ASSOCIATED PRESS: NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol’ boy actor in car chase movies like “Smokey and the Bandit,” has died of complications from emphysema at 71. Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-life personality. “Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice and especially his sense of humor,” Galante said. “I was honored to have worked with him.” Reed’s catalog of country chart hits, from 1967 through 1983, were released under the label group’s RCA imprint. As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Reed had a […]
RIP: Edwin Guthman, Ex-Inquirer Editor, Bobby Kennedy Press Sec. & Nixon ‘Enemy’, Dead At 89
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Edwin O. Guthman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was on the infamous “enemies list” prepared by aides of President Richard Nixon and who served as press secretary to Robert F. Kennedy, has died at 89. Guthman was the Los Angeles Times’ national editor from 1965 to 1977, then served for a decade as editorial page editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 1950 for his stories in The Seattle Times on the Washington Legislature’s Un-American Activities Committee. His reporting cleared a University of Washington professor of allegations that he was […]
EARLY WORD: Lord Of The Amps
Let’s say you were in a big famous group called the Black Keys and you were playing at a place like, say, the Electric Factory and your vintage, 1968, 100-watt Marshall Plexi, Super Lead guitar amp went down on you just hours before the show. Chances are you would have end up at the door step of Philly’s most respected and revered amp builder John Martin. Over the years many bands both big and small found their way to John’s humble South Philadelphia workshop/home, from the Black Keys to L7 to local favorites like The Original Sins and the Lilys. […]
RIP: Legendary Producer Jerry Wexler Dead At 91
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Legendary record producer Jerry Wexler, who helped shape R&B music with influential recordings of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and other greats, and later made key recordings with the likes of Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, has died, says his co-author, David Ritz. He was 91. Wexler earned his reputation as a music industry giant while a partner at Atlantic Records. Atlantic provided an outlet for the groundbreaking work of African-American performers in the 1950s and ’60s. Later, it was a home to rock icons like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. He later helped Dylan win his first […]
RIP: Isaac Hayes, AKA Black Moses, Dead At 65
ASSOCIATED PRESS: MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless ”Theme From Shaft” won Academy and Grammy awards, has been found dead at home. He was 65. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says a family member found Hayes unresponsive near a treadmill on Sunday. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis. The cause of death was not immediately known. In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before […]
RIP: Robert Hazard Dead At 59
BY ED KING At one point last night, while standing behind home plate at Citizens Bank Park and watching the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins, I was suddenly overcome by a spell of Philly Pride. Cranky, old Ed King actually got misty as he looked out over the field, took in the sounds from the crowd, and remembered the franchise’s rare past glories and frequent letdowns. This is my team, I thought. My team’s lovely little ballpark. For better and for worse, my people. An hour after having gotten in tune with my city, I arrived home to read […]
RIP: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Dead At 89
NEW YORK TIMES: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful works of the 20th century, died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow. His son Yermolai said the cause was a heart ailment. Mr. Solzhenitsyn outlived by nearly 17 years the Soviet state and system he had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile. Mr. Solzhenitsyn had been an obscure, middle-aged, unpublished high school science teacher in a provincial Russian town when he burst […]
Madame Marie, Asbury Park Fortune Teller, Dead At 93
ASBURY PARK PRESS: It was one line from a Bruce Springsteen song that made the boardwalk fortune teller world famous. And now, “Madam Marie” has passed away. Marie Castello, who had told fortunes since the 1930s and became famous for her presence and predictions on the Asbury Park boardwalk, died Friday, her great-granddaughter, Sally Castello said today. The psychic reader and advisor was 93. She became known worldwide from Bruce Springsteen’s homage to her in his music. “Did you hear the cops finally busted Madam Marie,” Springsteen sang in his 1973 song, “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” “for tellin’ […]
RIP: Sage Funnyman George Carlin Dead At 71
REUTERS: Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71. Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters. Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven […]
RIP: Twigga, Beloved Local Giraffe, Dead At 29
INQUIRER: Old age has claimed another animal at the Philadelphia Zoo. Twigga, who at 29 was one of the oldest giraffes in the nation, was euthanized Thursday at the zoo, her home since 1979. In announcing her death yesterday, the zoo said the giraffe — tall for a female at 15 feet — had been on medications for age-related arthritis for some time. “Based on Twigga’s comfort and behavior, the zoo’s veterinary team decided this week that humane euthanasia was now the best course for her,” the zoo’s statement said. Giraffes typically live into their late teens and early 20s. […]
BO DIDDLEY: RIP
NEW YORK TIMES: Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll whose distinctive ”shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79. Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation. The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade […]
RIP: Sydney Pollack, Super-Mensch, Dead At 73
NEW YORK TIMES: Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like “The Way We Were,” “Tootsie” and “Out of Africa” were among the most successful of the 1970s and ’80s, died Monday at home here. He was 73. The cause was cancer, said the publicist Leslee Dart, who spoke for his family. Mr. Pollack’s career defined an era in which big stars (Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Warren Beatty) and the filmmakers who knew how to wrangle them (Barry Levinson, Mike Nichols) retooled the Hollywood system. Savvy operators, they played studio against studio, staking […]
20th Century Art Titan Robert Rauschenberg Dead At 82
NEW YORK TIMES: Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died Monday night. He was 82. A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Mr. Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes reconceived all the mediums in which he worked. Building on the legacies of Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell and others, he thereby helped to obscure the lines between painting and sculpture, painting and photography, photography and printmaking, […]