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Obituaries 2020

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Okay, this is technically from 2019, but it’s 2020 now, so ner.

Syd Mead, industrial designer, and “visual futurist” – you’ve seen his work if you’ve seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner, Tron, 2010, Short Circuit, Alien, Aliens, Timecop, Johnny Mnemonic, Mission: Impossible III, and Blade Runner 2049– bit the dust 30/12/19, aged 86.

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  2. Bo Winberg has gone beyond at the age of 80. He’s worth noting as lead guitarist for Swedish outfit The Spotnicks, who are best remembered for two things: wearing spacesuits (or Fireball XL5-type equivalents) and having Jimmie Nicol playing drums for a short while around the mid-1960s.

    In reading about The Spotnicks, I was surprised to discover they’d had a #1 in Australia in 1962 – a cover of Orange Blossom Special (it made the Top 30 in the UK). Checking it out on Youtube revealed a fairly innocuous, almost inoffensive rendering, that seemed to ideally encapsulate what Australia was like at the time (I was only 1 year old at the time, so don’t speak from memory)….no wonder The Beatles tour in ’64 was like the gods descending.

    • Might seem innocuous to you, but back then I was in complete awe of that guitar playing. Great though Duane Eddy and Hank Marvin were, they didn’t go for fingerboard pyrotechnics much. which is why thousands of lads like me could play their tunes. Nobody could play Orange Blossom Special.

  3. ‪‘Television medium and psychic Derek Acorah has died aged 69, his wife has announced.’

    He could at least make the announcement himself.‬

  6. While we’re at it, let us note a couple of other departures worth noting…

    Buck Henry, a writer/director/actor who I’ll admit I thought had already expired. He co-created Get Smart, one of the few 60s TV sitcoms that are still funny to this day. Also wrote screenplays for The Graduate, Catch-22, Day Of The Dolphin among others.

    Steve Martin Caro, singer with The Left Banke when they had their big Walk Away Renee hit in 1966.

    • Good innings. Seemed like an excellent sort. Probably best known for hosting ITV’s long running Sale of the Century (“Live from Norwich – it’s the quiz of the week”) but all fans of BBC Radio 4’s even longer running (since 1967!) Just a Minute will know how witty, gentle and professional the man was.

  9. I enjoy many sports but like most Britons I have no interest at all in basketball. But even I had heard of Kobe Bryant prior to his shocking death on Sunday. From what I read, he appears to have been not merely an exceptional athlete but also understood that his talent gave him a position of social responsibility, and he knew how to use his money and time to benefit others much less fortunate. The reaction in America and elsewhere to his passing reflects the impact he had in his short life.

  10. Footy fans may have missed the passing of the great Rob Rensenbrink the other day. The first World Cup I watched was 1978 and Holland were my favourite team (apart from when they played Scotland). In the absence of Johan Cruyff, it was Rensenbrink who became the favourite for me and my schoolmates after scoring a hat-trick in Holland’s first game. I think he got 5 that tournament and was only beaten to the Golden Boot by Mario Kempes, helped by his 2 goals in the dodgiest World Cup game ever. There were a lot of disappointed faces at school on the Monday, after Holland had lost to Argentina in the final, but as far as we were concerned Rob Rensenbrink was the best player in the world.

    • Didn’t he hit the inside of the post in the last minute of normal time in the final? If it had gone in then Holland would have been World Champions.

  12. Lyle Mays (1953-2020)

    The great keyboardist Lyle Mays has died. He was best known for his 30-year collaboration with Pat Metheny as keyboardist and co-composer in the Pat Metheny Group, on albums like “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls”.

    Mays also played with Rickie Lee Jones, Earth Wind and Fire and may other top artists. For many rock fans, he may be best known as a member of Joni Mitchell’s legendary all-star band on the “Shadows and Light” live album. You know the band I’m talking about – that incredible one with Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias and Michael Brecker.

    Rest easy, Mr Mays.

