Literotica Cemetary

[Moi]

Scott Muni

NEW YORK - Disc jockey Scott Muni, the gravelly-voiced radio host whose encyclopedic knowledge of rock 'n' roll made him "The Professor" to three generations of New York listeners, has died at 74.



Muni, who spent nearly 50 years on air in the nation's No. 1 radio market, died Tuesday. he had suffered a stroke earlier this year. But the cause of his death was not immediately known, said Josefa Paganuzzi, spokeswoman for Clear Channel New York.


Muni's last gig was an hour-long afternoon show on New York classic rock station Q104.3, where he landed in 1998. He also hosted many nationally syndicated programs during his career, including "Scott Muni's World of Rock" and the Beatles-oriented "Ticket to Ride."


He was included in an exhibit on radio personalities at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.


Muni's voice was instantly recognizable, a low rumble announcing the latest tunes from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen to Pearl Jam.


As the program director at WNEW-FM, he was one of the leading acolytes of the freeform radio movement and became a major influence on the next wave of DJs.


Known to his listeners as "The Professor" or "Scottso," Muni was renowned for his interviews with artists such as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Pete Townsend and Springsteen.


In one of his more memorable encounters, Muni was speaking with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page when the musician suddenly collapsed to the floor in mid-sentence, wiped out by days of partying. The unflappable Muni simply put on a record, woke Page up, and conducted the rest of the interview with the guitarist lying on the studio floor.


Muni was a die-hard fan of Bob Dylan and the Beatles; after the 1980 murder of John Lennon, the DJ began opening his shows with a Beatles song.


"I did it all," Muni once said when asked about the one thing he wanted to do before dying. "Some I did more than once."


Muni was born in Wichita, Kan., and raised in New Orleans. His broadcasting career started in the Marines. He could be heard on Radio Guam reading "Dear John" letters sent to his fellow servicemen.


Back in the United States, he replaced Alan Freed in Akron, Ohio, before arriving in New York City in the late '50s as one of WMCA-AM's "Good Guys," serving up Top 40 fare. He switched to rival WABC-AM in 1960, and was there during the height of Beatlemania.


But it was when he switched over to the new world of FM that Muni found his perfect place on the radio dial. He arrived at WNEW in 1967, helping create one of the nation's first and longest-lasting alternative stations.


In addition to his radio work, Muni asked, "How do you spell relief?" in a Rolaids commercial. He also did promotional announcements for ABC's "Monday Night Football."


There was no immediate word on a memorial service, but Clear Channel-owned Q104.3 planned a weekend-long tribute to Muni featuring the music of the Beatles. He is survived by his second wife and five children.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former NFL Player Dies in Fiery Crash on Thruway

HERKIMER, N.Y. (AP) - Justin Strzelczyk, a former player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, died last Thursday in a fiery head-on collision with a tanker truck after he led state troopers on a 40-mile highway chase during morning rush hour.

State police identified Strzelczyk , 36, an offensive lineman with the Steelers for nearly a decade until the team released him in February 2000.

Troopers said Strzelczyk crashed his pickup truck into the westbound tanker carrying corrosive acid just moments after swerving around a tractor-trailer that pulled across the highway to block the eastbound lanes. Strzelczyk drove 15 miles on three tires and a rim after one of his pickup's tires was punctured by metal spikes thrown into the road by troopers.

Strzelczyk, who lived in McCandless, Pa., near Pittsburgh, had been involved in another minor accident about an hour earlier just west of Syracuse, which started the bizarre turn of events, Simpson said.

The hit-and-run occurred about 7:20 a.m. and state police put out an alert for Strzelczyk's pickup. Troopers spotted him about 40 minutes later still heading east on the Thruway.

A second unit tried to stop the pickup by booby-trapping the road with the "stop sticks," but Strzelczyk just kept on going. The pickup was clocked at 88 mph, Simpson said.

"He was going down the road, flipping off the troopers. He even threw a beer bottle at them," Simpson said.

A trucker saw the chase and pulled his rig across the road. Instead of stopping, the pickup drove across the grass median into the westbound lanes and traveled about three miles in the wrong direction before the deadly crash.

The collision with the tanker occurred at about 8:15 a.m. while the highway was busy with morning commuters and travelers. The driver of the tanker suffered only minor injuries. No one else was hurt.

The 6-foot-3, 309-pound Strzelczyk, who grew up in a suburb of Buffalo, was an 11th-round pick in the 1990 draft out of Maine. He spent nine years with the Steelers and played in the 1995 Super Bowl.

Strzelczyk was one of the team's most durable players before a knee injury against Kansas City in October 1998 required season-ending surgery. He reinjured the knee preparing for training camp the next season and needed another operation that kept him on injured reserve for the 1999 season.

In his first eight seasons with Steelers, Strzelczyk missed just two games, both in 1997. Over his nine-season career with Pittsburgh, he played in 137 games and started 75.

Nine months after his release by the Steelers, Strzelczyk was arraigned for illegal possession of a gun. Police said he slammed a loaded handgun onto a bar in Pittsburgh when discussing the presidential election with a friend.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

"It's Raining Men"

Disco Diva Izora Armstead Dies

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Izora Rhodes Armstead, one-half of disco/pop acts the Weather Girls and Two Tons O' Fun, died Thursday (Sept. 16) at San Leandro Hospital, near Oakland, Calif.

