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Have to add another favorite of mine; Smokey Robinson is still with us. He has such beautiful eyes.

Fortunately. Smokey spent 11 days in ICU last December. CoVid a huge threat to an 80 year old.

Brian Travers, saxophonist and founding member of UB40.

Charlie Watts, the drummer for a Sixties popular beat combo.

MichaelB wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 4:36 pm Charlie Watts, the drummer for a Sixties popular beat combo.

Gutted. He looked pretty frail when I saw him on his final tour with them, but he still had it together instrumentally. I had a feeling it might've been his last time out. "Get Off of My Cloud" alone has saved me from boredom through countless lines and waiting rooms - Charlie's drumming (particularly the intro) is enormous fun to play, even if all you've got is your fingers and your lap.

I’m sorry to hear this. RIP.

I started getting into the Stones when I was about 12, circa 1977. Bought the new Some Girls release when it first came out, before some folks sued and their pics had to be removed from the album cover. After gathering most of the classic albums, I started picking up the early albums, when they were a cover band. Learned a lot of good music from those early Stones albums. Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley -- all a bit tricky since their songs were credited to their actual birth names. The Stones also hipped me to Don Covay, Bobby Womack/The Valentinos, Sol Burke, etc. Though I didn't follow-up on Arthur Alexander, Barbara Lynn or Allen Toussaint til some years later, they were magical names floating out there in the unknown, in those bad old pre-internet days. The Stones turned me on to a lot of great music/musicians. And basically ever since, delving into the past to discover new songs and artists has been my MO. Largely tuning out disco, punk and heavy metal, I pursued Soul and post-war R&B and then Jazz. So besides the great Stones music, the band helped shape not only my musical appreciation, but my whole approach to discovering and pursuing music.

Both Mick and Keith were pretty open on social media that he was having some health related issues recently but that they all hoped he would be back within a year or two to be with the band again. How awful

Gutted as well. He underwent an emergency surgical procedure early this month, immediately following presumably what was the usual routine pre-tour/insurance check-up as the US tour rehearsals were about to be underway in a few weeks (apparently rehearsals started last week in Boston). The news was that he was supposed to get well, and possibly even join the Stones back on tour at some point this fall given enough resting time and recuperation (as public comments by the other Stones indicated). So this was surely an unexpected development, and the band must be devastated (rollingstones.com right now is just a memorial picture of Charlie).

Kaycee Moore, best known for Killer of Sheep, Bless Their Little Hearts and Daughters of the Dust, per Milestone Films.

The Kansas City Star has an obituary quoted in their post, but I can't find a link.

EDIT: Found it, but you need to scroll down.

"While pursuing entertainment, Moore-Jones was also involved in philanthropy joining her mother’s work toward mobilizing funding and legislation for Sickle Cell patients and their families. As a result, the Kansas City chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Association was founded in 1976. Following her mother’s inspiration, Moore-Jones presided as executive director of the chapter from 1984 to 1998."

Michael Nader.

Reggae giant and dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Ed Asner.

I had the privilege of seeing him do a live show some years ago and he was just as charming in real life as he was on screen.

That one hurts. His voice in the Superman cartoon is one of he joys of childhood. Obviously his pro-labor work is of the highest value.

hearthesilence wrote:Reggae giant and dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Holy cow, did that man cast a long shadow. Extraordinary producer

Big Ben wrote: Sun Aug 29, 2021 6:31 pm Ed Asner.

I haven't gotten too deep into it yet (and so far have conflicted feelings on the overall quality of the program), but his presence on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was great

Asner is the third MTM cast member to pass away this year, following Cloris Leachman and Gavin McLeod, leaving only Betty White.

Valerie Harper (2 years ago today) and Georgia Engel were gone in 2019.
I thought it was 2020 for both of them, but still quite a die-off cluster from that show in the past 2 years. Such a great show.

I have MTM Season 3 boxset, and I toss some of that on now and then. Always enjoyable. Though I should try to watch S1 & S2 which I haven't seen since late night reruns in the late 80's. I love when Asner tells his Lou Grant stories about his childhood or whatever. Lou & Mary's interactions are always terrific, though Lou and Ted have a great dynamic as well.

Has anyone seen the Huey Long film Asner starred in? That sounds intriguing.

He was seriously considered for the male lead in Missing, but Costa-Gavras thought he'd be too angry and belligerent for a part that he thought should be more despairing. I have no quibbles about the ultimate casting of Jack Lemmon, who was absolutely perfect, but an Ed Asner version is as intriguing an alternative-universe prospect as, say, Jaws with Sterling Hayden as Quint (also seriously considered).

Mikis Theodorakis.

Lila Gleitman, psycholinguist at 91. A Chomsky disciple and pioneer in the field of language acquisition. Argued that syntax and language acquisition were innate properties of the brain. Interesting stuff, but I've only read some Chomsky in the field.

“My work has concerned the mental lexicon and its interface with syntax, language acquisition, and the relation between language and thought,” she explained on her UPenn web page. In practical terms, this meant helping to explain how young children identify verb meanings and process sentences, why verbs are learned more slowly than nouns, and how deaf children create communications that reflect the same structure found in spoken language.

She also was responsible for inserting Fuck into Webster's Dictionary during a 70's revision.

Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Jean-Paul Belmondo.

That stings. There was always kind of breezy, nonchalance to his performances even
in his more dramatic roles that was always refreshing.

Another obit from the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/s ... es-aged-88