    • Familiar with his Pat Metheny Group work. He was a very accomplished pianist/keyboard player – you don’t get the Metheny gig and retain it for so long without having some chops. I understand he gave up music and became a software development exec or summat.

      66 is no age at all. RIP Lyle.

    • I’ve just seen this, and hadn’t spotted it anywhere else despite being a fairly avid interweb browser. I have a little home studio and I record and produce CDs for local folkies or acoustic acts. My current one is a local troubadour who recorded 12 of his own songs very quickly on guitar / vocals and said “I’ll leave you to do something with them”. It’s been a slow but rewarding process. In the last week of January I started on one of his songs and decided it needed some sort of a melodic synth line to counterpoint his voice. I got my midi keyboard out for the lads and came across a sample called Lyle Mays. My first thought was “I wonder if he gets paid for this”. My second was “I’ve a pretty good idea what this will sound like”, and so it was. It did the job nicely and when my client came round to review progress I showed him what I’d done and explained to him about who Lyle May was and how he was associated with certain sounds. That’s the first time I’d thought about him for a long time. I”m now somewhat taken aback to discover he passed on less than 2 weeks later. RIP Lyle

    • Also a great authority on the history of music hall – he had a considerable archive which he was in the process of donating to a university (can’t recall which one). Apparently, and I can believe it from his various media appearances, a thoroughly decent chap.

    • Yes, that’s right. Fine voice.
      Anyone wishing to try a Bob Andy album is directed to the all-time classic Studio One compilation “Song Book”. Sadly, CD copies of this album tend to be shoddy and rather poor-sounding. If ever there was a classic reggae album that was due the full Remastered Deluxe Edition treatment, it’s the outstanding “Song Book”. It’s the very least Bob Andy’s legacy deserves.

  22. Mort Drucker, ace caricaturist best known for his work in Mad magazine, has drawn his last at the age of 91.

    And I just learned British actress Hilary Dwyer has taken her last call at 74. If you’re a fan of “The Prisoner”, she was the poor lass Patrick Cargill tortured till she jumped out the window in the “Hammer Into Anvil” episode. She was also the daughter in “Witchfinder General.”

    • I also read that she produced Nil By Mouth – a knockabout farce, with laughs aplenty. I’m joking, of course. It’s one of those relentlessly bleak films that stays with you. Not even sure if I want to see it again but it’s very, very good.

    • He could certainly play. Unfortunately, he was also fond of making potentially career ending tackles. But then, he wasn’t the only one around at that time you can say that about (most clubs had one). He’s one of a few that wouldn’t last 2 minutes today.

      • You raise – maybe just to me – an interesting question. I’ve also been watching a lot of “old” rugby.

        Just how many careers were ended by hunter or Smith or those of that ilk? Similarly, some of the stuff in the rugby would have seen more red cards in this “safer” era. But how much safer is it now? Or more dangerous then?

        Are there any stats out there?

    • Such a cultured footballer. With a dip of the shoulder and a sway of the hips he seemed to glide effortlessly past the opposition before engineering a slide rule defence splitting pass to either Messrs. Clarke or Jones.
      Oh yeah …… almost forgot. He stood on top of the ball on the halfway line against Poland which led to England not reaching the World Cup proper in 1974.

    • Hunter was also the manager of the best Barnsley team I’ve ever seen, having originally signed for us as player-coach under Allan Clarke. We were one win short of promotion to the old First Division under him in 1982, the season after getting promoted from the Third Division. And with a team featuring the likes of Mick McCarthy, Ronnie Glavin, Trevor Aylott and Ian Banks we would have had a good chance of staying up too. We beat three First Division teams in the League Cup, eventually losing at home to Liverpool in a replay, having drawn 0-0 at Anfield (with our best player injured), with around 16,000 Barnsley fans having made the trip to Liverpool.

      Hunter’s team was a joy to watch and he is fondly remembered by all Barnsley fans of a certain age. There’d be no way we’d be able to keep a team like that together these days though. McCarthy played over 300 games for us before moving to Manchester City. John Stones played less than 30.

