Just seen this on the Beeb. How very sad, particularly the fact that he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a grim reality that the musicians I grew up enjoying are now of an age where the Obituary may not come as too much of a surprise. RIP Buffin
Such a shame.
He was one of my favourite drummers as a kid. He produced a couple of Peel sessions for the band I was in in the 80s and was a very pleasant chap.
That’s sad news. The last thing I recall seeing was his guest presenting stint on Buzzcocks – and he was brilliant. Very sharp – very funny. He basically stole the show. At one point, instead of answering a question, Noel Fielding blurted out “I love you, Terry”.
Anybody remember The Sins? BBC* series from 2000, Very uneven but FF was excellent as an undertaker. Theme tune by Tindersticks (oh, now you’re interested)
Local lad made good. Born in Farnworth, Bolton. Son of a butcher. He met his future wife when they were both members of the Farnworth Little Theatre. They were married until she died in 2005.
John Chilton has gone, George Melly’s erstwhile bandleader/Footwarmer in chief. Saw him/them a couple of times in the 80s. Utterly great evenings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9pjz-dfQc
Most interesting was the reaction of the snobbish “puppet establishment” to the arrivals of these upstart Czech porkers. I can just imagine snooty Sooty sitting in his Gentlebears Club reacting to the arrival of the talented singing twins.
RIP NANCY RAEGAN YOU WAS AWLAYS “FIRST LADY” OF ARE HAERTS WEVE FORGOT THAT BIT WHERE YOU FELL OVER 94 IS NO AGE YOULL BE DANCIN WITH RONNIE IN HEAVEN TONITE RIP FROM MANDA N JASE @ 49
The always distinctly spectacled Michael White, producer of Rocky Horror Picture Show died. His death will be shadowed by George Martin’s passing, but he marks the end of a era. He is the last of the Grade/Delfont-style Impresarios.
Argh, now it’s Sir Ken Adam, movie production designer par excellence – if you were a power-mad villain with intentions of world domination, he was just the man to build your secret headquarters.
Terrible, terrible news. He has a claim to being the most influential individual in the modern history of top level football. A truly great man. Really deserves his own thread.
I have seen it reported on Facebook that Andy “Thunderclap” Newman has died. I cannot find a single link to this story on Google and he does not even merit his own page on Wikipedia. Anyone else seen this?
UPDATE: Trust Twitter to confirm this story. @PeterHolsapple posts…
“R.I.P. Andy “Thunderclap” Newman. A unique talent who influenced how I play the piano.”
Here’s Jimmy McCulloch, post-Thunderclap, pre-Wings but still looking about 12 years old, with Stone The Crows (a great band but very much of-their-time). https://youtu.be/KEnSoDuFvPE
I have another Wiki dilemma. I saw Jimmy McCulloch at the Marquee when he was in One In A Million. I believe they were supporting fresh-faced new boy band King Crimson, only Wiki says OIAM were active in 1967 and KC didn’t surface until 68. If memory serves Jimmy was introduced as being 14 yrs old (he was born in 1953) but I suspect he must have been 15, a year younger than me at the time.
Re. the film clip. I love the juxtaposition as it cuts from a Haight-Ashbury scene of peace, love, headbands and sunshine to footage of Carnaby Street with a prosaic Triumph Herald taking centre stage.
Mr. Newman was also responsible for the Greatest Dentist Song Ever, “Andy The Dentist” on the “Miniatures” compilation. Scared the hell out of me when I was little.
Aw. I met him once at the Ealing Comedy Club that used to run in the old Ealing Studios. I was a bit pissed and approached him to ask for a handshake. He was terribly warm and sweet – I burbled something about him being great and a fixture of my childhood and he was ever so nice. He must’ve heard it ten times a day for 40 years but he still managed to convey what seemed like real appreciation. (I don’t generally approach slebs in such situations but drink had been taken.)
Nice. I burbled something similar to him and he was utterly charming, as was his wife. He even laughed at my crappy jokes which I’m sure was politeness but good enough for me.
Not sure how Afterwordy this is, but I’m sure we’ve all switched on to This Morning at some point when Denise Robertson was on. Came across as patient and lovely, I always thought.
I’m not sure if the news has already been posted elsewhere on the Afterword, but drummer Dennis Davis died yesterday, after having suffered from cancer for many years.
He played with so many top names, but I suppose he’s best known for his consistently brilliant work with David Bowie on the classic late 70s and early 80s albums (and tours). I think Tiggerlion has already drawn our attention to Davis’s thrillingly funky, muscular playing on “Sound and Vision”. Amen to that, and rest easy, Dennis.
Dennis was so open. He was almost orgiastic in his approach to trying out new stuff. He’d say, ‘Yeah, let’s do that new shit, man.” I told him about a Charlie Mingus gig that I saw where the drummer had polythene tubes that would go into the drums, and he would suck and blow to change the pressure as he played. Dennis was out the next day buying that stuff. Dennis is crazy, an absolute loony man, but he had a lot of his own thoughts on things, and he would throw us all kinds of curve-balls.
He was both a maniac and metronomically disciplined. 1975: cometh the hour, cometh the man. As important in his own way as Ronno. (There, I’ve said it).
Bon voyage to Howard ‘Mr Nice’ Marks, author performer, raconteur and dope smuggler of the highest order. I met him once when I worked in a bookshop in Taunton and he called in to sign books on his way to Glastonbury. Even on that most fleeting of acquaintances in was hard not to be charmed by him. And regardless of your views on the morality of his actions Mr Nice is an excellent read.
The Richard Thompson Mailing List reported last week that RT’s long-time sideman Pete Zorn was very ill. They report today that he has passed away. According to his wiki he would be about a month short of 66. I saw him loads of times, mostly playing guitar, mandolin, sax, whistle & flute with RT, but also playing electric bass with the Blue Tapestry project. He was an accomplished and versatile musician, and always came across as an affable fellow . We could do with more like him
That’s very sad news. I saw him a few times with Richard Thompson – what a great CV he had. A musician friend of mine met him and said he was a lovely guy with a great sense of humour.
Bloody hell – Victoria Wood! Didn’t see that coming. Damn shame – far too young.
I used to sell books to her occasionally at Waterstone’s in Lancaster; pleasant enough, but very keen not to draw attention to herself (her then husband Geoffrey ‘the Great Suprendo’ Durham was much more jolly.
She lived as a child in a white house overlooking Walmersley Gold Club in Bury. Not particularly spectacular but so high and isolated that it is visible from just about everywhere in the Bury area. Mrs B and I walked past it on Sunday before last, our first walk up there for several years. The house was up for sale. Mrs B remarked that she hadn’t been in the public eye for a while. I said “She’ll be working on something. Creative people like her always are; they can’t help it”. Bugger! She’s exactly the same age as us, and that is too young to die
Even the LP sleeve is great before we get to the music.
The bass player has a one pick-up 1957 Rickenbacker 4000, the very first bass model the company made.
Lonnie of course has his 1958 Gibson Flying V. Less than 100 of the originals were made and Mack nicknamed his “Seven” because it was number 7 off the production line.
There was interesting item on Radio 4 yesterday afternoon looking at the number of high profile deaths this year. Apparently the BBC has put out twice as many obits this year compared with last. Chap being interviewed said that whilst the number this year might be high,.it reflected.wn inevitable.trend. His point was that prior to, say, the early 1950s there simply weren’t as many famous people. The growth of television and rock, pop etc. meant that there were now far more famous or semi famous people. And the people who came to prominence during that period are getting old.
The other thing that struck me was that people appear to remain in the public eye or consciousness for far longer.
Exactly what I was about to say. Adult chimps are enormous. When I spent a month observing chimp grooming behaviour at Colchester Zoo, at least three times a day I’d hear a visitor exclaim “Ooh, look at them big gorillas!” (this was Essex, though).
Billy Graham 94. Blimey! (Although Wiki claims he’s 97). All that evangelism must agree with him.
30+ years ago I worked for a company that provided the sound equipment for Graham’s UK rallies. We were sent thousands of cassette tapes of his fire & brimstone speeches which were supposed to be handed out at the football grounds where the rallies were held.
