How to Memorialize a Genius?
 

For most of you, the passing about which I am going to write probably wouldn't be a blip on your sociological radar. For me, it is a passing of tremendous enormity...the loss of a visionary giant whose very name is synonomous with innovation and creativity; a man who almost single-handedly changed the musical world with his creations.

Today, Dr. Robert Moog, the inventor of the Moog Synthesizer, died of a malignant and aggressive brain tumor at his home in North Carolina. Bob Moog was 71 years old. In those 71 years, Bob was an inventor, a self-made, humane, universally loved and admired engineer and scientist whose youthful fascination with electronics led him first to building theremins and selling them to help pay his way through school. Today, those early Moog theremins bring almost unimaginable prices as collector's items, examples of both ingenuity and vision, a vestige of simpler technological days when erstwhile youths could still cobble together something in their basements and amaze the hell out of their friends and neighbors.

While Moog afficionados have long known of Bob's fascination with the theremin and those who play them, the world at large usually thinks of the Moog Synthesizer when they think of Bob at all. So revolutionary was this device, that the name Moog has become almost generic for synthesizers, much like Kleenex is for tissues. While Bob did not invent the synthesizer, he did something much more meaningful and important - he made these devices practical for use by musicians. Before Bob's advent, synthesizers were enormous devices (the earliest true example, the RCA synthesizer, literally took up two large rooms due to the fact that integrated circuits had not yet become commonly used when it was built).

Bob engineered synthesizers into boxes that were at least marginally portable at first. At the very least, they were suitable for installation into recording studios and universities. Synthesizers are, in their most basic form, devices that produce and manipulate the various parts of a musical event such as note generation, breaking the event down into its component parts. For each portion of that event, a different part of the synthesizer generates or controls an aspect of each part of the sound - an oscillator creates the pure tone, a waveform generator gives the wave a distinctive shape, imparting color and harmonic content, an envelope generator controls the rise, decay, sustain and fall of the sound, a filter strains out the more desireable harmonics or imparts resonance...and so on and so on. Bob Moog took this rather simple yet complex set of parameters and unified them into hardware modules capable of producing the necessary part of the equation, and which could then be assembled (patched) in the manner necessary to produce a simulation of an instrument...or some sound that no one had ever even imagined.

The impact on music was immediate and profound. Once the creative minds of the music world got their hands on these devices, nothing was ever the same. While truly avant garde types had played with various forms of electronic music for over sixty years, no one had ever had so much raw sonic power at their fingertips before the Moog Synthesizer, and it began to show up in popular music almost immediately. Synthesizers didn't really come into their own, though, until an album entitled "Switched on Bach" was released. In one fell swoop Walter (now Wendy) Carlos turned the classical and popular music world on its collective ear, thanks to a large, custom specified Moog modular synthesizer rig.

Wendy Carlos has remained friends with Bob for nearly forty years, as have others with whom Bob worked over his stellar career. Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Dick Hyman...the list goes on and on. These people were not just customers of Bob Moog, not just admirers, not just adopters of his technology. They were truly his friends and confidantes, part of the extended Bob Moog family of musicians and technicians, music lovers and gear heads. Of all the things I have ever read about Bob Moog, he has never been characterized as anything except kind, loving, gentle, friendly, sincere, devoted, dedicated. Truly, he was a man for whom superlatives fail.

Bob Moog always said that he was not a musician, he was an engineer. But he was an engineer who observed what musicians wanted and needed, and then strove to give it to them, because in the end, what he created wasn't about IC's and knobs and voltage control. What he created was a new way for musicians to bring into being sounds which existed only in their heads, and give those audio visions to the world.

As I mention from time to time, I am utterly consumed by synthesizers. I have owned several over the years, including a couple of Bob's most successful and well-known units, the MiniMoog, still the most coveted portable synthesizer in the world today, and regularly selling for more at 30 years of age or older than they did when they were new. The passing of Bob Moog is, for me, the passing of an era, a turning of a page in history. He is the father of a major portion of the soundtrack in my mind, and I will always, always remember him fondly for that.

To expand upon one of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons - "Welcome to Heaven...here's your harp."

"Welcome to Hell...here's your accordion."

"Welcome to the Universe, Bob. Here's your Moog."

(Picture below - Dr. Robert Moog with a Mini Moog Model D)

Gilligan finally gets rescued.
 

Most of us grew up watching "Gilligan's Island" after school on our local afternoon tv channels. The most recognizable character dressed in white pants, a red shirt, and a white sailors hat was of course Willie Gilligan. The actor who played him, Bob Denver, passed away today at the age of 70 of complications due to cancer.