  29. Matthew Seligman – bass player for The Soft Boys, long-time Thomas Dolby collaborator, part of Bowie’s backing band at Live Aid.

    Had been in an induced coma for the last couple of weeks after contracting Covid-19.

  31. As has Ian Whitcomb…UK fellow that had one hit in the US – “You Turn Me On” – but established himself as something of a scholar in popular music history, especially pre-rock pop. He wrote a couple of book on the subject that are worth reading, particularly for the chapters he devotes to his own experiences in the US in the mid 60s (he comes across as the Adrian Mole of Pop)

  35. Peter Thomas, aged 94. As a composer and arranger, he created music for a zillion movies and TV shows from Europe, chiefly his native Germany. Remember the loungecore theme to “Chariots Of The Gods”? That was him. He also did music for the early 60s Edgar Wallace films.

    • Some of those Edgar Wallace episodes are as good as TV ever got. Still on Talking Pictures.

      Most of them had a cinema release, playing before the main feature.

      There must have been thousands of film goers who would start a conversation, “Here, remember that b-feature we saw when the (insert details of Edgar Wallace film here) … ” ending with “… that was brilliant, that was.”

  36. Charles Lippincott was at one time Senior Vice President, Advertising, Publicity, Promotion, and Merchandising of Star Wars Corporation. That was before the first film came out. It may not have been the success it was without his input, which was considerable; indeed, it’s said that he basically reshaped the way movies are marketed. He was more or less airbrushed out of the Star Wars story, after falling out with George Lucas.

    Sounds a bit dull, I suppose, but have a look here…

    http://therealcharleslippincott.blogspot.com

    …for the background story not only on the original Star Wars, but also Westworld, the first Judge Dredd, and others. If the first page of his blog doesn’t interest you, well, sorry to have wasted your time. But Derek Taylor seems to have had a career that people like to read about, so it’s possible that Charlie’s tale might be worth a look.

    Anyway, he died last week from COVID-19 complications, aged 80.

  38. Brendan Bowyer – leader of the Royal Showband has also left the building.
    Supported by pre-fame Beatles in the early 60s, he was an Elvis impersonator from the early days. Even Elvis himself was a fan.

  40. Michael Angelis has left us. An actor who was everywhere in the 70s and 80s – notably Lucien in the Liver Birds and a main character in Boys from the Black Stuff.
    He was the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine after Ringo stopped doing it. “Interestingly” his older brother, Paul Angelis played Ringo in Yellow Submarine.

  43. Bonnie Pointer jumped ship from her sisters before they started jumping for love, or going automatic.

    She was on board and co-wrote this terrific early 70s hit….alas, expired at 69.

  45. Time to lighten up things around here – let’s talk about dead people!

    Johnny Mandel has just expired at the age of 94 – every time you hum the theme from MASH, that’s his work you’re invoking. He also won an Oscar (1965) and Grammy (1966) for co-writing “The Shadow Of Your Smile.”

    Benny Mardones, a singer-songwriter who hit it with “Into The Night” in 1980, has written his last at the age of 73.

    Pete Carr was a guitarist with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (among other things). You could hear his twanging on the melody line of Bob Seger’s “Main Street” or Rod’s “Tonight’s The Night”…..alas, gone at 70.

    Tom Finn was a founder member of The Left Banke – 71 is too young to be shuffling off.

    Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg was an American radio DJ from the days when you might tune in more to hear the talk between songs than the music itself. If you’re a fan of the “Cruisin'” series, his recreation of his work is on the “Cruisin’ ’61” LP….93, over and out.

    Milton Glaser – designer par excellence – is no longer among us at the age of 91, but his work will long survive him. To say he was prolific is an understatement, we’ve probably all seen examples here and there without knowing it was him. Mentioned in the media for his “I (heart) NY” design, he also did a stack of graphics for the music industry, best known probably being his Dylan poster from 1966.