The cause was heart failure. Her age is not known.

Armstead began her career as a backup singer for disco artist Sylvester, along with her future music partner Martha Wash. They lent vocals to four Sylvester albums, including the 1978 Fantasy Records set "Step II," which spawned two No. 1 Billboard club hits: "Dance (Disco Heat)" and "(You Make Me Feel) Mighty Real." The former was also a top-20 hit on the Hot 100, while the latter reached the top 40.

In 1979, Armstead and Wash left Sylvester to record as Two Tons O' Fun. Honey/Fantasy released two albums by the duo, "Two Tons O' Fun" (1980) and "Backatcha." The pair's debut included such now-classic dancefloor hits as "I Got the Feeling," "Just Us," "Do You Wanna Boogie, Hunh?" and "Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven."

In the early '80s, without a label to call home, Armstead and Wash regrouped as the Weather Girls and signed with Columbia Records.

The duo scored a global smash with "It's Raining Men," which spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1982. A follow-up single, "No One Can Love You More Than Me," was an underground club hit. After three albums, the Weather Girls were dropped by Columbia, and Armstead and Wash, while remaining friends, went their separate musical ways.

Armstead moved to Frankfurt, Germany, 15 years ago. It was there that she formed a new version of the Weather Girls with her daughter Dynell Rhodes. In addition to nonstop touring, the mother/daughter act recorded a handful of albums for WEA Germany, including "Double Tons of Fun" in 1994.

Last month, Armstead returned to the Bay Area to undergo treatment for heart-related problems. She is survived by a sister, Laversa, seven children and several grandchildren.

 

[ms_ktygirl]

Actress Janet Leigh Dies at 77

LOS ANGELES - Janet Leigh, the wholesome beauty whose shocking murder in the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Psycho" was credited with making generations of film fans think twice about stepping into a motel room shower, has died. She was 77.

The actress' husband, Robert Brandt, and her daughters, actresses Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis (news), were at their mother's side when she died Sunday at her Beverly Hills home, said Heidi Schaeffer, a spokeswoman for Jamie Lee Curtis.

"She died peacefully at home," Schaeffer told The Associated Press on Monday.

Leigh had suffered from vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, for the past year.

The stunning blonde enjoyed a long and distinguished career, appearing in such films as the 1962 political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" and in Orson Welles' 1958 film noir classic "Touch of Evil."

But she gained her most lasting fame in "Psycho" as the embezzling office worker who is stabbed to death in the shower by cross-dressing madman Anthony Perkins. The role earned her an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

Hitchcock compiled the shower sequence in 70-odd takes of two and three seconds each, for which Leigh spent seven days in the shower. Rumors circulated that she was nude, but she wore a flesh-colored moleskin.

Although tame by today's standards, the scene was shocking for the time for its brutality.

Leigh wrote in her 1995 book "Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller" that the filming was easy until the last 20 seconds when she had to express total horror as her character was being slashed to death.

She often said she hadn't been able to take a shower since the movie. "It's not a hype, not something I thought would be good for publicity," she insisted. "Honest to gosh, it's true."

Leigh's entry into films occurred in cliche fashion. Born Jeanette Helen Morrison in Merced, Calif., on July 6, 1927, she was a college student when retired star Norma Shearer saw her photograph at a ski resort. Shearer recommended the teenager to talent agent Lew Wasserman, who negotiated a contract at MGM for $50 a week.

Dubbed Janet Leigh, she starred in 1947 at 19 in her first movie, "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" opposite Van Johnson. Her salary rose to $150 a week. She became one of the busiest stars at MGM, appearing in six movies in 1949.

Among her films: "Act of Violence" (with Van Heflin), "Little Women," "Holiday Affair" (Robert Mitchum), "Strictly Dishonorable" (Ezio Pinza), "The Naked Spur" (James Stewart), "Living It Up" (Martin and Lewis), "Jet Pilot" (John Wayne), "Bye Bye Birdie" (Dick Van Dyke), "Safari" (Victor Mature).

Leigh had been married twice before coming to Hollywood: to John K. Carlyle, 1942, annulled; and Stanley Reames, 1946-1948, divorced. In 1951 she married Tony Curtis (news) when their stardoms were at a peak. Both their studios, MGM and Universal, expressed concerns that their immense popularity with teenagers would be hindered if they were married.

Aided by a splurge of fan magazine publicity, their appeal rose. They appeared in four films together, including "Houdini" and "The Vikings." The "ideal couple" divorced in 1963. In her 1984 autobiography, "There Really Was a Hollywood," she refrained from criticizing Curtis.

"Tony and I had a wonderful time together; it was an exciting, glamorous period in Hollywood," she said in an interview. "A lot of great things happened, most of all, two beautiful children (Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis)." Leigh's 1964 marriage to businessman Brandt was longer lasting.

Leigh appeared with Jamie Lee in the 1980 thriller "The Fog" and made occasional television appearances in her later years.

"Touch of Evil" was "a great experience," she said in 1984, but she was disappointed with the end result: "Universal just couldn't understand it, so they recut it. Gone was the undisciplined but brilliant film Orson had made."