Of course we liberated dozens of said cassettes and took great delight in recording over them with Frank Zappa albums and ungodly other stuff which the Rev Billy would no doubt find enjoyable.
..though actually, I was listening to an old Frank Zappa interview (Nicky Campbell on BBC “Into The Night” 27-08-1991 – an interesting listen) where Frank was having his usual rant about Jimmy Swaggart and the US TV evangelists, how they should be taxed as businesses etc. and said that Billy Graham was a reasonably OK guy because he wasn’t a blood-sucker or an extremist like Swaggart and the others.
I’m reminded of the Zappa line from The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
Eat that pork, eat that ham, laugh till you choke on Billy Graham
Moses, Aaron and Abraham, they’re all a waste of time!
And it’s your ass that’s on the line
I suppose the best we can say about Graham is that, in a field of extremists, he wasn’t quite as extreme as the others.
Not very familiar to me, It seems I have just one track by him off a Songlines sampler, which I last played in 2011.
A shame, because do I like this one a lot.
Some great albums, and I also have a very funny comedy on VHS with him in the lead (well, it was funny when I last watched films on VHS…must get that ripping-VHS-to-DVD project going some time soon…)
“In his childhood, Maxwell, the author of Ring of Bright Water, became Nutkins’ legal guardian so that he could remain in Scotland to assist him.
Naturalist and broadcaster Johnny Morris, the main presenter of Animal Magic, also regarded Nutkins as his protege and left his house to him when he died in 1999.”
Yeah, I didn’t know either. And got suckered too into reading about him thinking he’d just died.
These things went virtually unreported just last year, it seems.
Puts a different dimension onto this current “2016 Year Of Doom” thing.
I’m struggling to remember who’s still alive. Leonard Cohen died a few years back. Gilbert O’Sullivan is no more. Bryan Ferry has croaked. Good job Gerry Rafferty is still going.
Future book title – following in the footsteps of 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded and 1971: Never A Dull Moment we can have 2016: We Ended Up Having To Eat Each Other.
Re Gavin Maxwell. Following his death, his youthful, puddle-jumping ‘companion’ was our drama teacher for a couple of terms when I was in 6th year. Lovely, flamboyant guy. I rode his penny-farthing round the Assembly Hall one time. Nearly castrated myself when hurriedly dismounting. That is all.
Isao Tomita 22 April 1932 – 5 May 2016. Known to most people through his Snowflakes Are Dancing 1974 recording. I managed to buy a copy of his 1976 LP of The Planets before the daughter of Gustav Holst refused permission for her father’s work to be interpreted in this way. The album was withdrawn, and is, consequently, rare in its original vinyl form.
I learned today that In 2001 he collaborated with Walt Disney Company to compose the background atmosphere music for the AquaSphere entrance at the Tokyo DisneySea theme park. Take it from me this is the best Disney park in the world.
Tomita was a wild and crazy guy. Bermuda Triangle has been a constant companion since its release, in one form or another. That and Snowflakes. Hey, Beany – did you get the poster with your copy of Planets? Eh?
Oh stop it. It took me 2 days to climb back out of the record library.* If I have to go back and find my Tomita LP I could miss Wednesday’s Europa League final. Remind me next weekend.
I loved this fab fact from that article as also reported on the ITV lunchtime news today ; His name is so ubiquitous in Australia that “Reg Grundies” is commonly used as rhyming slang for “undies”
I’m going to Australia next year. I must remember to bring enough Reg Grundies
I remember “grundies” being used in school in NZ in the sixties where we only just had TV let alone would have heard of an Australian producer. I always thought it was a kind of melange of “grotty” and “undies”
Gareth Gwenlan – producer of Only Fools & Horses, Reggie Perrin, To The Manor Born etc. dies at 79
Name used as an insult in Red Dwarf after he suggested that the show should start with a sofa in front of French windows and curtains then pull out to reveal it was actually on a spaceship. He believed that this would be comforting for an audience and space would just confuse them.
So bit 1970s old school tubby jumper light ent type but a good egg.
Farewell Tony Barrow, PR man to the Beatles (1962–68). He wrote the sleeve notes on the first three Beatles’ LPs and for some of us, the back cover of Please, Please Me was the first information we ever read about the band.
Bit late on this one, but Emile Ford passed away on April 11 aged 78
He had two massive hits in the UK
What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For – 1959 – No. 1 On a Slow Boat to China – 1960 – No. 3
What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For was the last UK chart-topper of the 1950s and how about this? The record it replaced at number one was Adam Faith’s What Do You Want. Spooky, eh?
A while ago we had a thread about the oldest song to chart and it turned out at What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For was a very old variety hall number written in 1917!
IIRC the winner was Steeleye Span’s Gaudete, a song that charted in 1972 but was written in the 16th Century.
TV writer and Animal rights activist Carla Lane shuffles off her mortal coil at the good age of 87. Always had a soft spot for The Liver Birds, and also for Butterflies which now I think about it was an odd choice for a kid. I think I might just have fancied Wendy Craig.
I didn’t realise she was that old. I could just about tolerate the Liver Birds, but Bread was virtually unwatchable.
Oh, those wacky Scousers, see how they shout at each other in that distinctive comedy accent of theirs. And they are devout Catholics, too, so they have an endless number of kids. Even more side-splitting.
I remember watching Liver Birds and Butterflies and really enjoyed them – although Butterflies had strange moments. I couldn’t get over how bad the two teenage brothers were. Nobody talked like they did “hey mum, we’re just gonna cruise on out to score some chicks…” – it was a middle-aged woman’s idea of how young people speak, I thought.
Similarly with Bread, the oldest son wore leather trousers all the time and had stupid hair. He looked too much like a bell end to be afforded any respect in real life. Yet there he was, the house guru.
Oh yes definitely. Fawlty Towers was Jailhouse Rock, The Office was the black jumpsuit suspicious minds comeback Elvis and Bread was the sweaty Vegas Elvis in his forties.
Carla Lane created and wrote three successful shows spanning 25 years, which I think is some achievement. Some were good and others mediocre.. Like pretty much any of the bands and the like that we laud on this site.
I liked Butterflies and the earlier Liver Birds. I don’t know if that makes them.good any more than the fact that people liking particular bands makes them good.
They were all so middle-class weren’t they? Which was, of course, a particular style of the time – Terry and June being very much the touchstone of the genre. The difference with Bread in particular was that it was supposedly about the travails of a working-class family but from a resolutely bourgeois perspective.
I thought it was absolute shit.
“Darling, I’m home”. I may be remembering this wrong, but as Terry returned home to his Surbiton semi after a hard day in the city, wasn’t there a decanter of whisky on the hall table from which he poured himself a stiff one? Before giving June a…. (That’s quite enough of that, thank you Ed).
I was in Liverpool for the first time in decades last week. They’re making up for lost time by celebrating the Fabs in a way they never did in the 80s and 90s when I was a regular visitor – statues by the ferry, the area around Mathew Street is now signposted as Cavern Quarter and so on. And it’s good of them to lay on a lingering sell of weed everywhere in the city, just to add to the hippie era ambience.
A friend of mine (and fellow Afterworder) once quite rightly berated a mutual pal for wearing a beige cardigan like Terry’s sporting here.
‘I bought this in Next’, was the defence.
‘What, next to June Whitfield, you mean?’
I think it’s the source of the idea of “man-flu”. There was a tribute a year or so ago to June Whitfield (still working at 90), and the writer of Terry and June was on it. He mentioned an episode in which Terry made a big fuss about being ill and June had to put up with it. He said that he thought that men were like that, but no-one had ever mentioned it before, and was clearly quite pleased with the observation. So it looks like this programme was where an enduring myth was created. To me it shows the role popular culture has in creating gender stereotypes in society and normalising… (sends off article proposal to the Guardian).
It’s a reasonable theory but I think man-flu is definitely pre-Terry. I’m pretty sure it came up in a Hancock episode for one.
The quote went something like: ‘I’m so sick hypochondria is the only illness I haven’t got…’
No JC. I never knowingly saw Mr Dwight in my hood. He wasn’t really on my radar during my school days so we may have passed each other in Sainsbury’s without my realising I as in the presence of Pinner’s most famous son.
Pinner Green actually which wasn’t quite so up market.