  46. The great Carl Reiner gone at 98. One of the greatest comedy writers and performers – The 2000 Year Old Man with Mel Brooks, originated the Dick Van Dyke Show and directed Steve Martin’s 3 best films (The Jerk, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and The Man With Two Brains).

  50. Jack Charlton has died. I recently saw some footage of him and Bobby talking about winning the World Cup together and reflecting on their days as children kicking a ball about and going fishing. It was a very stoic but tender exchange.

    Apparently he woke up in a flat in Dagenham on the morning after winning the World Cup. He had no recollection of how he got there but he had his winners medal in his jacket pocket.

    • I’ll remember him best as Boro manager. Took an underperforming bunch of players and forged a formidable promotion winning side in his first season (working without a contract on £10,000 per annum) without spending a penny. His only recruit was the ageing Bobby Murdoch from Celtic on a free. Murdoch simply stood in the centre circle and sprayed precision passes while the young Graeme Souness did the running about for him. Jack was entirely responsible for turning Souness from a headstrong headless chicken into the formidable midfielder he became.

      Won Division 2 by 15 points (in the days of 2 points for a win), secured promotion on the last Saturday in March and won the title the following weekend. If he’d spent a few quid on a striker, we might have won the Division 1 title in the next couple of years (as Jack himself admitted a few years later).

      A great man and a good bloke who will always be a legend on Teesside. He’d certainly have taken the current shower in hand.

  52. Aged 96 Zizi Jeanmaire
    Mentioned in the Peter Sarstedt song of course. Where do you go to…
    “You talk like Marlene Dietrich
    And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire”

    also mentioned in the lyrics of the song by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, “Nothing is Sacred”,

    • You beat me to it, Hubes. I’ve just been watching her dancing with Rudolf Nureyev. Not much of a one for yer ballet meself, but this is pretty extraordinary, erotic and athletic…nice smoking, too.

  54. From that golden age of Hollywood Olivia de Havilland 104.
    Hopefully it was as she wanted.
    “I would prefer to live forever in perfect health, but if I must at some time leave this life, I would like to do so ensconced on a chaise longue, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered the answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword”

  57. Another case of just one single gaining you a place in the long and winding road of pop music history.

    Danish pianist Bent Fabric had a hit in 1961 with his instrumental “Alley Cat”…it was one of those tunes that, having appeared, seemed like it’d always been there.

    Expired at 94 (19 in cat years).

  58. Springer Bell (does he still post on the blog) tweeted how disingenuous it was for the Primal Scream mob to belatedly tweet their condolences given this:

  61. Sad news. I saw him being interviewed in an Iron Maiden documentary. Not only did he produce some great work with them, but he also came across as a genuinely nice bloke, as indeed they all did.

  62. In the doc I saw he said how he was surprised/disappointed that Maiden hadn’t approached him to produce them earlier on. The hadn’t because they admired him so much and thought he wouldn’t be interested in them. That’s when it really took off. Martin Birch, Bruce Dickinson, and ‘The Number Of The Beast’ album. Birch nearly drove Dickinson bonkers to get exactly the right opening vocal. A very funny story in itself.

    • The story goes:
      Whilst producing Number Of The Beast, he was involved in a car accident with some Nuns.
      The repair bill for his Range Rover came to £666.
      (It was probably £665, but they added a quid for a new bulb and a better anecdote)

      • I think it was £666. 59 pence, if I remember correctly. Anyway, great story regardless, like when they nervously rang up Patrick McGoohan, being big fans of The Prisoner, to get his permission re. the song on the album. Apparently, he his response was pure McGoohan.

        PM: What are you called?
        Band: Iron Maiden.
        PM: Do it. (hangs up).

        Wonderful!

  63. Can’t go without noting that Covid-19 has snagged another victim, the very wonderful Trini Lopez. His LPs recorded live at PJ’s in Los Angeles were toe tappin’, finger snappin’ delights indeed.

    And Mark Wirtz, who devised the oddball “Excerpt From A Teenage Opera” in 1967…he won’t come back, oh no-whoa.