She wrote in her autobiography that "The Manchurian Candidate" was "a dynamite film," though she had worried about working with Frank Sinatra: "I had heard that Frank was known for unconventional work habits, and I was apprehensive, especially in view of our friendship. I needn't have been. My experience with him revealed his absolute professionalism."

 

[Ladyhawke]

Gordon Cooper, NASA Mercury Pioneer, Dies


LOS ANGELES - Gordon Cooper, the last astronaut to take flight during NASA's pioneering Mercury program, has died. He was 77.

Cooper, known as "Gordo" to his friends and colleagues, died Monday at his Ventura home of natural causes. He had been suffering from heart problems and showed symptoms of heart failure over the weekend, former Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra said.


Cooper was the youngest and perhaps cockiest member of the original seven Mercury astronauts. He achieved many key firsts as he piloted Faith 7 capsule in May of 1963.


As he circled the globe 22 times in 34 hours and 20 minutes, Cooper became the first astronaut in a space flight of more than 24 hours. He was also the first astronaut to sleep in space, and he successfully carried out a beacon experiment that made him the first man to launch a satellite in space.


"We were probably the most bonded seven men in the history of aviation and space and mankind, and to lose another one is pretty tough for us," Schirra told Associated Press Radio.


As one of the nation's first astronauts, Cooper became a hero to a generation of Americans in the early 1960s as the country tried to catch the Soviet Union in the space race.


"He truly portrayed the right stuff, and he helped gain the backing and enthusiasm of the American public, so critical for the spirit of exploration," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said.


Cooper, who took a nap in the capsule while waiting for Faith 7 to launch, was the last astronaut to orbit Earth alone.


A serious glitch materialized in Faith 7's final orbits when a short-circuit left its automatic stabilization and control system without electric power. With carbon dioxide levels rising in both Cooper's suit and the cabin, he issued the classic understatement, "Things are beginning to stack up a little." He then radioed that he would pursue a manual re-entry.


Fellow Mercury program astronaut John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth, recalled that Cooper's onboard clock also was not working properly. Cooper relied on Glenn's voice for a manual countdown for the timing of firing rockets that would ensure landing in the right spot.


"He followed my count and hit the button on 'zero.' It worked; he got back," said Glenn, a former U.S. Senator.


Cooper became the first man to make a second orbital flight two years later during the Gemini 5 mission, when he and Charles Conrad established a space endurance record by traveling more than 3.3 million miles in 190 hours, 56 minutes.


The flight proved humans could survive in a weightless state for the length of a trip to the moon and tested a new power source for future flights — fuel cells. It also let the United States take the lead in the space race by surpassing the Soviet Union in man-hours in orbit.


Cooper's rambunctious attitude was immortalized in Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff" and the 1983 movie of the same name.


Cooper gave his signature line during a 1995 reunion of surviving Mercury astronauts. When asked who was the greatest fighter pilot he ever saw, Cooper enthusiastically answered, "You're looking at him!"


But Schirra said Cooper was not as rowdy as actor Dennis Quaid portrayed him in the movie.


"He's much less emotional and much less flyboy stuff," Schirra said. "He was a nice, steady engineer. He was more of an engineer than a test pilot, actually."





The death of Cooper came the day that privately built SpaceShipOne broke through the Earth's atmosphere for the second time in five days, capturing a $10 million prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists.

Three of the original Mercury astronauts are still alive — Scott Carpenter, Glenn and Schirra.

Virgil "Gus" Grissom died in the 1967 Apollo 1 fire; Donald K. "Deke" Slayton died of brain cancer in 1993; and Alan Shepard Jr., died of leukemia in 1998.

Cooper, born March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Okla., joined the Marines during World War II and transferred to the Air Force in 1949. He earned a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956.

He then flew numerous flights as a test pilot in the Flight Test Division at Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles. Cooper was selected as a Mercury astronaut in April 1959.

In a May 1963 ceremony at the White House, President John F. Kennedy presented Cooper with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

Cooper also authored the 2000 book "Leap of Faith," in which he discussed NASA's early days, his experiences on the Mercury and Gemini missions and his belief in extraterrestrial intelligence. Cooper in the book said that as an Air Force pilot in 1951 that he chased UFOs while based in Germany.

Cooper is survived by his wife, Suzan, and their children.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Famed Celeb Photographer Richard Avedon Dies

NEW YORK -- A man who redefined fashion photography as an art form -- Richard Avedon -- has died.

Avedon was 81. He suffered a brain hemorrhage last month while on assignment in Texas for The New Yorker.

He won critical acclaim through his stark black-and-white photos of the powerful and the celebrated.

His sensuous fashion work helped create the era of supermodels like Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. But in his portrait work, he became known for unsparing and sometimes unflattering shots.

His subjects over the years included the likes of Marilyn Monroe, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Andy Warhol and the Beatles.

Over the past year, Avedon shot for the New Yorker portraits of such politicians as Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Hilary Clinton, and celebrities like Michael Moore, Charlize Theron, Kevin Kline and Christopher Reeve.

 

[ms_ktygirl]

Comic Rodney Dangerfield Dies at Age 82

LOS ANGELES - Rodney Dangerfield (news), the bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating one-liners brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies and made his lament "I don't get no respect" a catchphrase, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Dangerfield, who fell into a coma after undergoing heart surgery, died at 1:20 p.m., said publicist Kevin Sasaki. Dangerfield had a heart valve replaced Aug. 25 at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center.

