DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[BinkieBaumont]

John Forsythe "Blake Carrington" From Dynasty

 

[Rundquist]

Victor Pantoja

A few weeks ago Victor Pantoja passed away. He succumbed finally to his third bout of cancer. Victor was a musician that “was there”. Here is a list of some of the people that he played with:

Harry James
Ella Fitzgerald
Dinah Washington
Sarah Vaughan
Sammy Davis
Nat King Cole
Cal Tjader
Willie Bobo
Santana
The Greatful Dead

This site lists others:
http://www.tycoonpercussion.com/artists/victor-pantoja.html/

I was very fortunate to play in a band with Victor over the last two or three years. He was very generous with his knowledge and he was vastly knowledgeable about music and life in general. He told me about his first job with Harry James and how James really went to bat for him with regards to dealing with aspects of racist society. James threatened to cancel any dates where Victor wasn’t given the same accommodations as any other musician. Victor was a black “New-Yorican”. He was born in New York, but his roots were from Puerto Rico.

Victor played on all the original Willie Bobo cuts that Santana copied, as well as the Santana versions. He was Willie Bobo’s right hand man. Carlos Santana probably would have never cut some of these songs if not for Victor’s influence.

Here’s the original Evil Ways.
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Spanish Grease

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Victor always had more style than anyone in the room, by a wide margin. We’ll miss him and his spirit.

 

[WH1]

Malcolm McClaren dead at age 64, apparently after a long bout with cancer. For those who don't remember he was the manager of the Sex Pistols and numerous other punk bands back in the day.

 

[Senator Jack]

Malc! No! He was such a douche, but we all loved him.

 

[MrBern]

Munchkin

Meinhardt Raabe, Famous Munchkin, Is Dead at 94

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/movies/10raabe.html

Mr. Raabe, who was also a wartime aviator and the first Little Oscar, the mascot of the Oscar Mayer meat company, died Friday in Orange Park, Fla., at 94.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Tony Nowak, the make of the Indy 4 jacket & several other movie jackets has passed away while on vacation in Italy.

 

[Rola]

Ryszard Kaczorowski, 90, the last President of Poland in exile (when our gov. evacuated from Poland after the lost September 1939 campaign, it operated from France and then Britain, never recognizing the post-war commie regime, even though the rest of the world did so) died today in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia, which also killed current president + his wife, commanders of all branches of armed forces (yes, we could say "Polish Air Force One down") and other notable officials who were to arrive there for 70th anniversary of Katyn massacre (Soviet mass execution of Polish POWs held in concentration camp since 1939 - officers, who were deemed "politicaly insecure" by commie regime). It's a huge blow to our state today...
Kaczorowski was a scouting instructor before WW2, he continued his work during the war what was forbidden by Soviets and which got him death sentence, later changed to concentration camp. After 1941 (Sikorski-Mayski Agreement) he managed to get into Anders' army, fighting in such battles as Battle of Monte Cassino.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Dixie Carter. "Designing Women" actress, nightclub/cabaret singer, and wife of the legendary Hal Holbrook.

 

[Hondo]

Dixie Carter. "Designing Women" actress, nightclub/cabaret singer, and wife of the legendary Hal Holbrook.

Never did watch "Designing Women" but did catch Dixie a few times,
She was funny, talented, sadly will be missed, 70 is too young to pass on,
never knew Hal Holbrook was married to her, enjoyed him as Mark Twain.
RIP Ms Dixie

 

[Edward]

Malc! No! He was such a douche, but we all loved him.

I think John Lydon put it best...

"For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you."

I'm sure Talcy Malcy would have found it hilarious to have been dubbed "King of Punk", as much of the British press has called him when reporting this news.

 

[MrBern]

asbestos

Malcolm McClaren dead at age 64, apparently after a long bout with cancer. For those who don't remember he was the manager of the Sex Pistols and numerous other punk bands back in the day.

A speculation on how he got the cancer

http://gawker.com/5514505/sex-may-have-killed-malcolm-mclaren

 

[Kid Mac]

Elinor Smith, record-breaking aviatrix

"Elinor Smith made her first solo flight at the age of 15 from an air strip on Long Island where she grew up, and she became the youngest person in the US to earn a pilot’s licence as a 16-year-old in 1927. In January 1929 she set a women’s solo endurance record of 13½ hours. It was one of her earliest feats in a series of height, endurance and speed records that established her as one of the leading female pilots of her era."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7097574.ece

 

[Amy Jeanne]

The dude from Type O Negative died:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/petersteele-91017964.html

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Carolyn Rodgers wrote some good poems.

 

[RIOT]

............

Blasting Dance, Franny, Dance.

Rest in Peace Floyd Dakil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Dakil

 

[Senator Jack]

Ugh. Dorothy Provine at 75. An absolute doll who retired from film too early.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/arts/30provine.html

One of my favorite performances from her. From The Great Race
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[Doctor Strange]

Seconded.

And I love The Great Race. As soon as I heard that she had died, "He Shouldn't-a..." started playing in my brain!

 

[dhermann1]

Lynn Redgrave

Another breast cancer victim. Damned bloody sad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8658484.stm

 

[DanielJones]

Very sad indeed. Seems this year we are losing quite a few notables. Rather staggering.

Cheers.

Dan

 

[Puzzicato]

Another breast cancer victim. Damned bloody sad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8658484.stm

That family has had a lot of sadness this year! A real loss.