    And a quick glance on Wikipedia reminds one that Wayne Fontana, erstwhile Mindbender vocalist, as well as solo hits with “Pamela Pamela” and “24 Sycamore” has succumbed to cancer.

    • Strangers In The Night must surely be in the list of Best Live Albums, if only for the version of Doctor Doctor.
      Note: there is so much more to this album than one track. If you haven’t heard it, please give it a listen. Superb.

      • Great live album (even if two tracks were actually studio recordings with crowd noise dubbed on) – the reissue is the one to have, two extra songs and the correct running order reinstated.

  67. Since no-one else has mentioned him, let it be noted that one-time bass player for the Bay City Rollers, Ian Mitchell, expired last week at the relatively young age of 62.

  68. Ronald Bell, one of the original members of perennial good time band Kool & The Gang has gone to meet his maker at 68. Celebration seems somewhat inappropriate, so lets have this banger instead.

  70. Alan Minter , British boxer who was the undisputed World Middleweight Champion in 1980 (for a few months at least, until Marvin Hagler rightly re-arranged his face for him) – has failed to beat the count at 69.

  73. Kind of late to the party, but I just found out Kenny Young died last April on his 79th birthday. Quite a varied number of hits written, possibly not to everyone’s taste (don’t imagine anyone here’s likely to hum any Clodagh Rodgers tunes too soon), but a fairly solid body of work all things considered.

    • Co-wrote “Under the Boardwalk,” I’d have thought a pension plan on its own, and a no. 1 single for the Rolling Stones in Australia.
      Erm … I hum Clodagh Rodgers’ songs … oh, yes … “Biljo,” by Kenny Young, is catchier than just about any pop song ever written!

  74. Ron Cobb – political cartoonist, film production designer (you’ll have seen his work in Dark Star, Star Wars, Alien, Total Recall among others)…taken by Lewy body dementia at age 83.

    And Roy Head, another case of one-song-entry-into-immortality thanks to “Treat Her Right” expired at 79 from a heart attack.

  76. Cricketer Dean Jones, ace Aussie batsman during the late 80s and early 90s and more recently a commentator, has been dismissed by a sudden heart attack while working in India, at a mere 59.

    • To elaborate, one of the original greats of ODIs. An excitement machine for a generation of cricket fans. Had guts too – scored 210 in appallingly oppressive conditions at Madras to draw a test:

      Day two temperatures reached unfathomable heights as Bright holed out for 30 and Jones charged towards his maiden Test century.
      Jones was joined by the man who placed his faith in him, skipper Border, and the pair set about building a commanding lead for the visitors.
      As Jones’ total continued to climb, crippling cramp set in, first in his hands, then in both his legs and finally in his back.
      The fact he could even stay on the field was becoming a miracle.
      The temperatures soared in the 40s, and humidity climbed beyond 80% in furnace like conditions that defied logic.
      Jones admitted later that he scored his last hundred off just 66 balls because he couldn’t run at all.
      As dehydration overtook his weary body Jones had a simple method of blocking, slogging and spewing. Then he would repeat the dose.
      By the time he got to within 30 of a double century Jones admitted he started to lose control of his bodily functions.
      Jones decided he had to ask his skipper if he could go off and the notoriously tough Border not realising the seriousness of the dehydration that was affecting Jones famously said: “Well go on, off you go then. We’ll get someone tough out here. We’ll get a Queenslander.”
      Jones’ total continued to climb, crippling cramp set in, first in his hands, then in both his legs and finally in his back.
      Jones decided he had to ask his skipper if he could go off and the notoriously tough Border not realising the seriousness of the dehydration that was affecting Jones famously said: “Well go on, off you go then. We’ll get someone tough out here. We’ll get a Queenslander.”
      Jones stayed in a desperate bid to please his skipper and blasted his way to 202 at tea, before retiring to the dressing rooms.
      Simpson had assigned members of the team to each help Jones out of his gear and shower and hydrate him in an attempt to get him back on the field.
      Jones was finally undone on 210 just after tea, but not before etching himself in Australian cricket folklore in arguably the toughest cricket innings ever.