I’ve never heard of him mentioning Pinner although he did make a big deal of his support of Watford Football Team.
Probably not a good idea to use the obituary thread as a place to lay into the dead person, otherwise it’s all going to get a bit long-winded and unpleasant.
I tend to agree, in as much as I suspect things would have turned ugly earlier this year had I chosen to say what I really thought about much of the work of a number of dearly departed entertainers.
Promise you, dude, it’ll happen. Someone will post about the sad passing of the drummer of Bungalow. Someone else will say he was shit. Someone else will say you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. Someone else will say stop being such a sensitive little soul etc., etc., and before you know it, a thread aimed to be ‘a place for general obits and RIPs’ turns into a shitfight.
Well, it did cross my mind that we could be seen as speaking ill of the dead in a roundabout way, but then it moved onto Terry & June and it suddenly seemed OK (if a little long-winded)
What’s the protocol when Gary slips the bonds of his bacofoil suit or when Rolf pops his three clogs?
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Leader of the Gang and it would hurt me so if any mean-spirited comments were posted.
On the other hand, a dry list of dead people sans comment makes not a good read. Unless you just want names for a morbid take on Ant Rap
We got Bowie, Wogan, Jimmy Bain, Maurice White and Carla Lane…
Thing is, once a thread is out there in big wide world, you can’t control where it goes or how it develops.
Threads are like your kids, even though you may have a tear in either eye as you stand at the door clicking that metaphorical “post” button, you’ve just gotta learn to cut those apron strings and let them go.
You just hope they remember to call home once in a while. And wear clean underwear.
Charlie’s Fish & Chip Shop – Charlie’s in his 80s and feels like retiring; pity, as there aren’t any other chip shops in the area (and he used to sneak freebies to the men in the half-way house across the road).
John Guilfoyle’s Beekeeping Supplies – open for decades, probably the last shop unchanged remaining from when I moved here, about to become a biryani place.
Local Coles Supermarket – part of the much unloved Coles/Woolworths duopoly, but this is the only supermarket in the area, and while small served its mainly migrant/refugee market well.
Rip It Up – weekly music paper established 1989, went digital in 2014. Not *too* sorry to see it go, the original publisher was someone from the Arianna Huffington School of management.
Karl Dallas 85 died today journalist, musician, author, playwright, peace campaigner, record producer and broadcaster, described as “the most vigorous, influential, and informed folk music journalist in Britain”.
Great man.
Oh bollox!
What with Brexit, a sick car and a missed gig my cup was already running decidedly under IYKWIM, but now that news has made me even sadder.
It’s a bloody good job I’ve already taken to drink this evening.
Gordon Murray, creator of Trumpton, Chigley, Camberwick Green et al. A part of nearly all our childhoods. Programmes so well known, Life on Mars were able to do this.
Yup got a bit grumpy about Radiohead stealing his visual style for the Burn The Witch video
He burnt all the sets and characters for his classic TV shows saying that they were actors and if no longer performing what use were they? Some flesh and blood actors should take note
Jack Davis has died at the grand old age of 91 – he was the last surviving original Mad cartoonist – there’s a good chance you know some of his work. Pure genius.
Gilli Smyth aka Shakti Yoni died yesterday aged 83.
Gong, Mother Gong
Smyth died in Australia after a long illness, her son Orlando Allen has confirmed.
He says: “She passed amongst loved ones reading poetry and singing at exactly 12pm Australian time today. She is flying to the infinite through all the bardots as we speak so all your prayers of light, love gratitude and beaming energies are a shining light for her.
“Bless her psychedelic cotton socks, she will be in our and deeply in my heart forever. One of the strongest, most loving forgiving and powerful shakti being mums I have ever known.
“I give thanks for the blessing of her her being her example and shakti mumma presence and happy she is out of pain now and soon to be with, Daevid her dingo Virgin and all her favourite animals.”
Looks like the Toots Thielemans obit posts have got lost in the recent outage. So I’d like to post this again.
Not only was Toots the greatest Belgian musician since Plastic Bertrand (surely “since Adolphe Sax?” Ed.) but he has a significant Beatles’ connection, too.
Toots was best known for his harmonica playing, but he was also a decent guitarist. In 1961 he was working at a Hamburg trade fair demonstrating Rickenbacker guitars. The picture below shows Thielemans in front of a display of Rickenbackers and the guitar next to his right elbow is now widely believed to be the very instrument bought by John Lennon a few days later.
It was the first of many Rickenbackers owned by Lennon and was later sprayed black when the Beatles returned to Liverpool. But early pictures clearly show the natural finish of the guitar in this photo.
He may not be solely responsible but without Prince Buster would there have been a Ska/2 Tone “thing” in the late 70s/early 80s?
Madness debut single a tribute to The Man
Madness & One Step Beyond – covered by Madness
Rough Rider & Whine & Grine – covered by The Beat
Enjoy Yourself – covered by The Specials
Ah Christ, how horrible. They split up before Moon Shaped Pool which saddened me as I always liked the thought of weird old Thom and his 2.4-kid home life, with the same partner for 25 years and all. 48 is no bloody age.
Tony Cohen was a record engineer / producer of some of the best indie albums in the 80s and 90s who reputedly could go hit for hit with the Birthday Party, often having to go somewhere to clean up ( to some extent) after recordings. He had many great albums on his CV.
Just seen this on the Beeb. How very sad, particularly the fact that he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a grim reality that the musicians I grew up enjoying are now of an age where the Obituary may not come as too much of a surprise. RIP Buffin
Such a shame.
He was one of my favourite drummers as a kid. He produced a couple of Peel sessions for the band I was in in the 80s and was a very pleasant chap.
Biggest sticks on TotP:
Sad indeed – Vince Black I think we all feel a bit like that this week…….
Oh what a shame. I’ve always loved Mott.
Very sad news, even if not unexpected.
The Reaper has been busy this year (bastard!)
And another one gone – worrying times for music stars aged 66 and above (and everyone else)
He gets a name-check in The Ballad Of Mott where he loses his child-like dreams
RIP Buffin
All of the good ones are gone.
Sadly not so, the harvest, or is it cull, of our youth has but begun, I fear.
Glenn Frey now …
Good grief! I thought dadartdog was joking but he wasn’t!!!
Never much cared for Glenn but I liked many an Eagles song.
RIP to all the recent musicians who have passed.
BBC report here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35349025
Ironically, one of the causes of death was colitis.
Whamsmelov’s colitis?
That’s the one.
To add insult to injury, he’s misidentified on the Beeb photo
Friends Reunited
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35343091
Buying all these acts’ back catalogue is going to get very pricey. That’ll do for 2016.
Another one bites the dust. Dallas Taylor http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dallas-taylor-20150119-story.html
Ah no, it seems this story is being reposted from Jan 18th last year.
Andy Dog Johnson, brother of Matt and artist behind The The covers…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Dog_Johnson
fuckin’ ‘ell. He was great:
hmmm – image not working …
direct
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r139/badartdog/escape%20j_zps8zrvjkdd.jpg
Michel Tournier
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/books/michel-tournier-french-novelist-who-fused-myth-and-philosophy-dies-at-91.html?_r=0
http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2016/01/20/rock-legend-animal-dies-aged-66/
Phew, for a second there I thought we’d lost the legendary Anti-Nowhere League frontman.
Explorer Henry Worsley
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/25/explorer-henry-worsley-dies-during-antarctic-record-attempt
This guy does a great line in obits every month with links to the music:
http://www.halfhearteddude.com/2016/01/in-memoriam-december-2015/
There’s an archive of about 80 entries.
Cecil Parkinson
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/25/former-tory-minister-cecil-parkinson-dies-aged-84
Bassist Jimmy Bain
Racing Cars’ Gareth Mortimer
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/valleys-pop-star-gareth-mortimer-10624502
Abe Vigoda
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/abe-vigoda-godfather-actor-dies/?sf19763239=1
(p.s I’m going to stop updating this thread now. i’m the only one doing it and I feel like a bit of a ghoul.)
In my mind, you’re killing all these people, then rushing back to boast of it on here.
That’s always how they get caught
Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner death being reported.
Terry Wogan. 🙁
Floral Dance Hitmaker (FDH) RIP.