Sasaki said in a statement that Dangerfield suffered a small stroke after the operation and developed infectious and abdominal complications. But in the past week he had emerged from the coma, the publicist said.

"When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand and smiled for his doctors," Dangerfield's wife, Joan, said in the statement. The comic is also survived by two children from a previous marriage.

As a comic, Dangerfield — clad in a black suit, red tie and white shirt with collar that seemed too tight — convulsed audiences with lines such as: "When I was born, I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my mother"; "When I started in show business, I played one club that was so far out my act was reviewed in Field and Stream"; and "Every time I get in an elevator, the operator says the same thing to me: `Basement?'"

In a 1986 interview, he explained the origin of his "respect" trademark:

"I had this joke: `I played hide and seek; they wouldn't even look for me.' To make it work better, you look for something to put in front of it: I was so poor, I was so dumb, so this, so that. I thought, `Now what fits that joke?' Well, `No one liked me' was all right. But then I thought, a more profound thing would be, `I get no respect.'"

He tried it at a New York club, and the joke drew a bigger response than ever. He kept the phrase in the act, and it seemed to establish a bond with his audience. After hearing him perform years later, Jack Benny remarked: "Me, I get laughs because I'm cheap and 39. Your image goes into the soul of everyone."

Flowers were placed on his star on Hollywood Boulevard after word of his death, and the marquee of The Improv, a comedy club where Dangerfield often performed, read "Rest In Peace Rodney."

"When you saw Rodney on 'The Tonight Show' sitting on the couch with Johnny Carson, you didn't want it to go to commercial," comic Bernie Mac said in a statement. "He always left you wanting more and I'm going to miss him."

Dangerfield had a strange career in show business. At 19 he started as a standup comedian. He made only a fair living, traveling a great deal and appearing in rundown joints. Married at 27, he decided he couldn't support a family on his meager earnings.

He returned to comedy at 42 and began to attract notice. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan show seven times and on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson more than 70 times.

After his first major film role in "Caddyshack," he began starring in his own movies.

He was born Jacob Cohen on Nov. 22, 1921, on New York's Long Island. Growing up in the borough of Queens, his mother was uncaring and his father was absent. As Philip Roy, the father and his brother toured in vaudeville as a pantomime comedy-juggling act, Roy and Arthur. Young Jacob's parents divorced, and the mother struggled to support her daughter and son.

The boy helped bring in money by selling ice cream at the beach and working for a grocery store. "I found myself going to school with kids and then in the afternoon I'd be delivering groceries to their back door," he recalled. "I ended up feeling inferior to everybody."

He ingratiated himself to his schoolmates by being funny; at 15 he was writing down jokes and storing them in a duffel bag. When he was 19, he adopted the name Jack Roy and tried out the jokes at a resort in the Catskills, training ground for Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Red Button, Sid Caesar and other comedians. The job paid $12 a week plus room and meals.

In New York, he drove a laundry and fish truck, taking time off to hunt for work as a comedian. The jobs came slowly, but in time he was averaging $300 a week.

He married Joyce Indig, a singer he met at a New York club. Both had wearied of the uncertainty of a performer's life.

"We wanted to lead a normal life," he remarked in a 1986 interview. "I wanted a house and a picket fence and kids, and the heck with show business. Love is more important, you see. When the show is over, you're alone."

The couple settled in Englewood, N.J., had two children, Brian and Melanie, and he worked selling paint and siding. But the idyllic suburban life soured as the pair battled. The couple divorced in 1962, remarried a year later and again divorced.

In 1993, Dangerfield married Joan Child, a flower importer.

At age 42, he returned to show business as Jack Roy. He remembered in 1986:

"It was like a need. I had to work. I had to tell jokes. I had to write them and tell them. It was like a fix. I had the habit."

Even during his domestic years, he continued filling the duffel bag with jokes. He didn't want to break in his new act with any notice, so he asked the owner of New York's Inwood Lounge, George McFadden, not to bill him as Jack Roy. McFadden came up with the absurd name Rodney Dangerfield. It stuck.

Dangerfield's bookings improved, and he landed television gigs. After his ex-wife died, he took over the responsibility of raising his two children. He decided to quit touring and open a New York nightclub, Dangerfield's, so he could stay close to home. A beer commercial and the Carson shows brought him national attention.

His film debut came in 1971 with "The Projectionist," which he described as "the kind of a movie that you went to the location on the subway." He did better in 1980 with "Caddyshack," in which he held his own with such comics as Chevy Chase, Ted Knight and Bill Murray.

Despite his good reviews, Dangerfield claimed he didn't like movies or TV series: "Too much waiting around, too much memorizing; I need that immediate feedback of people laughing."

Still, he continued starring in and sometimes writing films such as "Easy Money," "Back to School," "Moving," "The Scout," "Ladybugs" and "Meet Wally Sparks." He turned dramatic as a sadistic father in Oliver Stone's 1994 "Natural Born Killers."

In 1995, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected Dangerfield's application for membership. A letter from Roddy McDowall of the actors branch explained that the comedian had failed to execute "enough of the kinds of roles that allow a performer to demonstrate the mastery of his craft."

