Hey Joe

R.I.P. – Soupy Sales

        

Soupy Sales

1926 – 2009

He's dead. What else can I say, other than it was a smart move changing his name from Milton Supman to Soupy Sales.

R.I.P. – Captain Lou Albano

Louis Vincent Albano

1933 – 2009

 

Pro wrestler and music video icon, (I stole that from the headline) Captain Lou Albano died today of natural causes.

Not sure what "natural causes" means exactly. Wouldn't any non-accidental death be considered a natural cause?

Albano gained world-wide fame as Cyndi Lauper's father in the 1983 "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" music video. Back when MTV actually played music videos, this one was in ultra heavy rotation.

Apropos of his death, Albano and I share a birthday, July 29. And here I thought the only "famous" people who shared my birthday were Melvin Belli , Peter Jennings and the Black Dahlia. But enough about me.

So anyway, Albano is dead. What more do you want to know?

R.I.P. - Al Martino

Al Martino

1927 – 2009

Time has silenced The Voice of Johnny Fontane.

Singer/actor Al Martino, died yesterday at the age of 82. A legendary singer in his own right, Martino is probably best remembered as the godson to Marlon Brando's Godfather in the 1972 classic. Martino played singer Johnny Fontane whose character was loosely based on Frank Sinatra.

 

Charitable contribution

Dick Hoover

1930 - 2009

OK, this is sort of a charitable celebrity death contribution, not only because I don't know who the hell he was (not that my personal knowledge of their existence is a prerequisite for inclusion), but because it's arguable as to whether or not he rates inclusion. I mean no disrespect but really, how many of us have heard of this guy? There are so called celebrities dying every day that I don't cover because their celebrity status is debatable.

Let's be reasonable. This month the slab has seen Indian actress Mrs. S. Varalakshmi, Greek handball coach, Yiannis Dimitropoulos, and American pianist, Arthur Ferrante just to name a few. Heard of them? I didn't think so. If I included every so called celebrity when would you have time to read about my sore foot and other important happenings in my life?

OK, granted, there's a good chance that most of you never heard of Gale Storm, Mickey Carroll, or Bob May, among others, but at least Gale was hot, Mickey was a midget, and Bob was a robot. Again no disrespect, but this guy was a bowler. Gross.

Anyway, he died, and my entire point for including him as a quasi-celebrity was simply to say this:

With a name like that he should have gone into gay porn instead of bowling.

Thank you – Good Night!

R.I.P. – Mary Travers

Mary Travers

1936 – 2009

The sweet, angelic voice of one-third of the 1960's folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary, has been silenced.

Mary Travers, the feminine third of PP&M, passed away yesterday from complications arising from chemotherapy. Travers was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005.

PP&M were part of the early 1960's folk music movement, remembered for such hits as "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" "If I Had a Hammer," and "Blowin' in the Wind."

R.I.P. – Jim Carroll

Jim Carroll

1949 – 2009

Jim Carroll died of a heart attack at his Manhattan home on Friday September 11. Author, musician, poet, and punk, Carroll played them all and he played them well.

Like most of us, I was introduced to Carroll through The Basketball Diaries, his classic 1978 memoir which chronicled his spotted youth growing up in NYC, his Catholic school experiences, his success on the court and his decent into heroin addiction and prostitution. The spine of this fascinating autobiography is visible on my bookshelf as I write, and somewhere buried amongst my books you'll find its sequel, Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries.

During the late 70's and early 80's, Carroll performed with punk/new wave group, The Jim Carroll band, collaborating with various artists including Lou Reed, Boz Scaggs and Pearl Jam. The 1990's saw Carroll's return to writing and his emergence as a spoken word artist, often performing with Ray Manzarek.

Carroll's first novel, (current working title, The Petting Zoo), hopefully will be published soon. (And added to my wish list) According to his website: "The story takes place in the 1980s. The protagonist of the novel is a young painter (working name: "Billy Wolfram") who suffers an existential crisis after viewing an important art exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan."

Godspeed Catholic Boy.

R.I. P.atrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

1952 – 2009

More than a year after the news broke that actor Patrick Swayze had pancreatic cancer, he has gone to that great roadhouse in the sky, succumbing to the disease today in Los Angeles, CA.

Probably best known for Dirty Dancing and Ghost, though my favorite Swayze movies would have to be Road House and Point Break; two movies that, while heavy on the corn, still provided plenty of kicks. Oh, and of course the Chippendales bit from SNL.

The curse continues.

Godspeed Bodhi.

R.I.P. Ted Kennedy

Edward "Ted" Kennedy

1932 – 2009

The Lion roars no more.

Last night, the last of the Kennedy brothers passed away after a year-long battle with brain cancer, leaving Jean Kennedy Smith as the only living child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, the closest thing to a royal family America has known.

Dogged by the family curse, Kennedy never realized his dream of becoming president, but his 77 years allowed him ample time to make his mark, both in Congress and this world. He was far from perfect, but he never stopped trying.

A few from the freezer

My apologies internet for not keeping up with the corpse count, but then your checks have been bouncing so I guess we're even.

So, who do we have here in the old walk-in…let's see. Oh, well there's Larry Knechtel – session musician and one of the Bread pussies.

Larry Knechtel

1940 - 2009

I know, I've never heard of him either, but he was big, played with everyone from The Doors and The Byrds, to Simon & Garfunkel and Elvis – both Presley and Costello. A few notables on which he participated would be the piano on Bridge over Troubled Water and bass guitar on the Byrd's version of Mr. Tambourine Man, infinitely superior to Bob Dylan's because, well Bob can't sing. Oh sit down, I recognize his abilities, but he sounds like a f*cking frog.

Anyway, Knechtel died of a heart attack on August 20.

Don Hewitt

1922 - 2009

Then we have television news producer Don Hewitt of 60 Minutes fame, in that he created it. He did other stuff too, like direct the first ever televised presidential debate, the one between Nixon and Kennedy, and a bunch of other junk for CBS News.

He succumbed to the pancreatic cancer on August 19.

Who else, who else? Well I guess we should mention Ryan Jenkins and Jasmine Fiore, though I could hardly give two-shits.

 

Jasmine Fiore                                            Ryan Jenkins

1981 – 2009                                               1977 - 2009    

Well that's not entirely true, I can't say that I don't care about her, being the victim and all. But WTF is up with her face? Swimsuit model? She must have had a killer body because that face is just wrong. And him? F*ck him, mutilating that poor girl like he did. Plus he was lame enough to appear on Megan Wants a Millionaire. Loser. Now, dead loser and good riddance.

I guess we'll leave it at that. There was the Bulgarian Prime Minister, and the former bassist for Magic Dirt, but really, do we need to go into all of that?

R.I.P. – Les Paul

Les Paul

1915 – 2009

 

Solid-body guitar inventor/pioneer, Lester Polfuss, known to the world as Les Paul, died today of pneumonia at the age of 94.

Paul was instrumental in the invention of the first solid body electric guitars, which has been a staple in every rock band since the 1950's. Everyone from Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix to Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) and The Edge (U2) use, or have used Les Paul guitars during their careers.

And yes, I know he was Godfather to Steve Miller.