The world I grew up in is beginning to die. That makes me sad. For all its inevitability it never occurred to me that it would really happen.
http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u495/StingOno/Heroes_zpshivqgkl7.jpg
That’s sad news. The last thing I recall seeing was his guest presenting stint on Buzzcocks – and he was brilliant. Very sharp – very funny. He basically stole the show. At one point, instead of answering a question, Noel Fielding blurted out “I love you, Terry”.
Frank Finley. R.I.P.
Excellent in Casanova, as I recall. Cheap thrills for a Sunday night.
And I seem to recall many boys at my school being very interested in Bouquet of Barbed Wire in 1976.
Not to mention A Bouquet of Barbed Wire amongst many others.
Anybody remember The Sins? BBC* series from 2000, Very uneven but FF was excellent as an undertaker. Theme tune by Tindersticks (oh, now you’re interested)
*Yeah, boo hiss, etc
Local lad made good. Born in Farnworth, Bolton. Son of a butcher. He met his future wife when they were both members of the Farnworth Little Theatre. They were married until she died in 2005.
1st February. No one died.
I’m pretty sure somebody has!
Nobody The Afterword considers noteworthy. Obviously. Cuh!
The (US) Charlatans’ Dan Hicks
http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-singer-songwriter-dan-hicks-231863
The voice of Bugs Bunny
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35491123
Author Margaret Forster, perhaps most known for writing Georgy Girl, but many other super novels worth checking out – a great writer.
That’s sad. Married to HJH biographer Hunter Davies.
Harper Lee
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/harper_lee_dead_at_age_of_89_t.html
Dr Nick
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/obituaries/Elvis-death-controversy-haunted-Dr-George-Nichopoulos-88-370198651.html
Dr Who & Avengers actor Jon Rollason
http://tobyhadoke.com/doctor-who/jon-rollason-rip-doctor-who-an-avengers-actor-dies/
Frank Kelly
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-35682191
Just to fill some holes, in case this becomes a “go to” thread at the end of the year.
Pierre Boulez
David Bowie
Alan Rickman
Black
Maurice White
Boutros Boutros Ghali
Douglas Slocombe
Umberto Eco
John Chilton has gone, George Melly’s erstwhile bandleader/Footwarmer in chief. Saw him/them a couple of times in the 80s. Utterly great evenings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9pjz-dfQc
George Kennedy, 91.
Louise Rennison author 64
“Let your creativitosity run wild and free!”
Gatz posted this on the Hepworth thread.
Vlasta Dalibor – co-creator of Pinky and Perky, the pigs that got me into gigs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12174970/Vlasta-Dalibor-puppeteer-obituary.html
Most interesting was the reaction of the snobbish “puppet establishment” to the arrivals of these upstart Czech porkers. I can just imagine snooty Sooty sitting in his Gentlebears Club reacting to the arrival of the talented singing twins.
Did the earth move for you, Nancy? (Just say no.)
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/06/politics/nancy-reagan-dies-obit/
RIP NANCY RAEGAN YOU WAS AWLAYS “FIRST LADY” OF ARE HAERTS WEVE FORGOT THAT BIT WHERE YOU FELL OVER 94 IS NO AGE YOULL BE DANCIN WITH RONNIE IN HEAVEN TONITE RIP FROM MANDA N JASE @ 49
“Tributes are being paid…” Why does the news bulletin always start with that coy and annoying line?
What they really should say is “(Whoever) has died”
“The flood of tributes have reduced to the small dribble…”
Nancy Reagan?….heads to fridge in search of champagne
Apparently, e-mail is dead. More accurately, Ray Tomlinson, the man who invented it, has passed away.
RIP RAY TOMSON YOU HAVE GONE TO THE GREAT INBOX IN THE SKY RIP MATE THANX 4 THE SPAM MANDA N” JASE @HOTMAIL.COM
Dead@74
The always distinctly spectacled Michael White, producer of Rocky Horror Picture Show died. His death will be shadowed by George Martin’s passing, but he marks the end of a era. He is the last of the Grade/Delfont-style Impresarios.
Argh, now it’s Sir Ken Adam, movie production designer par excellence – if you were a power-mad villain with intentions of world domination, he was just the man to build your secret headquarters.
And more…
http://indaily.com.au/business/2016/03/11/ikea-billy-bookcase-designer-gillis-lundgren-dies/
Keith Emerson.
Just heard. This is another David Bowie moment for me.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20683877
Noooo. Not Lady Penelope as well.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35818530
Frank Sinatra Jr. dead at 72
http://pagesix.com/2016/03/16/frank-sinatra-jr-dies-at-72/
He already died a bunch of times in Vegas.
I’d totally forgotten all that kidnapping business in 1963 when he was 19 years old
I still can’t remember it.
Cliff Michelnomore. 96. Ninety bloody six!
All those holidays obviously did him good.
Paul Daniels. Is he still alive? Not a lot.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35829251
Jeez. This thread is in danger of becoming the most commented on here. Soon it may be easier to post “who is still alive”.
Barry Hines, creator of Kes and Threads died at the weekend.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35855544
RIP Phife Dawg.
Sad news.
Sadly Johann Cruyff has taken a turn for the worst.
R.I.P.
Terrible, terrible news. He has a claim to being the most influential individual in the modern history of top level football. A truly great man. Really deserves his own thread.
Garry Shandling. 66 years old.
He was brilliant in the Larry Sanders Show. That programme was such a big influence and so good.
It doesn’t seem so long ago that most people called Gary (i.e. Sobers, Player and Cooper apart) seemed relatively youthful.
Not long now till we have Darren obituaries (to paraphrase HMHB).
JC’s goldfish. Fin.
A Facebook page has been started and tributes are pouring in.
How I’ll miss that long string of shit he always had as he swam aimlessly around his bowl.
Life is hell. Death is damp.
It’s what he would have wanted
I’m filling up here.
RIP Fishy UR wiv da angels now 4ever in R hearts
Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest died on Tuesday.
Yes, but who’s ever heard of him?
Me! A Tribe Called Quest were fantastic. Best Hip Hop group ever.
Can’t work out if you’re serious, Colin. I don’t generally read this thread but Phife, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad were and are a big, big deal.
We’ve overlooked Ernestine Anderson but, at least, she died peacefully aged 87.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernestine_Anderson
I have seen it reported on Facebook that Andy “Thunderclap” Newman has died. I cannot find a single link to this story on Google and he does not even merit his own page on Wikipedia. Anyone else seen this?
UPDATE: Trust Twitter to confirm this story. @PeterHolsapple posts…
“R.I.P. Andy “Thunderclap” Newman. A unique talent who influenced how I play the piano.”
Yes, seems it’s true, sadly.
Let’s hear that great song one more time
John “Speedy” Keen, Andy “Thunderclap” Newman and Jimmy McCulloch.
That’s the entire band dead now.
I think the bass player, Bijou Drains, is still hanging on to life!
And when they played live, Thunderclap Newman were augmented by Jimmy’s brother Jack McCulloch (drums) and James “Jim” Pitman-Avery (bass guitar).
Not sure if they are still above ground.
Just speaking to a friend on Facebook who claims that SITA could be Pete’s greatest achievement.
Not sure. It would take a lot to beat Hiding Out
My favourite Pete moment (outside The Who) has to be this.
A Little Is Enough – It’s a mighty song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toPaXZPbQYs
Surely this has to be up there…
(I would love to know how this came to be…I can’t imagine a ’67 Townshend recording this of his volition)
May I suggest this single (on Stiff Records) is Pete’s worst decision.
Yes, that’ll do it.
Although because it was on Stiff we didn’t seem to mind. We expected something a bit weird from them.
Here’s Jimmy McCulloch, post-Thunderclap, pre-Wings but still looking about 12 years old, with Stone The Crows (a great band but very much of-their-time).
https://youtu.be/KEnSoDuFvPE
Actually, looking at the rest of the band on that clip I have the feeling he’d been kidnapped!
Jimmy was 16 when Thunderclap Newman hit the bigtime and according to Wiki he’s still the youngest person to have a number one hit in the UK.
That can’t be right. What about that other Jimmy, Little Osmond?
Yes, you’re right, the youngest member of the toothsome Osmond clan hit UK #1 in 1973 with his egregious solo outing Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.
