R.I.P.s

[Mike from Boston]

Champion middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, the inspiration for Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull", dead at 95.

Wow, didn't realize he was (or had been) still alive-living to 95 for a boxer is pretty impressive.

Also, thoughts and prayers to all those felled by Mother Nature-between Harvey, Irma, Maria and the earthquake in Mexico City-lots of lives taken and people's lives are ruined. Most of us are lucky to only have 1st World problems...

[Low D]

Champion middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, the inspiration for Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull", dead at 95.

Wow, didn't realize he was (or had been) still alive-living to 95 for a boxer is pretty impressive.

Not to mention that media are quoting his... 65 year old fiance. So, in what would have been his seventh marriage, he was to be wed to somebody 30 years his junior.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/jake-lamotta-rag ... -1.4298394
LaMotta's fiancée, Denise Baker, said he died Tuesday at a Miami-area hospital from complications of pneumonia. He was believed to be the oldest living former boxing champion.

[Low D]

Ben Dorcey, "The World's Oldest Roadie", dead at 92.



Born Ben H. Dorcy III in Dallas, Texas, on May 19, 1925, Dorcy served in the military and worked for the Ice Capades before making his foray into the world of music. In 1950, Dorcy got his start in the music business as a roadie for country singer Hank Thompson; from there, he went on to serve as John Wayne’s personal valet and toured with Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and dozens of other major artists.

Dorcy especially formed a special bond with fellow Texan Willie Nelson, with whom he worked up until a few months before his death. According to Austin360, Dorcy was on hand at Nelson’s annual Fourth of July picnic earlier this year. Dorcy was also the first person inducted into Nashville’s Roadie Hall of Fame back in 2009.


Read More: ‘World’s Oldest Roadie’ Ben Dorcy Dead at 92 | http://theboot.com/worlds-oldest-roadie ... ck=tsmclip

[Low D]

"The Screaming Eagle of Soul", soul singer Charles Bradley dead at age 68, having being diagnosed with stomach cancer in December of last year. Bradley released his debut solo album No Time For Dreaming in 2011 at the age of 62, and was known for - among other recordings - a cover of Black Sabbath's "Changes": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi49yir ... e=youtu.be




And another cancer death, Johnny Burke, Canada's 'hidden gem' of country music, has died at the age of 77. From kitchen parties to a venue he built with his bare hands, he played music his whole life and has been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns ... -1.4304881

[Low D]

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 91. He had a good run.

[DzM]

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 91. He had a good run.

I'm honestly conflicted about this. I wish no ill on him, but I also have zero respect for him. I'm tempted to say "and he won't be missed," but that's mostly just for spite.

What I really dislike about the empire he created is that he really just commercially mined exploitation and grossness. Say what you will about Larry Flint and his more crude form of exploitation, but he fought tooth and nail for free speech and government-out-of-your-bedroom. I could respect that even if I didn't respect his business. But Heffner? All he EVER stood for was "I can make a dollar from your tits and ass." Just utterly craven.

I am "meh."

[Mike from Boston]

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 91. He had a good run.

I'm honestly conflicted about this. I wish no ill on him, but I also have zero respect for him. I'm tempted to say "and he won't be missed," but that's mostly just for spite.

What I really dislike about the empire he created is that he really just commercially mined exploitation and grossness. Say what you will about Larry Flint and his more crude form of exploitation, but he fought tooth and nail for free speech and government-out-of-your-bedroom. I could respect that even if I didn't respect his business. But Heffner? All he EVER stood for was "I can make a dollar from your tits and ass." Just utterly craven.

I am "meh."

Okay, all I was thinking about was a childhood where scoring a Playboy was a major deal! To be fair, the Playboy interview could be pretty provocative and news worthy back in the day.

[DzM]

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 91. He had a good run.

I'm honestly conflicted about this. I wish no ill on him, but I also have zero respect for him. I'm tempted to say "and he won't be missed," but that's mostly just for spite.

What I really dislike about the empire he created is that he really just commercially mined exploitation and grossness. Say what you will about Larry Flint and his more crude form of exploitation, but he fought tooth and nail for free speech and government-out-of-your-bedroom. I could respect that even if I didn't respect his business. But Heffner? All he EVER stood for was "I can make a dollar from your tits and ass." Just utterly craven.

