R.I.P.s

[DzM]

Neil Armstrong, 82.

[Mike from Boston]

Jerry Nelson 78

Best known as the man behind the Count on Sesame Street.

[philipchevron]

Maureen Toal (82) Irish actor

She had a starring role in my first professional theatre gig - Aristophanes' Lysistrata, directed by Agnes Bernelle, Dublin 1976

[Low D]

Jerry Nelson 78

Best known as the man behind the Count on Sesame Street.

Also Sherlock Hemlock, The Amazing Mumford, Herry Monster, half of the two-headed monster, and he was also the first Snuffleupagus, from 1971 to 1978.

On the Muppet Show he was Sgt. Floyd Pepper (the bassist of the Electric Mayhem band), Pigs in Space star Dr. Julius Strangepork, the boomerang fish-throwing Lew Zealand, Kermit the Frog's nephew Robin the Frog, Gonzo's girlfriend Camilla the Chicken, and the Phantom of the Muppet Show, Uncle Deadly. And lots more.

On Fraggle Rock he performed the lead puppet, Gobo, along Pa Gorg, Marjory the Trash Heap, and others.

The Count would have loved to have counted all those roles...

[Charles]

Hal David - 91 - songwriter

What’s New, Pussycat?, Alfie, The Look of Love, Wishin' and Hopin', Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, Do You Know The Way From San Jose?, What The World Needs Now etc.

[philipchevron]

Hal David - 91 - songwriter

What’s New, Pussycat?, Alfie, The Look of Love, Wishin' and Hopin', Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, Do You Know The Way From San Jose?, What The World Needs Now etc.

Hal David's real genius was that he was Burt Bacharach's lyricist, a job description nobody else has ever quite been able to fill with such deceptive ease. Bacharach's strange structures and non-sequiturs, while masterly, made life incredibly difficult for his lyricists. Hal David accomplished the grand slam of lyric writing - content worth hearing, technically intriguing and, best of all, stylistically compatible: he mirrored his partner's quirkiness without merely creating a whole new bowl of quirk. Bacharach-David songs somehow create the illusion that people talk (sing) like this all the time. Sonically, they so accurately tapped into the neuroses of their times that history will accord them the same significance as The Beatles.

For a measure of how hard this was to do, compare their work with Jimmy Webb's, their closest peer, who wrote both lyrics and music. Though I am a huge Webb fan too, it is impossible to imagine that Hal David would ever have allowed himself the indulgence of leaving "a cake out in the rain" because, however striking, surreal, nuts, or even textually valid (because "we'll never find that recipe again")' the line draws attention to itself (and the lyricist) in a manner which ultimately detracts from the song - "Macarthur Park" of course.

Here's how you do it:

Why do birds
suddenly appear
every time
you are near?
Just like me
they long to be
Close to you.

Or, if you want unshowy quirk:

What do you get when you kiss a guy?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, he'll never phone ya
I'll never fall in love again

[ManniGee1971]

Michael Clarke Duncan - R.I.P.

[Mike from Boston]

Rev. Sun Myung Moon 92

[Den Ekster]

Max Bygraves,singer & allround entertainer died last weekend,my Dad reackoned Max was very popular in the 60's and 70's,but my Dad is British and only half of me is!But as Mr.Bygraves once had a hit with his version of Tulips from Amsterdam,he gets a big 'up' from me.RIP.

[Charles]

Joe South - 72

Singer/songwriter - Games People Play etc.

[Mike from Boston]

Art Modell 87

Cleveland Browns owner who moved the team to Baltimore (becoming the Ravens)

[Mike from Boston]

The Purple Shamrock the once great Irish bar in Boston is closing after thirty years as their lease has ended and the rent will increase. Spent much money and time here in the 1980's and 1990's.

[Low D]

Dan, my friend since university (17 years, I think), apparently had an aneurysm or something last night and is suddenly not here anymore. I am so stunned. He's got a young son and a baby, and now he'll never have the joy of watching them grow. I live across the country and can't possibly go to the funeral tomorrow, which - in Jewish tradition - is quick.

He is one-half of the cooking blog "the Haggis & The Herring"
www.haggisandherring.com

[firehazard]

Dan, my friend since university (17 years, I think), apparently had an aneurysm or something last night and is suddenly not here anymore. I am so stunned. He's got a young son and a baby, and now he'll never have the joy of watching them grow. I live across the country and can't possibly go to the funeral tomorrow, which - in Jewish tradition - is quick.

He is one-half of the cooking blog "the Haggis & The Herring"
http://www.haggisandherring.com

Sorry for your loss, Low D.

RIP Irish rugby player Nevin Spence, tipped to be a future star of the game, aged just 22, killed together with his father and brother in an accident on their family farm yesterday.

[Low D]

Dan, my friend since university (17 years, I think), apparently had an aneurysm or something last night and is suddenly not here anymore. I am so stunned. He's got a young son and a baby, and now he'll never have the joy of watching them grow. I live across the country and can't possibly go to the funeral tomorrow, which - in Jewish tradition - is quick.

He is one-half of the cooking blog "the Haggis & The Herring"
http://www.haggisandherring.com

And his wife has posted her eulogy on the blog:
http://www.haggisandherring.com/2012/09 ... nd_17.html