The ultimate rejection, and Dangerfield played it to the hilt. He had established his own Web site ("I went out and bought an Apple Computer; it had a worm in it"), and his fans used it to express their indignation. The public reaction prompted the academy to reverse itself and offer membership. Dangerfield declined.

"They don't even apologize or nothing," he said. "They give no respect at all — pardon the pun — to comedy."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Astrologer Joyce Jillson Dies at Age 58

Oct 5, 9:38 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Joyce Jillson, author of a nationally syndicated astrology column who divined the stars on behalf of the Reagan administration and a Hollywood movie studio, has died. She was 58.

Jillson died Friday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center of kidney failure, her former husband, Joseph Gallagher, said Tuesday.

Her daily astrology column appeared in nearly 200 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News.

As the official astrologer for 20th Century Fox Studios, Jillson consulted on the best opening days for Fox movies. She picked the opening date for 1977's "Star Wars" - the second-highest grossing movie of all time.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Jillson made numerous appearances on television and radio shows. Along with Hollywood clients, Jillson also made astrological forecasts for Ford Motor Co. (F) and the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of her duties at KABC Radio.

In 1988, Jillson was linked to the Reagan White House after former chief of staff Donald T. Regan wrote in a book that Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers.

Jillson contended she advised Reagan campaign aides to select George H.W. Bush as Reagan's running mate in 1980. Jillson also said she "spent a lot of time" at the White House after the March 1981 assassination attempt on the president.

Born and raised in Cranston, R.I., Jillson attended Boston University on an opera scholarship and later moved to New York to begin a stage career.

She won an award as outstanding Broadway newcomer and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a TV career.

She married Gallagher in 1969 and they divorced in 1981.

"She had a complex and very intellectual approach to astrology," he said.

Holiday Mathis, who had been Jillson's apprentice and editor since 1991, had been co-writing the astrology column the past few months, Creators Syndicate said in a statement.

Joyce and Holiday wrote in advance and the columns they prepared will run through Nov. 6. Starting Nov. 7, the horoscopes will be renamed "Horoscopes by Holiday," but their format will remain the same.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ex-Blue Jay John Cerutti dies

CBC SPORTS ONLINE - John Cerutti, a former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher and baseball broadcaster, was found dead in a Toronto hotel room on Sunday. He was 44 years old.

Cerutti is believed to have died of natural causes and foul play is not suspected, the Blue Jays said in a statement.

Cerutti failed to show up for an 11 a.m. ET production meeting Sunday to prepare for the final Blue Jays broadcast of the season on Rogers Sportsnet.

Police and emergency medical workers later found him dead in his hotel room at SkyDome.

"It was an unbelievable shock," said Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey. "It goes to show how unimportant wins and losses are at a time like this."

Cerutti, a native of Albany, N.Y., spent six of his seven big-league seasons in Toronto. The left-hander was a first-round draft pick of the Jays in 1981 and played with the club from 1985 to 1990, helping them capture American League East titles in '85 and '89.

Cerutti signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent following the 1990 season and played one year before retiring as a player.

His career record was 49-43 with a 3.94 earned-run average in 229 games.

After his playing career, Cerutti made the transition to the broadcast booth. He made his Blue Jays broadcasting debut on April 1, 1997, as a colour commentator on CBC Television, staying with the network through 2002. He spent the past three seasons as a lead analyst with Rogers Sportsnet.

Don Peppin, who was senior producer of Blue Jays telecasts on CBC, remembers Cerutti as a sincere, honest and true gentleman.

"The overwhelming quality with John was his enthusiasm and passion for the game," said Peppin, who spoke with Cerutti last week. "He had a truly cerebral attitude in a world where that isn't necessarily the norm.

Peppin described Cerutti as a "deeply religious guy" who hated to be away from his family in Florida.

Cerutti is survived by his wife, Claudia, and three children – Daniel, Nicole and Janine.

 

[KindaKinky]

Damn.

This cemetery's gotten a bit too crowded over the past two weeks.

 

[KindaKinky]

Superman's dead

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=283360

And I don't mean the Our Lady Peace song either.

 

[sweet soft kiss]

Ken Caminiti dies at age 41

NEW YORK -- Ken Caminiti, the 1996 National League MVP for the San Diego Padres, died Sunday. He was 41.
Caminiti died of a heart attack in New York City, said his agent-lawyer Rick Licht. The city medical examiner's office said an autopsy would be performed Monday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

"I'm still in shock," San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers said. "He was one of my favorite all-time players."

The three-time All-Star third baseman's 15-year big league career ended in 2001, five seasons after he led the Padres to a division title and was a unanimous pick for MVP.

Just last Tuesday, he admitted in a Houston court that he violated his probation by testing positive for cocaine last month, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

But state District Judge William Harmon gave Caminiti credit for the 189 days he already served in jail and a treatment facility since he was sentenced to three years probation for a cocaine arrest in March 2001.

In May 2002, Caminiti told Sports Illustrated that he used steroids during his MVP season, when he hit a career-high .326 with 40 home runs and 130 RBIs. He estimated half the players in the big leagues were also using them.

Caminiti returned to baseball this year as a Spring Training instructor with San Diego.

