I heard about his passing yesterday. Of course, people are going to talk about
The French Connection" and "Exorcist," but hey, "To Live and Die in L.A." was a good movie too. I think it was the first action movie to do the stunt where at least one car is chasing another the wrong way on a freeway. It had great music going along with the action as well. I first saw it at a theater that had just opened with bigger screens.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
As mentioned in another thread, director William
Friedkin has died.

Astronaut Karol Bobko, age 85, died yesterday. He flew on the Shuttle three times in the 1980s.

Bob Barker died, age 99.

I thought Barker was the last of the 1960's game show hosts but we're lucky to still have Bob Eubanks. He was one of the last 70's hosts too but we still have Chuck Woolery. Barker was the last of the 50's hosts.

As a kid, I used to watch most of the game shows back in the 70's - watched a lot of TV then. I think it was in the 90's that game shows went into decline as dating shows became popular.

Wink Martindale and Peter Marshall are still hangin' in there, too.

That's good to hear. I used to watch "Hollywood Squares" all the time. It was how I knew Charlie Weaver and George Gobel. Paul Lynde was hilarious.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Wink Martindale and Peter Marshall are still hangin' in there, too.

More bad news just waking up on an early Saturday morning. Jimmy Buffet was a genius. He took a whinny voice, a sense of humor, a laid-back lifestyle and basically one hit song, and turned it into an empire. He made and sold "Margaritaville" quite literally with real estate properties, casinos, beer, video games, a record label and restaurants, among other holdings. He was a fantastic businessman.

He also did those concerts with all those Parrot Heads. A "Good Time Charlie" who people loved because they had fun listening to him play a lot of nonsense and also some very serious stuff.

I wasn't a rabid fan, but there were/are times when putting on "A1A" and "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" really nails it. Yeah I liked "Margaritaville" same as everyone else. It sticks in your head for a while every time you hear it. But it was also his songs like "A Pirate Looks at Forty" and "I Heard I Was in Town" that made Buffett a favorite of mine when in the right mood.

I will have a drink for him tonight. Rest in peace Pirate. You didn't come too late, but you should have stayed longer.

Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson at 75.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/02...-governor/index.html


Richardson was elected to Congress from New Mexico in 1983 when I lived there as a kid, but I'd well moved along by the time he was elected governor in 2002.

Yeah, it was tough hearing on the news of his passing. He was a hero to a couple of generations of urban commuters who dreamed of trading the 9-5 workday life for a clockless shack on a beach somewhere and if an "easy rock" radio station could play just 20 different songs, "Margaritaville" would be one them. It's one of the classic sing-alongs of all time.

Years ago, I was about to head for a bookstore to get something to read on my plane ride home and a friend gave me a copy of a novel that Buffett wrote, "Where is Joe Merchant?" It was good. Check it out.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:

Earlier today, I learned that keyboardist, Gary Wright, passed away on Monday. He had a couple of hits from his "Dream Weaver" album in 1975: "Love is Alive," and its better-remembered title track. I always thought "Love is Alive" was more catchy: Doo-doo, Doo-doo, Da-Doo, then that synthesizer effect that sounds like it might have started from a harmonica. He did that "Dream Weaver" album almost all on keyboard using various synthesizers of the time which was unusual for the time.

Author Martin Amis passed away earlier this year (May 19). These are three (#94, 444, 645) from the "Booksmith Author Trading Cards" series.