  79. I just found out that Chrissy Stewart, bass player with Eire Apparent, Spooky Tooth, Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance, Frankie Miller band passed away in May of this year aged 73. For a while he was part of a session duo with drummer Stu Perry. As a young twenty-something in Belfast I played in a band with his younger brother Dennis who always kept me up to date with Chrissy’s roster. It was a kind of standing joke that anytime I told Dennis about a band I liked he’s say “Oh Chrissy done an album with them”. He once said this about the Grateful Dead, and I really thought “I don’t think so!” but it turned out to be close enough. He played on an album by Keith & Donna Godcheaux

    Due to the family connection we played support to the Frankie Miller Band for 2 years running on their Irish tours. I met Chrissy a few times and he was absolutely lovely to me and the other guys in the band. He was rock’n’roll to the max but my God he could play! He was the only constant member of the band over those 2 years and was an absolute rock on stage, driving the band loud and hard. One time when he was back in Belfast visiting his Mum he came out to see our band and sat in on a few songs. He borrowed our bassist’s Fender Precision and was instantly twice as loud. He just played incredibly hard. You can see him in action here

  83. Dyan Birch, Arrival and Kokomo, zillions of sessions including Dylan, died, earlier this month. Ill for some time and unable to feature in recent Kokomo reunions, I only learnt this by chance, in a tweet from Richard Williams.

    • How sad. She was wonderful. If you listen to her entry on “Anytime” from their first album, just after Tony O’Malley sets her up, has any UK female singer ever sung better than that? I doubt it

  85. Drummer Viola Smith age 107.

    American drummer best known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975. She was one of the first professional female drummers.

    • Jerry Jeff Walker. He’s always reduced to having written “Mr. Bojangles”, but he was one of the finest personalities in Country music – witty, thoughtful, full of energy and ideas, and always sincere. His double album »A Man Must Carry On« is a true masterpiece of Outlaw country: brilliant songs, a great band, and Hondo’s spoken word poetry about the town of Luckenbach.
      Best of his later albums are “Navajo Rug” and the “Live At Gruene Hall” LP, the highlight of which is his interpretation of Chris Wall’s “I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight” – probably the best country song of all time:

  88. Bobby Ball has been done over by the Coronavirus. I am very sad about this because I was such a fan of his when I was a nipper. A few years ago he unexpectedly chatted with me on Twitter and his daughter got involved too – a lovely man and I hope there’s lots of tributes.

  90. Nobby Stiles.
    Toothless, tenacious, and World Cup Winner.
    Nobby wandered along Wembley High Road on the morning of the Final to find a Catholic Church.
    Who says the game has changed.

    • And he picked up this hitchhiker some time in the early 80s. It was only when he dropped me off (‘This is as far as I go, mate’) outside Bobby Charlton’s house in the next village.

  92. And since nobody mentioned him at the time of his demise, spare a minute for Brian “Licorice” Locking…among other things, he was bass player for the Shadows for only 18 months, but played on hits like “Dance On”, “Atlantis”, and “Foot Tapper”, and appeared in “Summer Holiday.”

  93. John Sessions has died from a heart condition at the age of 67. He was revered by by the first generation of UK improv comics, but never made the leap to wider recognition outside of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

  96. Steve Spring, touring drummer for Curve in the 90s and The Mission in this century.

    This from Dean-from-Curve: “He was a brilliantly gifted musician and I loved him dearly. He was a mixture of Keith Moon, the Muppets drummer and John Bonham.”

  97. Geoffrey Palmer, lugubrious mainstay of many comedy shows in the 70s and early 80s, as well as a fine character actor, has passed away at 93. First entered my consciousness as Wendy Craig’s husband in ‘Butterflies’ but surely his high water mark was as Jimmy, Reggie Perrin’s brother-in-law.