Many might not realize that he had a fairly robust career both before and after his stint on "Gilligan's Island" as well. He played Maynard G. Krebs on the show "Dobbie Gillis," along with many guest appearences on shows like "Love American Style," "Fantasy Island," "Roseanne," even "Baywatch."

There aren't very many actors that I have a desire to meet in person, but I would have loved to have met Bob. He always seemed to me to be genuine and friendly. He will be sorely missed.

RIP, little buddy.

Bob Denver was a fine comic actor whose career was severely truncated by the inevitable typecasting brought on by having had the fortune (or misfortune) to have played such an iconic character. If you ever get the chance, catch old reruns of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", in which Denver played, to hysterically good effect, beatnik Maynard G. Krebs. Hysterical.

Goodbye little buddy...
 

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/gilliga...d-10040967.jpg

That is a real bummer. I pretty much grew up with Gilligan, Mr. Rogers and Kaptain Kangaroo. Yeah, the show was dumb but it was great for kids.

About seven months ago, I got in touch with him and bought a pub photo from the set of the GI which he was kind enough to autograph.

I guess his little break from having the skipper smack him with his captain's hat is over :)

HEY.

He was a great comic actor. He was typecast from his two best roles and his career ended after Gilligan's Island, but while he was on he really made it seem effortless. I really think that he was as good as Jerry Lewis and Buster Keaton at physical comedy.

By all reports, he was a nice person who cared about his community.

Goodbye, little buddy.

He was always the famous person I was proudest of when I would rattle off my "shares my birthday" list.

I always liked the one with the Trans-Pacific phone cable best ... and the orange ... and the irradiated seeds ... and ...

Kurt Cobain.... I have never been much of a Nirvana Fan but.... there's something about his passing and the desolation of his suicide that struck home with me. It really made me believe in the power of compassion.

Within two days we had someone admitted to the unit wearing a Kurt Cobain suicide tee shirt (The NYT Obit, IIRC). Yes, we made them take it off.

I was looking for a picture of that on Google Image Search, but instead I found what purports to be a hospital pic. Shotguns are very, very messy. Not for the fainthearted. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Kurt Cobain........not only was he a good musician....but i found him very interesting too......

Agent 86 is no more.

In the end, KAOS gets us all.

86 86'd.:(

http://www.tvacres.com/images/get_smart2.jpg

I read yesterday that Don Adams was a pretty smart guy. Apparently, he never read the scripts. He would have someone read the script to him once or twice and that was all he needed. The crew would take bets that he wouldn't be able to finish the shoot without having to review his lines. Another actor done in by doing too good a job with his character - all he was able to get after Get Smart were voice jobs (including Inspector Gadget) excluding a few B-movie parts and some reunion stuff.

Get Smart took in a total of five Emmy Awards: Three for Don Adams (best actor in a comedy) and two for the show (best comedy).

For extra credit, which two people came up with the idea for the series and wrote the pilot? (Answer below - highlight from here down)


Mel Brooks and Buck Henry
(Answer just above)

I was surprised when I found this out. You only see Mel Brook's name mentioned once in the credits in the begining of the show. If you miss it, you'd never realize he had anything to do with it.

When I first heard this, I was surprised, because I didn't know Buck Henry did anything other than host SNL in the good old days.

Keep your eyes on the road,........
 

you hand upon the wheels, for the future's uncertain and the end is always near.....

http://www.thedoors.com/band/jim/img/bio_jimpic.jpg

Roll, baby, roll...and welcome to The Cellar.

all night long...........

Thanks for your welcome..

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may for time is quickly flying, and the rose that blooms today, tomorrow will be dying." Ain't that the truth.

This answers the title rather than the detail of the question, but the Labour leader John Smith's death in 1994 really affected me at the time.

I grew up with Labour parents under a Conservative Government and in John Smith I thought that finally Britain had a left wing statesman that the electorate would vote for. He was considered a man of integrity - decent and honest, and respected by politicians on both sides of the House.

I honestly went around for days feeling like it was all a cruel joke and someone, somewhere was laughing up their sleeve at those of us who felt we were living in a single party state. I suppose it affected me more than a celebrity death because he genuinely had the opportunity to make a difference to my life when he was alive.

In the end we only had to wait another 3 years, but even now it seems a shame that we lost the chance to have this man as our Prime Minister.

And even after waiting 3 years we got a tory in a red shirt.

