RIP Thread!!

At the risk of reverting to my former self, I know how loved TITTL (as we used to call it) is and I know how people felt nobody could sing it like Meisner. Of course Glenn Frey (who in all fairness wrote the song's music) sang it himself for years. The least said about what the song has been reduced to now along with many others, the better. My own feelings about it are mixed. Like every other Eagles song except for a very small handful which remain sacrosanct to me, I heard it far, far too often, but that shouldn't detract from Meisner's performance of it.

A Facebook friend of mine who also loves Genesis is particularly fond of Take The Devil, which is another hidden gem.

I appreciate that TITTL (never knew that acronym) is overplayed and tends to overshadow his other work. There's plenty of other stuff to appreciate on the early albums, where he usually gets a few lead vocals. Take the Devil is a good example.

Julian Sands has been a bit overlooked, possibly due to the drawn-out nature of the story of his death. A keen mountaineer, in January he went to Mt San Antonio in California and wasn't seen again. His remains were discovered in June.

Early in his acting career he looked set to go down the period-drama good-looking English 'heart-throb' route but he was uneasy with this and instead took interesting off-piste choices that weren't moneyspinners but kept him artistically interested. I respect that approach and like what I've seen of his work.

Have just heard that the great Robbie Robertson, lead guitarist & songwriter of The Band, has passed away at the age of 80.

Of all the recent losses (and there have been way too many) this is one that hurt me the most.

I've loved The Band for 40 years. And Robbie's first solo album from the 80s is a classic.

He seemed to be like one of the giant sandstone buttes in Monument Valley. He seemed to have been here forever, and I assumed he always would be.

Genuinely sad and upset today.

Sad news that Doreen Mantle has left us, best known for her brilliant work as Mrs Warboys in One Foot In The Grave but also had a long, rich and varied career in film and on stage as well as many other tv shows.

Also farewell to actor Frederic Forrest, a very striking screen presence and sometimes worked with Francis Coppola including Apocalypse Now and The Conversation.

I also want to acknowledge Robbie Robertson's passing. The Band have been one of my favourite artists for decades and I regret never seeing them perform as they were at their best live. Robbie was a great songwriter and a guitarist who played from the gut. I got to meet him briefly many years ago and we had a brief chat and he signed my copy of his first solo CD.

In his memory, here is one example of great songwriting and one example of great playing:

I listened to Arcadian Driftwood last night. It's one of my favourites, and I got quite emotional.

If there is a list of "hugely influential bands who influence extends way beyond their fame", The Band are in that conversation for sure.

ps I also listened to Dont Do It in the same session. It's immense.

Bernie Marsden passed away a couple of days ago.

I have just found out that Jack Sonni, who was with Dire Straits on the Brothers In Arms tour and at Live Aid, has died. I don't know the cause. I preferred his predecessor Hal Lindes, who is in the Alchemy video, but this is sad news.

Not that I've ever been a particular fan of either of these, but:

Jimmy Buffett (Sept. 1, age 76)

Gary Wright (Sept 4, age 80)

Quote from DecomposingMan

Gary Wright (Sept 4, age 80)

A couple of articles I read today about Gary's passing highlighted his solo career, his two hit singles, and his guest appearances on George Harrison's albums, but made no mention of his being the co-founder and co-lead singer in Spooky Tooth, which by far was the high point of his career for me.

Gayle Hunnicut, actor from Texas. Early in her career when she realised she was being groomed by Hollywood based on her looks, she moved to England where she enjoyed a broader range of screen work and particularly lots of theatre. She reportedly turned down the Bond girl role in Live & Let Die, Roger Moore's first 007 film, due to a theatre commitment in Surrey. She generally avoided the more cliched roles but did briefly return to the US to appear in Dallas as an ex-girlfriend of villain JR Ewing.

Sad to learn of the death of Geoffrey Davies, the suave Dick Stuart-Clark in the various versions of the 'Doctor' sitcom - Doctor In The House, Doctor On The Go, etc which those of us of a certain vintage will remember. Those series occupied most of the 70s for him and he's understandably well-remembered for them but he had an active career either side of that, mainly on TV and on stage.

Quote from Backdrifter

Sad to learn of the death of Geoffrey Davies, the suave Dick Stuart-Clark in the various versions of the 'Doctor' sitcom - Doctor In The House, Doctor On The Go, etc which those of us of a certain vintage will remember. Those series occupied most of the 70s for him and he's understandably well-remembered for them but he had an active career either side of that, mainly on TV and on stage.

Hadn't seen Doctor In The House or any of the other Doctor series on TV in decades (it aired here on public television in the 1970s and '80s) but I revisited several episodes of the first series on YouTube a few months ago. I don't recall seeing Davies in anything outside of the Doctor series but he was certainly memorable to me as both he and Ernest Clark played my favourite characters.

I'm sorry to learn of his passing.

Quote from Witchwood

Hadn't seen Doctor In The House or any of the other Doctor series on TV in decades (it aired here on public television in the 1970s and '80s) but I revisited several episodes of the first series on YouTube a few months ago.

On a tangent: as you may know, early 70s the Python team were on location and stayed in a hotel where Cleese was mesmerised by the manager's rudeness and apparent universal dislike for the residents. He turned this experience into one of the Doctor episodes in its early days when he and Graham Chapman were writers on the show - the TV company drawing on Chapman's experience as a qualified doctor. Cleese wrote the hotel episode solo, I think it might be called No Ill Feeling and it's on youtube. It's essentially the blueprint for Fawlty Towers. Sadly it isn't very good.

Very saddened by the death of Michael Gambon. Obviously well-known for his film and TV work - I'm particularly a fan of The Singing Detective, one of my top 3 favourite tv shows - but I had the privilege of seeing a fair bit of his brilliant stage work. I saw him in the original Royal Court run of Caryl Churchill's creepy play A Number, during which he did a stunning piece of unscripted business I've never forgotten. I also saw him in two Beckett plays, Eh Joe in which his character says nothing throughout the play, and Endgame in which he was seated for the entire production, which sounds a bit "so what" but it's actually quite a feat for an actor. Both parts require very particular minimalist skill.

I had the pleasure of meeting him at a National Theatre event. He was great value at these and did a few of them. He was very funny in a deadpan way and sometimes had me in hysterics. The night after I saw him in the play where he was seated the whole time, he talked about the discipline of acting that role and said he got so tense during the performance he sprained an ankle. While seated. I never knew if he was serious.

I saw Michael Gambon in Brecht's Life of Galileo at the National Theatre in 1980. RIP.

Roger Whitaker died recently. OK not exactly in line with probably most of our tastes here, but he was one of those performers who seemed to be embedded in the world of entertainment when I was growing up. At that time he was possibly best known for his hit single Durham Town, a pleasant tune - although it was geographically skewed in placing Durham on the Tyne. He was also a phenomenal whistler. That sounds an odd accolade, and with a few exceptions I'm usually irritated by whistling in songs, but my word this guy could whistle so skilfully and dextrously it was quite something.

Quote from Backdrifter

Roger Whitaker died recently. OK not exactly in line with probably most of our tastes here, but he was one of those performers who seemed to be embedded in the world of entertainment when I was growing up. At that time he was possibly best known for his hit single Durham Town, a pleasant tune - although it was geographically skewed in placing Durham on the Tyne. He was also a phenomenal whistler. That sounds an odd accolade, and with a few exceptions I'm usually irritated by whistling in songs, but my word this guy could whistle so skilfully and dextrously it was quite something.

On behalf of my Geordie husband...

The one I remember is The Last Farewell.