RIP Thread!!

  • That's brilliant! Steve really rocking out, not sure I could have imagined him playing a smoky blues bar in Tennessee somewhere but there you have it. Looks like so much fun it's a wonder they weren't tempted to just let rip more often.

    There is more in the show, I have the DVD set of gas tank.


    Steve made the ITV News at Ten in the UK last night, being interviewed about Beck's playing back in the day.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • Sad news that Tom Verlaine has died, aged 73. Guitarist, singer and founder member of Television whose remarkable debut album Marquee Moon was a huge influence on many musicians.

    Abandon all reason

  • Farewell Raquel Welch. Often lazily thought of as the beauty from One Million Years BC and Fantastic Voyage, her career was much more than that and took in a range of films as well as stage and TV work. She also fought for more recognition for women in the industry, notably winning a case against MGM for firing her from a role for, as she established, being essentially too old and in doing so made an important point about the paucity of roles for women over 40. Her determination made her unpopular, got her labelled as "difficult" and in fact she was blacklisted after the MGM case.


    She played up to this reputation in an episode of Seinfeld in which she played an irascible version of herself!


    A sad loss

    Abandon all reason

  • Farewell Raquel Welch. Often lazily thought of as the beauty from One Million Years BC and Fantastic Voyage, her career was much more than that and took in a range of films as well as stage and TV work. She also fought for more recognition for women in the industry, notably winning a case against MGM for firing her from a role for, as she established, being essentially too old and in doing so made an important point about the paucity of roles for women over 40. Her determination made her unpopular, got her labelled as "difficult" and in fact she was blacklisted after the MGM case.


    She played up to this reputation in an episode of Seinfeld in which she played an irascible version of herself!


    A sad loss

    That is sad. I knew of her name and something of her reputation but didn't know she had pioneered that push against stereotyping women. A great legacy to leave.

  • RIP Tom Sizemore, died aged 61.



    US actor Tom Sizemore, known for roles in Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down,


    Sizemore found fame in the 1990s, often playing supporting roles as tough guys - usually military, police or criminal. His other credits included Natural Born Killers, Pearl Harbor and Heat.

  • Many are upset at omissions from the Oscars 'In Memoriam' segment, which didn't mention Paul Sorvino, Tom Sizemore, Anne Heche and David Warner among others. Their website has a more comprehensive list here.

    Abandon all reason

  • Prolific drummer Jim Gordon died on Monday, March 13 at 77. He appears on many recordings that all of us have heard, and was a member of Derek & The Dominoes, followed by Traffic. His is one of the saddest stories in all of rock history. Under the influence of (then undiagnosed) schizophrenia, he brutally murdered his mother. Subsequently he spent the rest of his life in prison.


    I mainly know him from Traffic, one of my favorite bands. This now makes 7 former members of Traffic who have passed. (Steve Winwood is now the sole surviving member of the 6-man "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" lineup from 1971-72.)

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

    Edited once, last by DecomposingMan ().

  • Prolific drummer Jim Gordon died on Monday, March 13 at 77. He appears on many recordings that all of us have heard, and was a member of Derek & The Dominoes, followed by Traffic. His is one of the saddest stories in all of rock history. Under the influence of (then undiagnosed) schizophrenia, he brutally murdered his mother. Subsequently he spent the rest of his life in prison.


    I mainly know him from Traffic, one of my favorite bands. This now makes 7 former members of Traffic who have passed. (Steve Winwood is now the sole surviving member of the 6-man "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" lineup from 1971-72.)

    Let's not forget co-founding member Dave Mason is still alive, and after leaving after the first three albums, he returned to perform with Jim Gordon and others on the Welcome To The Canteen album.


    Aside from murdering his mother, the other ignoble bit of his personal history that comes to mind when I think of Jim Gordon is the piano coda to the song Layla, which he is credited for - for me, it's always been the highlight of that song, though it was later revealed that he stole the melody from a song his ex-girlfriend, Rita Coolidge was writing and had played for him.


    Regardless, he did play on a couple of albums that I would rank in the top 10 or 15 of all time.

  • Let's not forget co-founding member Dave Mason is still alive, and after leaving after the first three albums, he returned to perform with Jim Gordon and others on the Welcome To The Canteen album.

    Correct, I was referring to a specific lineup that didn't include Mason.


    And, for the record, Mason left after the first album, returned for the second, and then left again. The third album was mostly just a compilation of odds & ends where Mason appears only on two short tracks. It also had two new songs, but Mason was gone before either was recorded.

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

  • Al Jaffee, Mad Magazine cartoonist, died last week aged 102. And he was still working up to about 3 years ago!


    I devoured Mad as a kid and into adulthood and always enjoyed Al's cartoons.

    Abandon all reason

  • Farewell to fashion icon Mary Quant. She revolutionised clothes and fashion in the 50s and 60s and in her own way was as much part of Britain's cultural DNA as the Beatles.

    Abandon all reason

  • Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer songwriter. I never got into him, but I remember my parents going to see him a few times, and after the last one a few years ago they said his voice had faded badly. Reading of his death causes me to reflect on the fact that they are getting older.


    Also this week: Jerry Springer.

  • Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer songwriter. I never got into him, but I remember my parents going to see him a few times, and after the last one a few years ago they said his voice had faded badly. Reading of his death causes me to reflect on the fact that they are getting older.

    I was sorry to read about that last night. I'm a bit of a fan, particularly of his late-60s to mid-70s output. Had the pleasure of seeing him perform at the Orillia Opera House in his hometown in '93. I recall at one point Lightfoot remarking on the fact his mother was in the audience for that show.


    He beat the odds, performing for as long as he did. I think many people who attended his shows in recent years went merely for the opportunity of seeing a musical legend on stage, perhaps for one final time.


    RIP Gord. I'll be playing some of his music today in homage.