I was personally quite upset when Robin Cook died. I think he was a real loss. Mo Mowlem too.....and I know I'll cry when Tony Benn dies.

NONE!

JFK Jr. What a hottie. :(

Welcome to The Cellar, Whoopteedo.

I heard yesterday that Butch from Our Gang died the week before Don Adams.

Not a "bummed me out the most," but certainly indications of the passing of an era.

Those of you holding Nipsey Russell tickets can exchange them at the nearest cashier's window. Thank you. [/pa]

I was a big fan of Nipsey Russell back in my youth. Funny, funny man. Keep 'em laughin' upstairs, Nipsey!

Nipsey was dyslexic
Now he stands in Heaven's fog.
No wonder the boss is kinda pissed
Nipsey always prayed to Dog.

Thank you :)

Once again, the perfect eloquent tribute.

Thanks, Els!

Just to mark the passing of Ronnie Barker. The Frost Report, The Two Ronnies, Porridge, Open All Hours. An inspiration to many of my comedy favourites and a mainstay of my childhood weekend television.

Died this week at 76.

Layne Staley (lead singer of Alice In Chains) is probably the celebrity death that hit me hardest. Kurt Cobain's was no surprise, nor was Johnny Cash's. Staley's shouldn't have been either, given his history of drug use. But it totally caught me off-guard. What a loss...and what a waste.

Pat Morita

:sniff:

Man, I hate when this thread pops to the top. Oh well.

I just heard about Pat Morita. He always seemed to be very good at picking roles. Except for one clunker with Jay Leno, I've never seen him in a bad movie.

Even when he was playing comic roles, he always brought a likeable dignity to his characters, so that everyone was on his side.

Here is his Internet Movie Database profile.

dammit. i guess that puts the kabosh on any hopes Ralph Machio had for a comeback.

Not really, now he can play the sensei, sort of like what Stallone did in Rocky ??.

BTW, he probably had fun playing himself in Entourage in the episode at the Playboy mansion.

George Best died last week. An amusing commentary on how bad it got-Later in life, Best laughed at his own dissolution. He would recount the moment it all went bad: "Tell me, Mr. Best, where did it all go wrong?" asked the waiter as he delivered vintage champagne to the footballer in a luxury hotel suite. At the time £20,000 was scattered on the bed, which also happened to contain Miss Universe.

"...he turned yellow, and died with tubes in his nose."

Great obit writing, a guy after my own heart.

John Simonton, Synth Designer for the Masses
 

Okay, he isn't a celebrity - not in the strictest sense of the word. Unless you are something of synthaholic (and I am), you probably would have never heard of him, nor the company he founded in the late 1960's, naming it after a Hawaiian city he remembered fondly - Paia (pronounced pie'-uh). But for people like me, who grew up during the golden age of DIY synthesizers, Paia was a household word. Their catalogues came to my mailbox at regular intervals - not because I bought anything from them, but because I liked to look through them and dream.

The products produced by Paia came from the mind of John Simonton for the most part, although he also produced kits to help budding musical electronics heads build the ingenious designs of Craig Anderton which frequently appeared in electronics and musician's magazines during the same period. John ran his basically one man business out of his homeland, Oklahoma, for 35 years, until his recent passing from cancer.

John did for synthesizers what Heathkit did for radios - he made them accessible to people with much more time than money, and who didn't mind learning a new, patient skill to get what they desired out of the deal. Few could afford even Moog or ARP's most reasonably-priced gear unless they were working musicians (or at least musical hobbyists with decent jobs), but almost anyone could afford to piece together a small, fully-featured modular synth from John's wide variety of component kits, and, in the process, learn not only about the mechanics and principles of electronic construction, but also the theory and practice of sound synthesis. Because of Paia, Joe Sixpack (usually, Little Joey Sixpack, actually) could procure components over time and end up as a budget Keith Emerson in the comfort of their own home.

Although the onslaught of digital synthesis and MIDI took a huge bite out of John's livelihood, he never stopped serving those who needed what he did. Indeed, tales abound of his generosity with his time as his old designs were rediscovered and restored by those who once again wanted a cheap inroad to the newly reborn interest in analogue synths. And John did not sit idle, dreaming of the old glory days during the slow years. John saw the resurgence of analogue early on, and developed an incredibly affordable mini-synth kit, the Paia Fatman, to serve the new generation of technoids and electronica performers. Indeed, Simonton's touch has reached as far as The Cellar, where only a few weeks back someone was mentioning their desire to purchase Paia's Theremax theremin kit and build it for their own amusement.