So much for Wiki, then.
I have another Wiki dilemma. I saw Jimmy McCulloch at the Marquee when he was in One In A Million. I believe they were supporting fresh-faced new boy band King Crimson, only Wiki says OIAM were active in 1967 and KC didn’t surface until 68. If memory serves Jimmy was introduced as being 14 yrs old (he was born in 1953) but I suspect he must have been 15, a year younger than me at the time.
Nice Gibson Firebird and tank top combination there. The former stylish and timeless, the latter but an ugly flash in the sartorial pan
Great song for sure JC, but how good was that video? Simple but effective. Great find.
Thanks Gary. It’s a sad day. Makes me want to resurrect my “Confessions Of A Record Thief” thread.
Re. the film clip. I love the juxtaposition as it cuts from a Haight-Ashbury scene of peace, love, headbands and sunshine to footage of Carnaby Street with a prosaic Triumph Herald taking centre stage.
I preferred the one when you got told to ‘look after that hair’.
Yep, little bit of Paris and Dali at the end too, just before J&Y.
That was Dave Pegg backstage at a Jethro Tull concert, wasn’t it?
Mr. Newman was also responsible for the Greatest Dentist Song Ever, “Andy The Dentist” on the “Miniatures” compilation. Scared the hell out of me when I was little.
Great info here from the well-spoken Andy Newman
Seeing tweets about Ronnie Corbett. Nothing official yet.
Confirmed by the Guardian. Forkin’ hell.
I suspect we’re going to be reading a certain catchphrase rather a lot today.
Uh uh tryyiiinnngg to control myself……gooood
Phew pulled.myself together
4 condles
No! Always liked him.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/31/ronnie-corbett-dies-aged-85
Aw. I met him once at the Ealing Comedy Club that used to run in the old Ealing Studios. I was a bit pissed and approached him to ask for a handshake. He was terribly warm and sweet – I burbled something about him being great and a fixture of my childhood and he was ever so nice. He must’ve heard it ten times a day for 40 years but he still managed to convey what seemed like real appreciation. (I don’t generally approach slebs in such situations but drink had been taken.)
Bless him.
Nice. I burbled something similar to him and he was utterly charming, as was his wife. He even laughed at my crappy jokes which I’m sure was politeness but good enough for me.
I also did that! In Edinburgh. Except I wasn’t drunk. Just awfully excited.
🙁
Aah b*ll*cks. Another one gone.
A good life and he got to a good age but still…
Zaha Hadid has died aged 65.
http://www.clivetemple.com/clive-temple-photography/2015/4/23/azerbaijan-the-heydar-aliyev-centre
Not sure how Afterwordy this is, but I’m sure we’ve all switched on to This Morning at some point when Denise Robertson was on. Came across as patient and lovely, I always thought.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35941395
Merle Haggard
I’m not sure if the news has already been posted elsewhere on the Afterword, but drummer Dennis Davis died yesterday, after having suffered from cancer for many years.
He played with so many top names, but I suppose he’s best known for his consistently brilliant work with David Bowie on the classic late 70s and early 80s albums (and tours). I think Tiggerlion has already drawn our attention to Davis’s thrillingly funky, muscular playing on “Sound and Vision”. Amen to that, and rest easy, Dennis.
http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a789782/david-bowie-drummer-dennis-davis-dies-after-cancer-battle/
RIP Dennis, a truly great tub thumper.
@Moose-the-Mooche will be devastated. He’s a true fan.
Damn straight.
DD described by the “Jonesy” himself in 1997:
Dennis was so open. He was almost orgiastic in his approach to trying out new stuff. He’d say, ‘Yeah, let’s do that new shit, man.” I told him about a Charlie Mingus gig that I saw where the drummer had polythene tubes that would go into the drums, and he would suck and blow to change the pressure as he played. Dennis was out the next day buying that stuff. Dennis is crazy, an absolute loony man, but he had a lot of his own thoughts on things, and he would throw us all kinds of curve-balls.
He was both a maniac and metronomically disciplined. 1975: cometh the hour, cometh the man. As important in his own way as Ronno. (There, I’ve said it).
Bon voyage to Howard ‘Mr Nice’ Marks, author performer, raconteur and dope smuggler of the highest order. I met him once when I worked in a bookshop in Taunton and he called in to sign books on his way to Glastonbury. Even on that most fleeting of acquaintances in was hard not to be charmed by him. And regardless of your views on the morality of his actions Mr Nice is an excellent read.
‘Mr Nice’ is indeed an excellent read.
I’m sorry. I have never understood the appeal of this man and have no respect for anything he has done for popular culture, including his book.
Possibly for the reason stated above … An excellent read. I’m of this view too.
Ex Mr Minnelli David Gest. Found in a London Hotel room. Only 62.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36028232
Not in the Big Brother house. Tiffany has removed the “David Is Dead” t-shirts from her website in respect to David Gest. True.
I don’t think I ll ever watch tv again.
Gareth Thomas, 71.
Roj Blake has flown his last.
Blake(RIP)’s 6 now.
From a time when space heroes were slightly portly men in padded jackets and their enemies shaven headed bisexual ice queens – Farewell Roj Blake
The Richard Thompson Mailing List reported last week that RT’s long-time sideman Pete Zorn was very ill. They report today that he has passed away. According to his wiki he would be about a month short of 66. I saw him loads of times, mostly playing guitar, mandolin, sax, whistle & flute with RT, but also playing electric bass with the Blue Tapestry project. He was an accomplished and versatile musician, and always came across as an affable fellow . We could do with more like him
That’s very sad news. I saw him a few times with Richard Thompson – what a great CV he had. A musician friend of mine met him and said he was a lovely guy with a great sense of humour.
Bloody hell – Victoria Wood! Didn’t see that coming. Damn shame – far too young.
I used to sell books to her occasionally at Waterstone’s in Lancaster; pleasant enough, but very keen not to draw attention to herself (her then husband Geoffrey ‘the Great Suprendo’ Durham was much more jolly.
She lived as a child in a white house overlooking Walmersley Gold Club in Bury. Not particularly spectacular but so high and isolated that it is visible from just about everywhere in the Bury area. Mrs B and I walked past it on Sunday before last, our first walk up there for several years. The house was up for sale. Mrs B remarked that she hadn’t been in the public eye for a while. I said “She’ll be working on something. Creative people like her always are; they can’t help it”. Bugger! She’s exactly the same age as us, and that is too young to die
And now Lonnie Mack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ta5T8cg3c0
Even the LP sleeve is great before we get to the music.
The bass player has a one pick-up 1957 Rickenbacker 4000, the very first bass model the company made.
Lonnie of course has his 1958 Gibson Flying V. Less than 100 of the originals were made and Mack nicknamed his “Seven” because it was number 7 off the production line.
There was interesting item on Radio 4 yesterday afternoon looking at the number of high profile deaths this year. Apparently the BBC has put out twice as many obits this year compared with last. Chap being interviewed said that whilst the number this year might be high,.it reflected.wn inevitable.trend. His point was that prior to, say, the early 1950s there simply weren’t as many famous people. The growth of television and rock, pop etc. meant that there were now far more famous or semi famous people. And the people who came to prominence during that period are getting old.
The other thing that struck me was that people appear to remain in the public eye or consciousness for far longer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36101644
Guy Hamilton, Bond director.
Choppers the Chimp. Ada in the PG Tips adverts. Aged 48
Quite young then when the ads were on…but you can’t really tell with chimps.
I think they were all young. The older ones are more likely to rip your arm off.
Exactly what I was about to say. Adult chimps are enormous. When I spent a month observing chimp grooming behaviour at Colchester Zoo, at least three times a day I’d hear a visitor exclaim “Ooh, look at them big gorillas!” (this was Essex, though).
Were you being paid for this, or could you just not stop once you started?
Ha! Dissertation research.
Damn. I have only found their LP this year.
https://flic.kr/p/Gw3ycs
Mr Shifter in action.
Asinine comments at the zoo intrigue me,
How many of the visitors turned to their kids and indicating the chimps said something like “Doesn’t he look like your dad/uncle/brother?”
Music at the funeral will be That Piano’s On My Foot.