I am "meh."

Okay, all I was thinking about was a childhood where scoring a Playboy was a major deal! To be fair, the Playboy interview could be pretty provocative and news worthy back in the day.

Yeah, my dad had a collection too.

I remain "meh." Some of the hand-waving retrospectives are putting him down as a early champion of the first amendment too, so evidently I'm wrong on that front.

[Mike from Boston]

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 91. He had a good run.

I'm honestly conflicted about this. I wish no ill on him, but I also have zero respect for him. I'm tempted to say "and he won't be missed," but that's mostly just for spite.

What I really dislike about the empire he created is that he really just commercially mined exploitation and grossness. Say what you will about Larry Flint and his more crude form of exploitation, but he fought tooth and nail for free speech and government-out-of-your-bedroom. I could respect that even if I didn't respect his business. But Heffner? All he EVER stood for was "I can make a dollar from your tits and ass." Just utterly craven.

I am "meh."

Okay, all I was thinking about was a childhood where scoring a Playboy was a major deal! To be fair, the Playboy interview could be pretty provocative and news worthy back in the day.

Yeah, my dad had a collection too.

I remain "meh." Some of the hand-waving retrospectives are putting him down as a early champion of the first amendment too, so evidently I'm wrong on that front.

But you got to admint "I only get it for the articles" was pretty common place back in the day. I have only crossed paths with two people who posed for Playboy-one was a friend of my cousin who caused a minor stir back in the early 1980s by being denied by her HS to put her ambition was to be in Playboy in the HS yearbook. Playboy heard about it and she posed. Nothing special-airbrushing does wonders. The other was semi-famous actress/sports announcer Lisa Coles Guerrero who late in life posed, generating this great quote-(former QB Hugh Millen was asked if he checked out his former 40ish gf in Playboy?) "Why would I? I saw the twenty year old Lisa in the flesh!!"

[Low D]

Yeah, there's probably also an argument to be made about defying puritan norms and pushing sexuality out of the closet and into public view. Unfortunately, that sexuality was/is entirely of the misogynistic, exploitative, women-are-meat side. I mean, he last wife was 60 years younger than him (Clearly, Hef didn't read 'em for the interviews). But that he managed to maintain a more or less respectable, accepted place in public life in the USA/beyond for like 60 years is crazy, so folks are pretty much bound to wax on about his his contributions.

[Frances]

It's a pornography store. I was buying pornography.



I don't watch Family Guy because I ha-te the creator but isn't creepy Quagmire based on Hefner?

[DzM]

isn't creepy Quagmire based on Hefner?

I've done zero research and have nothing to base my opinion on other than just watching the show. With that disclaimer - I've always assumed that Quagmire's character (such as it is) is intended to be an exaggerated version of the kind of guy that looked at Hugh and said "This. I want to be this." So he encompasses "the Playboy lifestyle" to its extremes. He is the caricature of someone that aspires to be Hugh.

[Frances]

isn't creepy Quagmire based on Hefner?

I've done zero research and have nothing to base my opinion on other than just watching the show. With that disclaimer - I've always assumed that Quagmire's character (such as it is) is intended to be an exaggerated version of the kind of guy that looked at Hugh and said "This. I want to be this." So he encompasses "the Playboy lifestyle" to its extremes. He is the caricature of someone that aspires to be Hugh.

[DzM]

isn't creepy Quagmire based on Hefner?

I've done zero research and have nothing to base my opinion on other than just watching the show. With that disclaimer - I've always assumed that Quagmire's character (such as it is) is intended to be an exaggerated version of the kind of guy that looked at Hugh and said "This. I want to be this." So he encompasses "the Playboy lifestyle" to its extremes. He is the caricature of someone that aspires to be Hugh.

Yes, this. Exactly.

[Low D]

To sum up Hef's creepiness, he bought the grave site next to Marylyn Monroe, so they will be "eternal bedmates"

When Monroe was still Norma Gene, a young, abused woman attempting to escape the foster care system, she posed for the photos, under a fake name, and was paid $50. Hef was already building his empire. Later, he bought those photos for $500, launching his magazine with Monroe on the cover. He never asked her permission, paid her a cent, or said "thanks". Now he gets to spend eternity creeping on her. What a pig.