"When I saw him in Spring Training, he didn't look good," Towers said. "I'm not surprised."

"The best way to describe him is that he was a warrior in every sense of the word. I can't tell you how many times I remember him hobbling into the manager's office, barely able to walk, and saying, 'Put me in the lineup.'"

"Man, that's just a tough one. I played with him for eight years," Dodgers outfielder Steve Finley said Sunday night, learning of Caminiti's death after St. Louis eliminated Los Angeles from the playoffs.

"He was a great player, but he got mixed up in the wrong things -- taking drugs. It's a sad reminder of how bad drugs are and what they can do to your body. It's a loss all of us will feel."

In his career, Caminiti batted .272 with 239 homers and 983 RBIs with Houston, San Diego, Texas and Atlanta.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Re: Damn.

This cemetery's gotten a bit too crowded over the past two weeks.

You're not kidding!

Makes me really want to enjoy each and every day as it comes, and not take it for granted! Christopher Reeve was born the same year I was.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Buffalo Springfield Co-Founder Dies

POSTED: 12:47 pm EDT October 11, 2004

Bruce Palmer, the bass player for the 1960s rock group Buffalo Springfield, has died.

Rolling Stone magazine reported that Palmer died of an apparent heart attack. He was 58.

Palmer was an early collaborator with Neil Young in a band called the Mynah Birds, which also included Rick James.

Palmer and Young formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles in 1966 and made two albums in two years.

The first, a self-titled album in 1967, featured the group's classic hit "For What It's Worth," which featured group member Stephen Stills on lead vocals.

Young and Stills eventually went on to join David Crosby and Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Palmer, meanwhile, left the band just before its breakup and was replaced by Jim Messina.

Palmer and drummer Dewey Martin reformed the band in the mid-1980s as Buffalo Springfield Revisited.



There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Pierre Salinger dead at 79

NEW YORK - Pierre Salinger, who served as John F. Kennedy's press secretary and later had a long career with ABC News, has died, ABC said yesterday.

Salinger, 79, died at a hospital in Cavaillon, France, after having a heart attack, his son Stephen said.

Salinger made headlines in 1997 when he backed the theory that TWA Flight 800, which crashed off Long Island in 1996 on a flight to Paris, was accidentally brought down by a U.S. Navy missile.

Salinger also was press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. After his political career, Salinger worked as a correspondent for the French news magazine, L'Express, and as Paris bureau chief, chief foreign correspondent and senior editor in London for ABC News.

 

[KindaKinky]

Doug Bennett Thread

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=285156

(He's the one who wrote the song Too Bad that was used as the theme song to Norm MacDonald's show Norm

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Julius Harris, 81, Pioneering Black Actor, Dies

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22 (AP) - Julius Harris, a stage and screen performer who moved beyond stereotypical movie roles for black actors, died here on Sunday. He was 81.

The cause was heart failure, a spokesman for the Motion Picture and Television Hospital said.

Mr. Harris played the villainous Tee Hee in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die" and a gangster in the 1972 "Superfly."

Mr. Harris, a former member of the Negro Ensemble Company in New York, played diverse roles in his long acting career. He appeared in more than 70 film and television productions in roles that included a preacher who headed a slave group in the 1982 Civil War miniseries "The Blue and the Gray" and President Idi Amin of Uganda in the television movie "Victory at Entebbe."

"Even today, if I am walking in a black neighborhood, people call me by my 'Superfly' name - Scatter," Mr. Harris told The Los Angeles Times last October before being honored with a tribute at the Directors Guild of America Theater.

Mr. Harris's mother was a Cotton Club dancer, and his father was a musician. Mr. Harris, a Philadelphia native, served as an Army medic during World War II and found work as an orderly and a nurse after leaving the service in 1950.

He eventually moved to New York, where he landed his first role as a drunken, defeated father in "Nothing But a Man," a critically acclaimed 1964 film about black life in the South starring Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln.

Mr. Harris is survived by his children, Kimberly and Gideon.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Opera Star Robert Merrill Dies at 85

NEW YORK (Oct. 26) - Robert Merrill, the Metropolitan Opera star who was known as much for singing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium as he was for roles such as Figaro in "The Barber of Seville,'' was remembered Tuesday for his velvety baritone and devotion to baseball.

Merrill died Saturday at his home in suburban New Rochelle while watching the World Series, family friend Barry Tucker said Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't the Yankees. He was very disappointed (at the team's playoff loss). At that time he was rooting hard,'' said Tucker, whose father, tenor Richard Tucker, frequently performed with Merrill.

Beverly Sills, the Met's chairwoman, recalled the rich quality of Merrill's voice.

"It was one of the most gorgeous voices I ever heard: dark velvet. It cast a hush over the audience, the sheer beauty of it,'' said Sills, who called Merrill an "old friend'' she met at the age of 10.

"He was a warm, dear, affectionate man, with a fabulous sense of humor. I will miss him very much,'' added Sills, who retired as a Metropolitan Opera star soprano.

In his 31 consecutive seasons with the Metropolitan Opera, Merrill, whose death was announced late Monday, performed virtually every baritone role in the operatic repertoire. Reference books gave conflicting ages for Merrill: 87 or 85. His voter registration record listed his birthday as June 4, 1917.

