Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Billie Letts

Writer and teacher -- via the New York Times.

Steve Post

Radio host -- via the New York Times. Just one of those wonderful, intelligent, funny, descriptive voices that make radio so enchanting. A long-time staple of mornings at classical radio WNYC-FM. Here's a great profile of him by that station:

David Lee Bakenhaster

Former MLB player -- via legacy.com.

Bill Koski

Former MLB player -- via Dignity Memorial.

Yvette Lebon

Actress --via Le Parisien.

Velma Smith

Guitarist and songwriter -- via tasteofcountry.com A session player, she worked with Willie, Waylon, Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, Roy Acuff, Jim Reeves, Porter Wagoner, and Patsy Cline!






Mike Smith

Radio host -- via the BBC.

Olga Voronets

Folk singer -- via ITAR-TASS.



Juno Alexander

Actress -- via the Telegraph.

Rod de'Ath

Drummer -- via Ultimate Classic Rock.

Monday, August 4, 2014

James Brady

Betty Jo "Grandma Betty" Simpson

Instagram focus of interest -- via the New York Daily News.

Jess Marlow

TV newscaster -- via the NBC Los Angeles.

Benjamin Olmstead

Kevin McGroarty

Master of the self-penned obituary -- via the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. Here is his highly entertaining autoeulogy: -- via legacy.com.

WEEKLY READER: International roundup of stories on death, mourning, and more

TOP STORIES

Via Apartment Therapy, the story of the death mask


Funny, creative obits stick out – via Bob Kalinowski of citizensvoice.com.

MOURNING

Mourning as performance art? – from Cheryl Rossi in the Vancouver Courier

Disturbing or comforting? Photos of stillborns, dead infants becoming memorial practice – by Joel Landau of the New York Daily News

Sharon Randall of McClatchy-Tribune on the need for funerals

Pamela Jay Gottfried on a beautiful day for a funeral

End-of-life ethicist reflects on her own mourning for her husband, from Peggy Fletcher Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune

Howard Barbanel on Huffington Post, on mourning his mother

OBITS

From Confessions of a Funeral Director: “10 Ways to Make Your Obituary Spicy”

FUNERALS


Funeral home buries wrong body – from Deborah Hastings at the New York Daily News

Veteran plans ahead by purchasing Jack Daniels coffin: from Alex Crook at the Daily Star

Paul Sullivan of the New York Times talks about planning ahead



Rich Ceisler

Comedian -- form his Facebook page.

King Robbo

Graffiti artist -- via the BBC.


Sadanam Divakara Marar

Percussionist -- via the Hindu.

Sam Hunter

Scholar, writer, and curator -- via Princeton University.

Natale Tulli

Actor -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Idris Muhammad

Drummer -- via the New Orleans Times-Picayune.





John Mazzola

Ran Lincoln Center -- via the New York Times.

Szobi Cseh

Actor and stuntman -- via ziare.com.

Murat Göğebakan

Singer -- via Today's Zaman.





Wilton Schiller

TV writer and producer -- via Variety.

Kenny Ireland

Actor -- via the Telegraph.


Jay Maeder

Gerardo Cornejo

Writer -- via Pulso.

Mukku Raju aka Sagiraju Rajamraju

Actor and choreographer -- via indiaglitz.com.

Arthur Shafman

Producer -- via the New York Times.

Pete Van Wieren aka The Professor

Noel Black

Director in film and TV; best known for "Pretty Poison" Oscar-nominated for 1965's "Skaterdater"! -- via the New York Times.






Walt Martin

Oscar-nominated sound mixer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Best known for his late-period Eastwood work, he earned his way to the position and how. He are some of the films he worked on prior: "Cavegirl," "Sorority House Massacre," "Pass the Ammo," "Gatorbait II: Cajun Justice," "Dead Heat," "Grizzy Adams and the Legend of Dark Mountain," and the immortal "Dead Man on Campus." I wold have loved to have taped his memoirs. He did it all!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/jersey-boys-why-clint-eastwood-713637




Michael Johns

Singer -- via Entertainment Weekly.

Maria Antonia Iglesias


Writer and journalist -- via El Confidencial.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Rick Mittelman

Emmy-nominated, long-time TV comedy writer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Here's a short list of some of the shows he wrote for" Red Skelton. "The Flintstones." Dick van Dyke. "I Spy." "Gomer Pyle." "Bewitched." "That Girl." Mary Tyler Moore. "The Odd Couple." "Remington Steele." "MacGuyver." 56 shows!!!


Saaed Saleh

Comic actor -- via the Bahrain News Agency. Got his start in the cast of the classic 1973 Egyptian comedy, "Madraset el-Moshaghbeen" (School of the Mischievious). It was adapted from the 1967 British film, "To Sir, with Love," and started many an Egyptian comedy career.






Jan Roar Leikvoll

Novelist -- via nrk.no.

Margaret Rau

Writer -- via legacy.com.

Giorgio Gaslini

Jazz pianist and composer -- via La Repubblica.



FRIDAY BOOK REVIEW: Backstage at the funeral home, and lookee-loo syndrome

By BRAD WEISMANN


Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt
Kenneth McKenzie and Todd Harra
2010
Citadel Press
New York

“ . . . the dead don’t complain, but their families sure can.”

We are fascinated by the forbidden. Sex, graphic violence, personal secrets and indiscretions revealed all put us off . . . but draw us in as well.

This is no truer than about the subject of death – how we die, what happens to us, the repercussions for the living – and all the possible misadventures our abandoned bodies can suffer. This compulsion to slow down and gawk at tragedy, known to rush-hour commuters as the “lookee-loo” syndrome, is part of the reason for this blog, and part of the reason for the writing of “Mortuary Confidential.”

“Mortuary Confidential” is a book of funerary anecdotes. It is an illuminating compendium, and it does go far beyond what a reader might expect. It is not merely a grotesquely comic retailing of death-ritual mishaps and bungles, although there are heavy handfuls of them listed among the 50 stories given here. Wisely, the authors go over many aspects of the profession, including dealing with the idiosyncratic bereaved and uncomprehending officiants. There are also stories about patient spouses who deal with the 24/7 demands of the trade, and poignant, life-changing moments that funeral directors experience in the presence of mourners, and much more.

If there is a flaw here, it is that all the anecdotes have been written in one authorial voice. It’s as though the authors compiled the raw data and then pressed out each story from the same mold – the tone becomes monotonous after a while. And the most interesting observations come in Harra’s introduction, when he notes that his profession is a “hidden” one, not lauded or even thought of until necessity intervenes, that it represents “a failure to our scientific/medical-oriented society.”


That we fixate on the morbid details of life at times is indicative of our voyeuristic impulses. However, our peering over the gates of the funeral home also demonstrates the seriousness with which we invest it. Per Harra, “ . . . we, as a society, must uphold a basic principle of humanity, the sanctity of life, through reverence for the dead.” Well said.

Philip Marshak

Film director -- via the Hollywood Reporter.



Bill Renna

Former MLB outfielder -- via baseballhappenings.net.

Sally Farmiloe

Actress -- via the Independent.

Kay Cooper

Singer, dancer, and actress -- via northnewjersey.com.

Ik-Hwan Bae

Violinist -- via oregonlive.com.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Manny Roth

Founded and ran Cafe Wha?, one of the musical centers of the folk and rick scenes in New York City in the 1960s -- via Rolling Stone.




Dick Wagner

Guitarist and songwriter -- via Rolling Stone. Worked on such great albums as "Berlin" and "Welcome to My Nightmare"; wrote "Only Women Bleed."