Passages

[flyonthewall2983]

Ellen Albertini Down, rapping granny from The Wedding Singer. She was 101.

[PfR73]

Grace Lee Whitney, Star Trek's Janice Rand.

[otis]

Errol Brown

[GaryC]

Abba bassist Rutger Gunnarsson.

[colinr0380]

Time to play that compilation of partially finished tracks, background chat and alternate versions ABBA Undeleted that was available in their compilation album in salute!

[Perkins Cobb]

Elizabeth Wilson (Dustin Hoffman's mother in The Graduate).

[jbeall]

Peter Gay

[lacritfan]

Artist Chris Burden. Mainly known in L.A. for his light sculpture outside LACMA.

[neuro]

Artist Chris Burden. Mainly known in L.A. for his light sculpture outside LACMA.

And the performance piece "Shoot", I'd argue.

[doh286]

Val E. Lewton, artist/designer and son of film producer Val Lewton.

[lacritfan]

B.B. King

[oh yeah]

That's awful, though to be completely honest I was pondering this possibility recently for some reason. B.B. has such a unique way of phrasing his solos and fills -- the way he spaces out the notes and the way he bends, and the colorful notes he adds to spice it up which many blues players miss in favor of sticking with strictly the pentatonic scale... he's a big influence on me as a guitarist. Live at the Regal is one of the great blues albums, most likely.

[sir_luke]

Damn. I was fortunate enough to see him in concert just a few months ago at a relatively intimate venue. It was definitely bittersweet, because while he could still make Lucille sing, he was obviously frail and not completely "present". The most heartwarming/breaking moment was when he led the audience in repeated choruses of "You Are My Sunshine," which lasted several minutes. Several drunk casino-goers who had come to see prime King were starting to cause a ruckus, but I cherished every moment of it.

His contribution to blues, to music in general, and to Americana is immeasurable and invaluable.

[flyonthewall2983]

Rolling Stone.

I highly recommend B.B. King: The Life of Riley, which is out on home video and Qello.

[Altair]

RIP B.B. King - one of my all time favourite and most revered Blues guitarists. Just listen to this performance of "Sweet Sixteen" in Zaire; there's such power, feeling and soul there. Does anyone still living even come close to him?

[Gregory]

When I was 13 or 14 I saw King live in absolute top form, and it blew me away—an amazing display of musicianship, and showmanship. The rest of the audience seemed aware that they were seeing something truly great as well, and there seemed to be an amazing rapport and level of energy throughout the whole program. King and his band brought the house down that night. (I saw him play again a year or two later, different place, different crowd, and it wasn't the same at all.) Before that, I hadn't been exposed to much of the good old stuff, and the experience of that concert acted as a gateway for me to explore many things that didn't even sound much like King's music (such as 1940s and '50s jazz), which developed into lifelong interests, so that night was what I'd consider a life-changing event.

Two days ago, following the recent news that he was in hospice care, I was corresponding with the person who was at that concert with me, talking about King's precarious health and also the court battle over his care and personal assets. I knew that it probably wouldn't be too long before he'd pass away, but I was not expecting the news to come the very next day!
It's utterly depressing, but there is some consolation in the fact that he lived such a long life and gave probably tens of thousands of performances.

[flyonthewall2983]

Remembrances and tributes from Eric Clapton and Derek Trucks.

[sherlockjr]

Had the honor to meet with B.B. several times while launching the Rock' 'n Soul museum in Memphis. A gentle soul, and a gentleman. We've lost a number of prominent blues and R&B singers of late.

[colinr0380]

Claude Chabrol filmed A Judgment In Stone as La cérémonie in 1995, and also did The Bridesmaid in 2004. .

And these are two of Chabrol's absolute best films too! Sounds like she provided some great source material, though it's unsurprising that the French would be smitten with a crime novelist!

Absolutely! In addition to this, I've just noticed that François Ozon's latest film The New Girlfriend is also an adaptation of a Ruth Rendell short story!

[Numero Trois]

Extremely late with these.

Reggae singer John Holt died last October.

And I didn't even catch this until now- Former Rolling Stone writer Charles M. Young died last August. Those of a certain age might also remember his eighties work for Musician magazine.

[Perkins Cobb]

Michael Campus, director of The Mack.

[colinr0380]

Michael Campus, director of The Mack.

He also directed that very rarely shown dystopian sci-fi film starring Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin, Z.P.G., or Zero Population Growth.

[GaryC]

Terry Sue Patt, age 50, found dead in his home. He was best known for his role as a teenager in the UK school drama series Grange Hill but continued to act as an adult. He has a supporting role in Alan Clarke's TV film The Firm.

[FrauBlucher]

Marques Haynes of Harlem Globetrotters fame.

[Donald Brown]

Mathematician John Nash, subject of A Beautiful Mind.