thanks from all of us.

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/carlos-santana-brother-jorge-santana-dead

Carlos Santana's brother, guitarist Jorge Santana, dead at 68

Carlos Santana's brother Jorge Santana has died. He was 68.

The famed guitarist announced the death of his brother on his official Facebook account early Friday.
...
Like Carlos, Jorge became known for his impressive guitar skills, beginning at the reported age of 14 when he joined a band in the 1960s called The Malibus.

Jorge's band later changed their name to Malo. They went on to sign with Warner Bros. and became best known for their hit "Suavecito."

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