Merrill was a longtime "friend, Yankees fan and close associate of the Yankees, and we dearly miss him,'' team spokesman Howard Rubenstein said. "He sang the national anthem at Yankee Stadium for many years and provided a true inspiration for us, the ballplayers and all of our fans.''

Merrill, who often appeared in a pinstriped shirt and tattered Yankees necktie, took the job seriously and once said he didn't appreciate when singers tried to ad lib with "distortions.''

"When you do the anthem, there's a legitimacy to it,'' Merrill told Newsday in 2000. "I'm bothered by these different interpretations of it.''

After being inspired by seeing a Metropolitan Opera performance of "Il Trovatore'' when he was a teenager, he paid for singing lessons with money he earned as a semipro pitcher.

Merrill earned admiration for his interpretations of dozens of operatic roles, including Escamillo in "Carmen'' and Figaro in "The Barber of Seville,'' reportedly his favorite opera.

Throughout his career, Merrill also sang with popular stars ranging from Frank Sinatra to Louis Armstrong, appeared worldwide at music festivals and made numerous recordings. He performed as a soloist with many of the world's great conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, and made appearances for several presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.

He retired from the Met in 1976 but returned to its stage in 1983, when the company marked its centennial.

Merrill was briefly married to soprano Roberta Peters in the early 1950s; the two remained friendly and performed together after their marriage ended.

Merrill was born the son of shoe salesman Abraham Merrill and Lillian Balaban. His mother had an operatic and concert career in Poland before her marriage and guided her son through his early musical training.

Merrill is survived by his wife, Marion; a son; a daughter; and his grandchildren, Tucker said.

Tucker said Merrill was buried Monday in a family plot in Westchester. He said the family is very private and there are no plans for a memorial service.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Film, Stage Dancer Peggy Ryan Dies

POSTED: 12:14 pm EST November 2, 2004

Dancer Peggy Ryan, who was best known for her film appearances with the late Donald O'Connor, has died in Las Vegas.

She was 80 years old, and suffered from complications from two strokes.

Ryan and O'Connor crafted high-energy, complex dance routines for movies like "This Is the Life," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "Mister Big," and "Chip Off the Old Block."

She taught tap dancing and produced revues in Las Vegas for the past several years.

Ryan reportedly was teaching and performing until several days before entering the hospital.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Predators Center Zholtok Dies in Latvia

Nov 3, 9:22 PM (ET)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Former Nashville Predators center Sergei Zholtok died Wednesday in his native Latvia of an apparent heart ailment. He was 31.

The Predators' Web site said Zholtok died in Latvia on Wednesday. Zholtok was playing for Riga 2000 this year during the NHL lockout.

"We are all saddened and shocked to hear of Sergei's sudden passing," Predators general manager David Poile said in a statement. "He was a hardworking player who was well-liked by his teammates and coaches. We extend our deepest sympathies to the Zholtok family."

TSN.ca reported Wednesday night that Zholtok excused himself from a game in Belarus and collapsed and died on the way to the locker room.

Zholtok appeared in 588 NHL games from 1992-2004 with Boston, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Minnesota and Nashville. He joined the Predators on March 5 in a trade with Minnesota.

In 70 games last season between the Wild and Predators, Zholtok had 14 goals and 17 assists. For his career, Zholtok had 111 goals and 147 assists.

Nashville declined to make a qualifying offer to Zholtok after the end of the season, which ended in a playoff loss to Detroit.

He is survived by his wife Anna, and two sons, according to the Predators.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

JFK Satirist Vaughn Meader Dies

Fri Oct 29, 5:59 PM ET

AUBURN, Maine - Vaughn Meader, who gained fame satirizing John F. Kennedy's presidency in the multimillion-selling album "The First Family" only to have his star plummet when the president was assassinated, died Friday. He was 68.

Meader, who had battled by chronic emphysema and other ailments, died at his home in this central Maine city after refusing to be taken to the hospital, his wife, Sheila, said.

When it came out in late 1962, poking gentle fun at JFK's wealth, large family and "vigah," "The First Family" became the fastest-selling record of its time, racking up 7.5 million copies and winning the Grammy for album of the year.

Compared with today's bare-knuckled political humor, the satire was tame, but it tickled the funnybone of the Kennedy-obsessed public.

The Maine native, recruited to play the president on the album after he began throwing Kennedy impressions into his musical act, had to tweak his own New England accent only slightly to sound just like the Massachusetts-bred president.

Even the president was said to be amused, picking up 100 copies of the album to give as Christmas gifts. He once opened a Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) dinner by telling delegates: "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself."

Meader's career was stopped short by news that Kennedy had been assassinated. It was also that day that Vaughn Meader died, he would say. He began going by his first name, Abbott, rather than his middle name.

With Kennedy's death, his acts were canceled and stores pulled the album from their shelves. His famous friends no longer associated with him. Meader said he turned to booze and started taking cocaine and heroin.

After a period of drifting, he returned to Maine, where Meader wrote and played bluegrass and country music and became known for his honky-tonk performances in small, local bars.

Living back in what he called the slow lane, Meader reveled in a resurgence of nostalgia-driven media interest in his JFK comedy act, said Sheila, his fourth wife with whom he was married for 16 years. He maintained his sense of humor, she said.