Celebrities are celebrities only because we *make* them so in our own minds. Therefore, in my oscillator-afflicted brain, John Simonton was quite the celebrity indeed. RIP, John. Here's to the hope that someone can carry your banner into this new milennia.

Bill Brasky had a four day heart attack...a day for each chamber. At the autopsy, they said his heart looked like a basketball filled with riccotta cheese.

Richard Pryor - R.I.P.

:( :cry:

I'm sure Mark Twain is doing a flip flop over his award! IMHO

One of my favorite Pryor jokes:

"I don't drink and drive anymore. Nuh-uh."

"Got tired of waking up in my car..."

"....doing 90."

http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/lol.gif

Interviewer: Alright, Mr. Wilson, you've done just fine on the Rorshach.. your papers are in good order.. your file's fine.. no difficulties with your motor skills.. And I think you're probably ready for this job. We've got one more psychological test we always do here. It's just a Word Association. I'll throw you out a few words - anything that comes to your mind, just throw back at me, okay? It's kind of an arbitrary thing. Like, if I say "dog", you'd say..?

Mr. Wilson: "Tree".

Interviewer: "Tree". [ nods head, prepares the test papers ] "Dog".

Mr. Wilson: "Tree".

Interviewer: "Fast".

Mr. Wilson: "Slow".

Interviewer: "Rain".

Mr. Wilson: "Snow".

Interviewer: "White".

Mr. Wilson: "Black".

Interviewer: "Bean".

Mr. Wilson: "Pod".

Interviewer: [ casually ] "Negro".

Mr. Wilson: "Whitey".

Interviewer: "Tarbaby".

Mr. Wilson: [ silent, sure he didn't hear what he thinks he heard ] What'd you say?

Interviewer: [ repeating ] "Tarbaby".

Mr. Wilson: "Ofay".

Interviewer: "Colored".

Mr. Wilson: "Redneck".

Interviewer: "Junglebunny".

Mr. Wilson: [ starting to get angry ] "Peckerwood!"

Interviewer: "Burrhead".

Mr. Wilson: [ defensive ] "Cracker!"

Interviewer: [ aggressive ] "Spearchucker".

Mr. Wilson: "White trash!"

Interviewer: "Jungle Bunny!"

Mr. Wilson: [ upset ] "Honky!"

Interviewer: "Spade!

Mr. Wilson: [ really upset ] "Honky Honky!"

Interviewer: [ relentless ] "Nigger!"

Mr. Wilson: [ immediate ] "Dead honky!" [ face starts to flinch ]

Interviewer: [ quickly wraps the interview up ] Okay, Mr. Wilson, I think you're qualified for this job. How about a starting salary of $5,000?

Mr. Wilson: Your momma!

Interviewer: [ fumbling ] Uh.. $7,500 a year?

Mr. Wilson: Your grandmomma!

Interviewer: [ desperate ] $15,000, Mr. Wilson. You'll be the highest paid janitor in America. Just, don't.. don't hurt me, please..

Mr. Wilson: Okay.

Interviewer: [ relieved ] Okay.

Mr. Wilson: You want me to start now?

Interviewer: Oh, no, no.. that's alright. I'll clean all this up. Take a couple of weeks off, you look tired.

"When I was 25, I used to be able to pee in the toilet in the morning and not even get out of bed..."

"Grandpa" Al Lewis 1910-2006
 

Al Lewis just passed. As a typecast actor, I didn't get to see him on TV much, but like Bob Denver, the real story of his life is what he did with it after his acting career cooled down.

Looking at his obituary and his acting credits, it seems he had a full, fun life. He sounds like a cool guy to know who was respected by his friends and a pain in the ass to his enemies.

Goodbye, Grandpa.

How could you not love the guy who drove Dragula?

I was 14 in 1968, when Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed. He was very much our man - the Presidential candidate of the young...at least that's how we thought of him. The level of generational division and hostility was exceptionally high then, and many of us were immediately angry at our elders (despite their having had nothing to do with his death) and took it out on them whenever possible.

Somewhat more recently (although it's been over ten years ago now, I think), the death of John Candy hit me pretty hard.

Hunter S. Thompson, certainly. Peter Cook - a genuis without whose influence the whole of British comedy would look entirely different, I think.

that has to be dime bag darrel. (pantera/damage plan) amazing musician

Well it's a ressurected thread, but I wasn't here when it started, so I'll answer now :).

I was most upset by the death of Freddie Mercury.

John Peel was a sad surprise, too.