Someone might have to hum it to get the organist started.
Place your bets now. Here’s the 2016 Death List:
http://www.deathlist.net/
I love that Prince Phillip’s occupation is described as “Casual racist”.
Billy Graham 94. Blimey! (Although Wiki claims he’s 97). All that evangelism must agree with him.
30+ years ago I worked for a company that provided the sound equipment for Graham’s UK rallies. We were sent thousands of cassette tapes of his fire & brimstone speeches which were supposed to be handed out at the football grounds where the rallies were held.
Of course we liberated dozens of said cassettes and took great delight in recording over them with Frank Zappa albums and ungodly other stuff which the Rev Billy would no doubt find enjoyable.
Billy Graham was actually one of the most moderate of that tele-evangelist bunch.
Still a blood-sucker, but at least not a hate-monger too.
..though actually, I was listening to an old Frank Zappa interview (Nicky Campbell on BBC “Into The Night” 27-08-1991 – an interesting listen) where Frank was having his usual rant about Jimmy Swaggart and the US TV evangelists, how they should be taxed as businesses etc. and said that Billy Graham was a reasonably OK guy because he wasn’t a blood-sucker or an extremist like Swaggart and the others.
I’m reminded of the Zappa line from The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
Eat that pork, eat that ham, laugh till you choke on Billy Graham
Moses, Aaron and Abraham, they’re all a waste of time!
And it’s your ass that’s on the line
I suppose the best we can say about Graham is that, in a field of extremists, he wasn’t quite as extreme as the others.
Papa Wemba. Aged 66
My favourite Papa Wemba song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkFxKq2qJJU
Not very familiar to me, It seems I have just one track by him off a Songlines sampler, which I last played in 2011.
A shame, because do I like this one a lot.
Some great albums, and I also have a very funny comedy on VHS with him in the lead (well, it was funny when I last watched films on VHS…must get that ripping-VHS-to-DVD project going some time soon…)
Terry Nutkins, TV wildlife presenter, dies aged 66.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19520824
“In his childhood, Maxwell, the author of Ring of Bright Water, became Nutkins’ legal guardian so that he could remain in Scotland to assist him.
Naturalist and broadcaster Johnny Morris, the main presenter of Animal Magic, also regarded Nutkins as his protege and left his house to him when he died in 1999.”
Story is from 2012.
This is getting weird now. Everyone’s so desperate for 2016 to be the year of celebrity deaths that they’re digging them up and killing them again.
Indeed. Percy Sledge’s death was a ‘most read’ link on the BBC website this week.
Percy Sledge is dead?
Yeah, I didn’t know either. And got suckered too into reading about him thinking he’d just died.
These things went virtually unreported just last year, it seems.
Puts a different dimension onto this current “2016 Year Of Doom” thing.
I’m struggling to remember who’s still alive. Leonard Cohen died a few years back. Gilbert O’Sullivan is no more. Bryan Ferry has croaked. Good job Gerry Rafferty is still going.
Future book title – following in the footsteps of 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded and 1971: Never A Dull Moment we can have 2016: We Ended Up Having To Eat Each Other.
Two months on: gathering plenty of material.
Re Gavin Maxwell. Following his death, his youthful, puddle-jumping ‘companion’ was our drama teacher for a couple of terms when I was in 6th year. Lovely, flamboyant guy. I rode his penny-farthing round the Assembly Hall one time. Nearly castrated myself when hurriedly dismounting. That is all.
Billy Paul died yesterday http://www.soultracks.com/story-billy-paul-dies
This one is definitely current. Philip Kives died yesterday, aged 87. The man who put the K in K-Tel.
One for the Swedes…Olle Ljungström died today.
Before the (wonderful) solo career he was in the 80s band Reeperbahn:
Isao Tomita 22 April 1932 – 5 May 2016. Known to most people through his Snowflakes Are Dancing 1974 recording. I managed to buy a copy of his 1976 LP of The Planets before the daughter of Gustav Holst refused permission for her father’s work to be interpreted in this way. The album was withdrawn, and is, consequently, rare in its original vinyl form.
I learned today that In 2001 he collaborated with Walt Disney Company to compose the background atmosphere music for the AquaSphere entrance at the Tokyo DisneySea theme park. Take it from me this is the best Disney park in the world.
Tomita was a wild and crazy guy. Bermuda Triangle has been a constant companion since its release, in one form or another. That and Snowflakes. Hey, Beany – did you get the poster with your copy of Planets? Eh?
Oh stop it. It took me 2 days to climb back out of the record library.* If I have to go back and find my Tomita LP I could miss Wednesday’s Europa League final. Remind me next weekend.
*spare bedroom
One minute making Neighbours down under, the next minute meeting new ones six feet under.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-36222958
His production company were also responsible for this. Altogether now
“The heat is on, the time is right….”
I loved this fab fact from that article as also reported on the ITV lunchtime news today ; His name is so ubiquitous in Australia that “Reg Grundies” is commonly used as rhyming slang for “undies”
I’m going to Australia next year. I must remember to bring enough Reg Grundies
I remember “grundies” being used in school in NZ in the sixties where we only just had TV let alone would have heard of an Australian producer. I always thought it was a kind of melange of “grotty” and “undies”
Gareth Gwenlan – producer of Only Fools & Horses, Reggie Perrin, To The Manor Born etc. dies at 79
Name used as an insult in Red Dwarf after he suggested that the show should start with a sofa in front of French windows and curtains then pull out to reveal it was actually on a spaceship. He believed that this would be comforting for an audience and space would just confuse them.
So bit 1970s old school tubby jumper light ent type but a good egg.
Also thought Richard Wilson would not be a good choice for Victor Meldrew
Sorry meant to add he commissioned Blackadder, Yes Minister and One Foot in The gRave when he was head of BBC comedy
Tony Cozier. Always a welcoming and reassuring voice on the radio.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/11/tony-cozier-west-indies-commentator-dies-cricket
“icht lieb dich nicht, a-ha”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Behrens_%28musician%29
Farewell Tony Barrow, PR man to the Beatles (1962–68). He wrote the sleeve notes on the first three Beatles’ LPs and for some of us, the back cover of Please, Please Me was the first information we ever read about the band.
And Tony Barrow was also the man who coined the phrase The Fab Four in an early press release.
And… Here’s Tony Barrow (far right) hosting a US Beatles press conference in 1965
http://i.imgur.com/bflQGxz.jpg
Who are the ugly birds sitting to his right?
Me mam had some wallpaper like that in the front room
Actually that wallpaper makes me think of Cobra and poppadoms.
Mmmmm.
Comics fans will be sad to hear about the demise of the uber-talented Darwyn Cooke ?
this one really hurts.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r139/badartdog/cooke%20batman_zpsnnetflrt.jpg
It’s only just come to Bargepole’s attention that Japanese musician Tomita, one of the pioneers of electronic music, passed away several weeks ago…..
Mentioned up there on the 9th
Bit late on this one, but Emile Ford passed away on April 11 aged 78
He had two massive hits in the UK
What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For – 1959 – No. 1
On a Slow Boat to China – 1960 – No. 3
What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For was the last UK chart-topper of the 1950s and how about this? The record it replaced at number one was Adam Faith’s What Do You Want. Spooky, eh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM-39KU7ZXc
A while ago we had a thread about the oldest song to chart and it turned out at What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For was a very old variety hall number written in 1917!
IIRC the winner was Steeleye Span’s Gaudete, a song that charted in 1972 but was written in the 16th Century.
Given all the activity on the hip hop thread, I though someone may have already mentioned John Berry’s rather tragic death:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36340225
He was an original member of the Beastie Boys and died from a form of early onset dementia.
TV writer and Animal rights activist Carla Lane shuffles off her mortal coil at the good age of 87. Always had a soft spot for The Liver Birds, and also for Butterflies which now I think about it was an odd choice for a kid. I think I might just have fancied Wendy Craig.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3618454/Bread-Liver-Birds-writer-Carla-Lane-dies-aged-87.html
I didn’t realise she was that old. I could just about tolerate the Liver Birds, but Bread was virtually unwatchable.
Oh, those wacky Scousers, see how they shout at each other in that distinctive comedy accent of theirs. And they are devout Catholics, too, so they have an endless number of kids. Even more side-splitting.
