It’s late in the day, almost 6pm, and I still haven’t posted. I wasn’t even sure what to post…and then I see that David Crosby has died. Here are Messrs. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
Sad news from the music world yesterday: guitarist Jeff Beck has died. He had a long and unconventional career, which led to some amazing music-making. This song was my introduction to his guitar work, and it quickly became one of my favorite songs of the 80s, and then of all time. Yes, it’s a cover; the original is by the great Curtis Mayfield, whose own versions are well worth seeking out…but this rendition stood in stark contrast to the Van Halen-esque guitar fireworks that were the main role of the guitar at that time (at least, in terms of theDown the rabbit hole….
Were I given by some magical being the chance to see a single athlete from history, engaging their sport at the height of their power, my answer would likely come very quickly: Roberto Clemente, “the Great One”, who died in a plane crash just off Puerto Rico while doing humanitarian work in South America. Clemente died with exactly 3,000 hits, was a perennial All-Star and Gold Glove winner, and he played for two World Series champions during his career, spent entirely with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemente was one of the greatest baseball players of all time, and certainly the greatestDown the rabbit hole….
Producer Jules Bass died the other day. If the name isn’t immediately familiar, it’s because people are probably more familiar with his name in the context of his partnership with Arthur Rankin, Jr, known as Rankin-Bass. Those two produced some of the classics of animation in the mid-to-late 20th century, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. For me, the best thing they did was their animated adaptation of The Hobbit, in 1977. I remember watching it on teevee, and then a year or two later going to a screening of it with my sister at our local library. (This, I believe, was whenDown the rabbit hole….
NBC News, among others, is reporting that Dame Angela Lansbury has died at 96. Lansbury has been a part of my cultural life for just about as long as I can remember. She wasn’t exactly omnipresent, but she just…showed up every once in a while (especially a long stint in the 80s during the run of Murder, She Wrote). By the time she was on my radar she was slightly pigeonholed as the elderly grandmother type, so it was quite refreshing to watch The Manchurian Candidate in which she was disturbingly cold and chilling. Still, for me, this movie and in particularDown the rabbit hole….
It wasn’t to be, and today we had to let him go. I’d like to write more about him…but not now. Not today. Today is for coping with a silence that I knew one day would come, and yet shouldn’t be here. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
I saw Grease when it came out. I was no older than 7. I went with my sister. We were living in Elkins, WV at the time. That was the first time I saw Olivia Newton-John. Now, Newton-John was never a celebrity crush of mine; I was slightly too young for that kind of thing. But come to that…Goldie Hawn and Foul Play were to come very soon thereafter, so…I dunno. Maybe I thrown off the scent by the fact that Newton-John was a teenager in the movie, and I wasn’t sophisticated enough to notice a bunch of people in theirDown the rabbit hole….
Actor David Warner has died. Warner was a very prolific actor; bring up his filmography and you’ll be scrolling for quite a while. While he was usually not a lead, he was more than a “character actor”. Warner brought gravity, precision, and seriousness to every role he undertook. He brought an air of dignity to the table whether he played a villain or an ally or something in between. Warner appeared in genre films a lot; the first thing I ever saw him in was 1982’s TRON in which he had the dual role of the oily businessman Ed Dillinger in theDown the rabbit hole….
A break from the “Conversation Songs” series, in honor of actor Ray Liotta, who died today. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
I remember when we moved to Allegany, NY in 1981, I started hearing the name “Bob Lanier” a lot. He had been, as far as I could tell, a very good basketball player who had attended St. Bonaventure University, where my father had just started teaching. Even though he’d been gone for ten years by the time we got there, his star was sufficiently bright to still be lighting up local college basketball talk. Lanier led SBU to its only appearance in the NCAA Final Four, and many are convinced to this day that SBU had a very real shotDown the rabbit hole….