When I heard that John Entwhistle died (in bed with a prostitute, on coke, natch) the night before the Who kicked off their tour at the Hollywood Bowl (to which I had tickets) I was so upset that I interrupted a painting series I was working on to create an image of him as the Ox, which I then pasted onto some devotional candles and set up at the entrance to the Bowl when the remainder of the Who played their rescheduled show. Also, when I heard on the car radio that Mark Sandman of Morphine had died on stage I had to pull over because I was crying too much to drive. And Jerry Garcia's death was, of course, the death of so much more.

RIP
 

Andreas Katsulas, felled by lung cancer.
IMDB

He was the One Armed Man in The Fugitive, but I knew him best as G'Kar in Babylon 5. His interaction with Peter Jurasik was the absolute best part of a great show. Katsulas infused more power and emotion into a latex creation than anyone I've seen in any show. If there's ever a return to the B5 universe, his absence will be keenly felt.

I was just about to post that too. Freddie Mercury. I was shopping in a department store when it came across the news. I felt like crying right in the middle of the store.

:sniff:

Nipped in the Bud
 

Barney Fife has finally gotten that long-awaited promotion. There'll be a new sheriff in town upon the streets of Glory...even if he'll only be carrying one golden bullet.

Don Knotts parlayed a shtick of high-strung near-franticism into a memorable and hysterical career spanning over 50 years. His best-known character, the bumbling deputy sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, made him into one of the most loved comedic characters of all time.

Don Knotts has died at the age of 81, but he's left me with a lot of chuckling memories - The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Reluctant Astronaut, and a small but memorable part as a psychiatrist in No Time for Sargeants etched his mark indelibly on the pop culture scene. Knotts even managed to make a rare late-in-life "comeback" following his appearance in Pleasantville as a tv repairman with a remote control that tossed two feuding siblings into a Leave It To Beaver-style, black and white sitcom world (curiously, Knotts' voice was overdubbed by a comedian for this film for some reason). That in turn led to many dinner theater appearances (especially here in Kansas City), and a whole new boom in fandom.

Gonna miss ya, Barn.

Looks like Barn finally got the corner room at the Y in the sky.:sniff:

Rumor has it he was hung like a racehorse and kept quite a stable of fillys, well into his senior years. ;)

5 Emmys in 6 years
 

He won 5 Emmys for playing Barney Fife between 1961-67, which shows how innovative he was compared to everyone else at the time.

If Phil Silvers, Sid Caeser, and Milton Berle represented the Golden Age of TV Comedy, Don Knotts ushered in the Silver Age. Barney Fife wasn't a character for a single sketch, but a well thought out whole person.

Don Knotts created a character that people could laugh at and sympathize with at the same time. A guy who everyone could admire and hope that even if he hit his thumb with the hammer the past 99 times, on the 100th try he might get lucky. Barney Fife will remain one of the best comic characters ever brought to television. Don Knotts was a comic genius.

I nominate Rich to deliver the eulogy. I heard that Andy Griffith was one of his final visitors. I took some measure of comfort from that. I think when we lose Andy, I'm not going to handle that very well. If I had to finish out my days on a deserted island with a complete collection of any single TV show, I'd pick the black and white episodes of the Andy Griffith Show. First Gilligan and now Barney. Dangit.

&!*@$!%*!!
 

And, in today's tragic twofer, Darren McGavin has passed at 83. Quirky, distinctive, and absolutely perfect as the father in A Christmas Story, which I had *just* finished labelling ten minutes before I saw the news item come across.

The Night Stalker has joined the denizens of the midnight streets.

Shit. I loved him in 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker'. It was one of the best horror shows ever put on television. It seems that Mr. McGavin held the show together. Unfortunately, the show was ahead of it's time.

I don't remember many leading roles after that, but he was a great character actor who could deliver a pithy line at the right moment.

Goddamn It...Now McCloud is Gone, Too
 

Been a bad couple of days for classic TV stars. Dennis Weaver has crossed through the veil at age 81 from complications of cancer.

Weaver broke in to the big time on Gunsmoke, and he also made a big splash as McCloud, the Western lawman in the big city. I, however, will always remember him as the terrorized Plymouth driver in Spielberg's first effort, "Duel", based on a classic Richard Matheson short story.

Marshall Dillon! Marshall Dillon! Chester is a' limpin' up to see Miss Kitty!

Don, Darren, and Dennis... Dead. Damn.

Damn, that sucks. I was pretty impressed by him. He was a champion of the earthships. He actually had his filmed while it was being built. I'm pretty sad about Don Knotts too.