The sole redeeming feature of the Liver Birds was the opportunity it afforded for mild perving.
I’m sad for her family and friends, but to be honest, she was shit.
The headline says: “Television sitcom writer Carla Lane”
should that read: “Television sit writer Carla Lane”
I remember watching Liver Birds and Butterflies and really enjoyed them – although Butterflies had strange moments. I couldn’t get over how bad the two teenage brothers were. Nobody talked like they did “hey mum, we’re just gonna cruise on out to score some chicks…” – it was a middle-aged woman’s idea of how young people speak, I thought.
Similarly with Bread, the oldest son wore leather trousers all the time and had stupid hair. He looked too much like a bell end to be afforded any respect in real life. Yet there he was, the house guru.
“She’s a tart!” That seemed to be the main (and only) catchphrase.
And who can forget the memorable cameo by Carla’s real-life chums, Paul and Linda McCartney.
“Your husband – got a job has he?”, Nellie asked Linda. Oh how we laughed.
To use a phrase I liked from another thread, Mrs Brown’s Boys is Shaky in a world where where Bread was Elvis.
just the one where
Elvis in his fat, unfunny period, I hope?
Oh yes definitely. Fawlty Towers was Jailhouse Rock, The Office was the black jumpsuit suspicious minds comeback Elvis and Bread was the sweaty Vegas Elvis in his forties.
I prefer to think of Bread as Black Lace on the Wheeltappers And Shunters
I prefer to think of Bread as the Baby-I’m-A-Want-You hitmakers.
Bill Gates did well after leaved Bread, didn’t he?
Drumbo would have preferred to have kept David Gates as the Beefheart and Magic Band producer. Huge admirer of the sound he got from them.
Carla Lane created and wrote three successful shows spanning 25 years, which I think is some achievement. Some were good and others mediocre.. Like pretty much any of the bands and the like that we laud on this site.
Can you remind us what the good ones were?
There was, er …
*blank look*
I liked Butterflies and the earlier Liver Birds. I don’t know if that makes them.good any more than the fact that people liking particular bands makes them good.
They were all so middle-class weren’t they? Which was, of course, a particular style of the time – Terry and June being very much the touchstone of the genre. The difference with Bread in particular was that it was supposedly about the travails of a working-class family but from a resolutely bourgeois perspective.
I thought it was absolute shit.
Some truth in that. I thought much the same about Joe Strummer.
Yeah but with Bread it was more like ‘We fought the DHSS. And we won.’
“Darling, I’m home”. I may be remembering this wrong, but as Terry returned home to his Surbiton semi after a hard day in the city, wasn’t there a decanter of whisky on the hall table from which he poured himself a stiff one? Before giving June a…. (That’s quite enough of that, thank you Ed).
Well, he’d had a hard day.
Professional Liverpudlians. It was an entire industry at one time.
Funny accents, dead cheeky with it, salt of the earth, ducking and diving.
I blame the Beatles.
I was in Liverpool for the first time in decades last week. They’re making up for lost time by celebrating the Fabs in a way they never did in the 80s and 90s when I was a regular visitor – statues by the ferry, the area around Mathew Street is now signposted as Cavern Quarter and so on. And it’s good of them to lay on a lingering sell of weed everywhere in the city, just to add to the hippie era ambience.
And here’s Terry obliging June with a (not very) stiff one.
They milked they “something in the oven” line, didn’t they?
June channelling the Thatcher look to a tee, there.
And they lived in Purley. It was The Good Life that was set in Surbiton.
A friend of mine (and fellow Afterworder) once quite rightly berated a mutual pal for wearing a beige cardigan like Terry’s sporting here.
‘I bought this in Next’, was the defence.
‘What, next to June Whitfield, you mean?’
I like the dynamic of Terry and June.
June is like the sensible, endlessly admonishing mother to Terry’s emotionally stunted, self-obsessed child.
There isn’t a hint of affection between them. And they both appeared quite happy in their roles.
It’s very ‘stagey’ isn’t it? You can just can see Brian Rix appearing through the french windows with his trousers down.
I think it’s the source of the idea of “man-flu”. There was a tribute a year or so ago to June Whitfield (still working at 90), and the writer of Terry and June was on it. He mentioned an episode in which Terry made a big fuss about being ill and June had to put up with it. He said that he thought that men were like that, but no-one had ever mentioned it before, and was clearly quite pleased with the observation. So it looks like this programme was where an enduring myth was created. To me it shows the role popular culture has in creating gender stereotypes in society and normalising… (sends off article proposal to the Guardian).
It’s a reasonable theory but I think man-flu is definitely pre-Terry. I’m pretty sure it came up in a Hancock episode for one.
The quote went something like: ‘I’m so sick hypochondria is the only illness I haven’t got…’
Purely, Surbiton….the only way those watching from OS could tell what those exotic places were like was the way Margo described them in The Good Life.
The Good Life was filmed around Northwood, just one tube stop from KFD’s old stomping ground Pinner
Did KFD ever run into Reg, I wonder?
No JC. I never knowingly saw Mr Dwight in my hood. He wasn’t really on my radar during my school days so we may have passed each other in Sainsbury’s without my realising I as in the presence of Pinner’s most famous son.
Pinner Green actually which wasn’t quite so up market.
I’ve never heard of him mentioning Pinner although he did make a big deal of his support of Watford Football Team.
T and J performing the previously thought impossible there. Making ‘Bread’ seem quite good.
For any Archers fans on here,:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36421374
Sid ‘Soapy Fun’ Perks. . .
Probably not a good idea to use the obituary thread as a place to lay into the dead person, otherwise it’s all going to get a bit long-winded and unpleasant.
Where does it say that in the forum rules Poppy? I can’t see any unpleasantness. We were just discussing the sitcoms, not the person herself.
Carla was probably quite lovely, sadly missed, tributes are pouring in etc.
No unpleasantness re: Carla (though some long-windedness). The unpleasantness will occur at some later date regarding some other person.
It’s kind of… obvious, isn’t it?
I tend to agree, in as much as I suspect things would have turned ugly earlier this year had I chosen to say what I really thought about much of the work of a number of dearly departed entertainers.
Does ‘Ding dong, the witch is dead’ ring any bells? (SWIDT)
He shoots. He scores
Yes, a childish response to Margaret Thatcher’s death, albeit I am unclear as to it’s relevance in the context of the purpose of this thread.
I was merely pointing out to poppy that such ‘unpleasantness’ had already occurred. So, entirely relevant.
‘Childish’? Disgusting, IMO.
Obituary? OH BITCHERY MORE LIKE.
Not obvious to me. No one here would be that crass, surely?
Not unless Katie Hopkins and/or Jeremy Corbyn snuff it anytime soon.
Promise you, dude, it’ll happen. Someone will post about the sad passing of the drummer of Bungalow. Someone else will say he was shit. Someone else will say you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. Someone else will say stop being such a sensitive little soul etc., etc., and before you know it, a thread aimed to be ‘a place for general obits and RIPs’ turns into a shitfight.
Well, it did cross my mind that we could be seen as speaking ill of the dead in a roundabout way, but then it moved onto Terry & June and it suddenly seemed OK (if a little long-winded)
This is a bit long-winded. But it’s also quite funny.
What’s the protocol when Gary slips the bonds of his bacofoil suit or when Rolf pops his three clogs?
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Leader of the Gang and it would hurt me so if any mean-spirited comments were posted.
Ha ha, yes. I see your dilemma!
On the other hand, a dry list of dead people sans comment makes not a good read. Unless you just want names for a morbid take on Ant Rap
We got Bowie, Wogan, Jimmy Bain, Maurice White and Carla Lane…
‘Comment’ = good.
‘Slag off’ = bad.
Thing is, once a thread is out there in big wide world, you can’t control where it goes or how it develops.
Threads are like your kids, even though you may have a tear in either eye as you stand at the door clicking that metaphorical “post” button, you’ve just gotta learn to cut those apron strings and let them go.
You just hope they remember to call home once in a while. And wear clean underwear.
That scans beautifully into “We Didn’t Start the Fire” too.
It’s always Donovan with you isn’t it JC?