 

[Agent99]

Howard Keel, Star of Musicals, Dies at 85

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Howard Keel, the broad-shouldered baritone who romanced his way through a series of glittery MGM musicals such as "Kiss Me Kate" and "Annie Get Your Gun" and later revived his career with television's "Dallas," died Sunday. He was 85.

Keel died Sunday morning of colon cancer at his home in Palm Desert, according to his son, Gunnar.

Keel starred in Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in New York and London before being signed to an MGM contract after World War II. The timing was perfect: He became a star with his first MGM film, playing Frank Butler to Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun."

Keel's size and lusty voice made him an ideal leading man for such stars as Esther Williams (news - web sites) ("Pagan Love Song," "Texas Carnival," "Jupiter's Darling"), Ann Blyth ("Rose Marie," "Kismet"), Kathryn Grayson (news) ("Show Boat," "Lovely to Look At," "Kiss Me Kate") and Doris Day (news) ("Calamity Jane").

His own favorite film was the exuberant "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

"It was a fine cast and lots of fun to make," Keel remarked in 1993, "but they did the damn thing on the cheap. The backdrops had holes in them, and it was shot on the worst film stock. ... As it turned out, the miracle worker was George Folsey, the cinematographer. He took that junk and made it look like a Grandma Moses painting."

When film studios went into a slump, MGM's musical factory was disbanded. Keel kept busy on the road in such surefire attractions of "Man of La Mancha," "South Pacific," "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

Keel was in his early 60s and presumably nearing the end of his career when he suddenly became a star in another medium.

From its start in 1978, "Dallas" with its combination of oil, greed, sex and duplicity had become the hottest series in television. Jim Davis, who had played the role of Jock Ewing, died in 1981, and the producers needed another strong presence to stand up to the nefarious J.R. Ewing Jr. (Larry Hagman). They chose Keel.

"The show was enormous," Keel reflected in 1995. "I couldn't believe it. My life changed again. From being out of it, I was suddenly a star, known to more people than ever before. Wherever I went, crowds appeared again, and I started making solo albums for the first time in my career."

As Clayton Farlow, husband of "Miss Ellie" Ewing (Barbara Bel Geddes), Keel remained with "Dallas" until it folded in 1991.

When Keel was born in Gillespie, Ill., his name was Harold Clifford Leek. His father, once a naval captain, became a coal miner and drank to soothe his bitterness. During drunken rages, he beat his children. His mother, a strict Methodist, forbade her two sons from having any entertainment.

"I had a terrible, rotten childhood," Keel commented in 1995. "My father made away with himself when I was 11. I had no guidance, and Mom was six feet tall, bucktoothed and very tough. I was mean and rebellious and had a terrible, bitter temper. I got a job as an auto mechanic, and I would have stayed in that narrow kind of life if I hadn't discovered art. Music changed me completely."

At 20 he was living in Los Angeles and he was befriended by a cultured woman who took him to a Hollywood Bowl concert featuring famed baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Keel was inspired, and he started taking vocal lessons at 25 cents an hour. His first semiprofessional opportunity came as a singing waiter at the Paris Inn Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles at $15 a week and two meals a day.

Six foot three and a gawky 140 pounds, Keel was painfully shy. He worked during five years during World War II at Douglas Aircraft, and the experience helped his confidence.

He sang in recitals and opera programs and was summoned to an audition with Oscar Hammerstein II, who was looking for young singers to play Curly in the growing number of touring "Oklahoma!" companies.

Hammerstein approved, and soon under a new name Howard Keel he was singing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" in New York eight times a week. He sometimes replaced John Raitt in Rodgers and Hammerstein's other hit, "Carousel" On occasion he would appear in a matinee of "Oklahoma!" and an evening performance of "Carousel." He played "Carousel" for eighteen months in London.

Rodgers and Hammerstein were notorious for underpaying their actors and denying them billing. Keel rankled at being paid $250 a week for the unbilled starring role in a sellout musical. As soon as his contract expired, he hurried back to Los Angeles.

Desperately in need of handsome, virile actors who could sing, MGM signed Keel to a contract that paid $850 a week.

He made it big in musicals, but also appeared in westerns: Waco," "Red Tomahawk," "The War Wagon" (with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas (news)) and "Arizona Bushwhackers." After leaving MGM, he appeared as St. Peter in the unsuccessful "The Big Fisherman."

Keel was married and then divorced twice: to actress Rosemary Cooper and dancer Helen Anderson, with whom he had three children: Kaija, Kristine, Gunnar. In 1970 he married former airline stewardess Judy Magamoll. They had one daughter, Leslie.

He continued singing in the 1980s, explaining: "As long as I can sing halfway decent, I'd rather sing (than act). There's nothing like being in good voice, feeling good, having good numbers to do and having a fine orchestra."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Howard Keel

http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2004/11/08/inside-keel.jpg

I forgot he was on "Dallas"!

What a magnificent voice.

 

[Boobyprize]

Re: Howard Keel

http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2004/11/08/inside-keel.jpg

I forgot he was on "Dallas"!

What a magnificent voice.

I saw him in concert about 13 years ago - in his 70s and he still had the ladies swooning in the aisles....well, ok, some of them had lost control of their zimmer frames(!), but he still had it, in spades.

 

[nitengale]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! I loved Howard Keel!