    Watching this, I am reminded of America right now:

  101. Sad to read of the passing of Bones Hillman (aka Wayne Stevens) who was long time bassist with Ozzy stalwarts Midnight Oil. I saw him in front of a tiny crowd at CHADS theatre in Cheadle Hulme, Manchester in July 2010. He was playing with Elizabeth Cook and her husband, and they were great. There were little over 20 punters there and the gig was in the bar rather than the theatre. To be fair, I went to that venue several times to see Americana acts and never once got to see inside the theatre, the gig was relegated to the bar every time and after about 2 years the promoter cut his losses and gave up. I was accompanied on this occasion by my sister in law who is an Australian citizen and was over on a visit. She assured me he’d be used to bigger gigs back home. We had a brief chat with him after he gig. He was pleased to be recognised and seemed to be enjoying the tour. They had no roadie and were sharing the driving in a touring van. RIP Bones

    View post on imgur.com

      • I love that.
        Also, and I still haven’t quite got my head around this, but at exactly the same time and in the same division, the Wolves’ goalkeeper was named Phil Parkes.
        What are the chances?
        I mean, it’s not as if the shared name was John Smith or Paul Jones.

        • And they were the same height (6′ 3”).
          And for a couple of years played no more than 10 miles from each other (Phil at Wolves, and Phil at Walsall).
          Not sure the Wolves Phil was a big Heavy Rock fan though – looks more like a Carpenters or New Seekers man when I’ve seen him on The Big Match re-runs

  105. Eric ‘Monster Monster’ Hall has died at the age of 73. He will be best remembered as a football agent of course, and one of the men who shaped the commercial side of the modern game for better or worse. I didn’t know that he used to be a music agent too, and claimed to be the man who secured the Sex Pistols infamous slot on Bill Grundy’s show.

    • Still commentating last month on the Masters. Was the epitome of the right wing, “no women allowed, wear a tie” golf club mentality, but I admit he could be a brilliant commentator at times. Will never forget his commentary as Jean Van de Velde blew a 3 shot lead at the 72nd hole at Carnoustie in 99.

  110. Sad to hear of the death of LD Beghtol, musician and writer. He contributed vocals to the Magnetic Fields’ classic 69 Love Songs album (and designed the cover). He continued to collaborate with Stephin Merritt over the years and wrote an excellent book on 69 Love Songs, as part of the 33 1/3 series. Here’s an example of his 69 Love Songs contributions, All My Little Words – one of the highlights of the album:

  117. Jeremy Bulloch – UK actor whose career went from being one of Cliff’s gang in Summer Holiday to Boba Fett in the Star Wars farrago, via a few roles in Lindsay Anderson’s films…

  118. Also Rich Corben, idiosyncratic comics artist who shunned the mainstream (ie Marvel and DC) and forged his own path via not-quite-so-mainstream (ie Warren and Heavy Metal) and the underground press.

  119. Chad Stuart, half of UK duo Chad and Jeremy, has shuffled off at the age of 79. They’re probably best remembered for appearing as themselves in the 1966 “Batman” TV show, despite hits like “Yesterday’s Gone’ and “A Summer Song”. Have a listen to their “psychedelic” 1967 LP “Of Cabbages And Kings”…it’s pretty groovy!

  120. I woke this morning to the Twitter news that bluegrass guitar maestro Tony Rice left us on Christmas Day, aged 69. I saw him a few times over the years at Merlefest. He had by then lost the ability to sing but I can see from YouTube that he was a fine bluegrass lead and harmony singer in his younger days. He was an absolute monster bluegrass picker in his heyday and could hold his own in any company. Later on he became more jazz influenced and as Chris Thile put in his twitter tribute his skills “will eternally attest to the fact that music can take you anywhere, from anywhere”. His fretwork was incredibly clean; just check out this clip from his tutorial video, particularly when he moved into the jazzy Shenandoah melody

  121. And farewell too to virtuoso violinist Ivry Gitlis, best known to most of us here, I suspect, for his appearance in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, performing Whole Lotta Yoko with Yoko Ono and The Dirty Mac.

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