See that guitar Don’s using? It’s a Zemaitis Blue Moon, especially made for him and featured on the cover of Cosmic Wheels
Alan Wise
http://louderthanwar.com/alan-wise-rip-legendary-manchester-music-figure/
Just read that Dave Swarbrick has died, been ill in hospital but he seemed to be on the men’s and had only gone home last week. Very sad news.
Oh no. How very sad. Such a great and inspirational musician.
That should be mend.
Farewell Janet Waldo, who voiced cartoon characters Penelope Pitstop and Judy Jetson, at the grand age of 96. Also the voice of Pearl Slaghoople and others.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36516741
https://youtu.be/AMtA8ahAwDI
Chips Moman http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/chips-moman-dies-aged-79-77381
Maybe this was missed, but I though that the death of this guy might have attracted some comment from the music-loving AW.
I certainly did miss that news.
A most impressive C.V.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chips_Moman
(Chips Moman – Thank You For Calling)
Nice obit here https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/15/chips-moman-obituary#comments
Charlie’s Fish & Chip Shop – Charlie’s in his 80s and feels like retiring; pity, as there aren’t any other chip shops in the area (and he used to sneak freebies to the men in the half-way house across the road).
John Guilfoyle’s Beekeeping Supplies – open for decades, probably the last shop unchanged remaining from when I moved here, about to become a biryani place.
Local Coles Supermarket – part of the much unloved Coles/Woolworths duopoly, but this is the only supermarket in the area, and while small served its mainly migrant/refugee market well.
Rip It Up – weekly music paper established 1989, went digital in 2014. Not *too* sorry to see it go, the original publisher was someone from the Arianna Huffington School of management.
Prince Be of PM Dawn
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/attrell-prince-be-cordes-p-m-dawn-rapper-dead-at-46-20160617
Underrated, IMO. I still play the first two albums a lot. Psychedelic pop really.
Agree BJB. Gorgeous stuff. And enormously successful too. The third hip hop band to top the Billboard chart.
Bob Williamson. Bolton’s finest. A cross between Peter Kay, Stu Francis and Bernard Wrigley.
https://youtu.be/0dT5f3uAy3M
Karl Dallas 85 died today journalist, musician, author, playwright, peace campaigner, record producer and broadcaster, described as “the most vigorous, influential, and informed folk music journalist in Britain”.
Great man.
Am I right in saying that his parents named him ‘Karl’ after Karl Marx?
I seem to remember reading that somewhere…
Yes after Marx and Frederick after Engels.
Wayne Jackson RIP
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/wayne-jackson-half-memphis-horns-duo-dies-age-40032544
There’s a million records he played on, here’s a live performance with the MarKeys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIZUS5rBtFE
Ralph Stanley RIP. This seems appropriate in more ways than one.
Toss up between his and his version of Sandy’s Who Knows Where the Time etc.
RIP UK.
RIP David Cameron’s premiership and his political career.
Bernie Worrell…. total fucking geezer.
Talking Heads too. What a time that has gone.
Oh bollox!
What with Brexit, a sick car and a missed gig my cup was already running decidedly under IYKWIM, but now that news has made me even sadder.
It’s a bloody good job I’ve already taken to drink this evening.
Michael Herr
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36633217
Bud Spencer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36648131
Bud Spencer chose his stage name in honour of Spencer Tracy and because he liked drinking Budweiser.
:o)
Gordon Murray, creator of Trumpton, Chigley, Camberwick Green et al. A part of nearly all our childhoods. Programmes so well known, Life on Mars were able to do this.
Yup got a bit grumpy about Radiohead stealing his visual style for the Burn The Witch video
He burnt all the sets and characters for his classic TV shows saying that they were actors and if no longer performing what use were they? Some flesh and blood actors should take note
Windy Miller’s drink problem shocked the nation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27hPy38EyI
Another part of my childhood gone
Truth be told, a forgotten part until this brought it all back …
Caroline Aherne, at just 52. Fare thee well, Denise Royle…
Wicker Man director Robin Hardy.
Michael Cimino
(if Edgar Wright is to be believed on Twitter)
He was the original director of Footloose, fact fans!
Alan Vega
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/alan-vega-dead-suicide-frontman-dies-aged-78-a7141191.html
Marianne Ihlen, the woman immortalized in “So Long, Marianne” and the woman in Leonard Cohen’s life through the 1960s, died July 28, 2016
Jack Davis has died at the grand old age of 91 – he was the last surviving original Mad cartoonist – there’s a good chance you know some of his work. Pure genius.
http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-jack-davis-illustrator-mad-magazine-and-tales–240284
Rotten news about Dalian Atkinson. Here’s his best known goal from the first Premier League season.
I forgot to list the great – Gaspar Saladino here. He was a phenomenally talented comic book letterer:
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r139/badartdog/gaspar_zpslxnr01dn.jpg
Gilli Smyth aka Shakti Yoni died yesterday aged 83.
Gong, Mother Gong
Smyth died in Australia after a long illness, her son Orlando Allen has confirmed.
He says: “She passed amongst loved ones reading poetry and singing at exactly 12pm Australian time today. She is flying to the infinite through all the bardots as we speak so all your prayers of light, love gratitude and beaming energies are a shining light for her.
“Bless her psychedelic cotton socks, she will be in our and deeply in my heart forever. One of the strongest, most loving forgiving and powerful shakti being mums I have ever known.
“I give thanks for the blessing of her her being her example and shakti mumma presence and happy she is out of pain now and soon to be with, Daevid her dingo Virgin and all her favourite animals.”
Looks like the Toots Thielemans obit posts have got lost in the recent outage. So I’d like to post this again.
Not only was Toots the greatest Belgian musician since Plastic Bertrand (surely “since Adolphe Sax?” Ed.) but he has a significant Beatles’ connection, too.
Toots was best known for his harmonica playing, but he was also a decent guitarist. In 1961 he was working at a Hamburg trade fair demonstrating Rickenbacker guitars. The picture below shows Thielemans in front of a display of Rickenbackers and the guitar next to his right elbow is now widely believed to be the very instrument bought by John Lennon a few days later.
It was the first of many Rickenbackers owned by Lennon and was later sprayed black when the Beatles returned to Liverpool. But early pictures clearly show the natural finish of the guitar in this photo.
http://i.imgur.com/ASGCWT5.jpg
Prince Buster.
Found that clip of him with the Nutty Boys at the Astoria in 2007 I mentioned in the Madness thread
78
He may not be solely responsible but without Prince Buster would there have been a Ska/2 Tone “thing” in the late 70s/early 80s?
Madness debut single a tribute to The Man
Madness & One Step Beyond – covered by Madness
Rough Rider & Whine & Grine – covered by The Beat
Enjoy Yourself – covered by The Specials
Leggy Mountbatten has stumped up to the pearly gates….RIP Terence Bayler
I’m shocked
and stunned
We can still keep in touch with him by tapping the table.
And postcards.
Rod Temperton.
(Gosh, this thread now takes an age to load. Perhaps we should start a new one, or is that tempting fate?)
I wouldn’t bother, it’s not as if anyone else is going to die.
I hated disco but I quite liked this
That’s Rod on the Rhodes, and he wrote it too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/rod-temperton-yorkshire-born-songwriter-behind-michael-jacksons/
Thom Yorke’s long time partner and mother of his kids, Dr Rachel Owen died aged 48.
Ah Christ, how horrible. They split up before Moon Shaped Pool which saddened me as I always liked the thought of weird old Thom and his 2.4-kid home life, with the same partner for 25 years and all. 48 is no bloody age.
Liz Smith gran in the Royle Family and I didn’t know you cared etc.
95.
Tony Cohen was a record engineer / producer of some of the best indie albums in the 80s and 90s who reputedly could go hit for hit with the Birthday Party, often having to go somewhere to clean up ( to some extent) after recordings. He had many great albums on his CV.
Here is Nick’s tribute.
http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2017/08/04/nick-cave-pays-tribute-to-national-treasure-tony-cohen/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=YDS+040817&utm_content=YDS+040817+CID_674041fe27172a8b1f3dfa4547e5238a&utm_source=Daily+SPA&utm_term=Nick+Cave+Pays+Tribute+To+National+Treasure+Tony+Cohen