Celebrity death that bummed you out the most...

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Along with Ferdinand Porsche, Marshall of the Marshall stacks, and Thomas Kinkaid.

[Sundae]

Shawnee has already marked his death, but I wanted to give his passing more gravitas.
Maurice Sendak has died.

Best known for Where the Wild Things Are, although he was a prolific author.
But if you are only known for one book, at least let it be the most perfect children's book ever.
Or at least in the top five. My top five. I'm sure he stayed at night worrying about that.

The book is almost poetry in its sparse prose.
It holds such appeal to children everywhere. And lasting appeal to those who never grew up.

Maurice Sendak you made an impact on my life with your talent.
Thank you so much.

[infinite monkey]

Sundae, he did an interview with Colbert. He was brilliant.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-col...e-sendak-pt--1

There's a part 2.

[glatt]

Tom Davis, writer for SNL, sidekick of Al Franken, died yesterday.

Tom Davis, ‘SNL’ writer and comedy partner of Al Franken, dies at 59
By T. Rees Shapiro, Published: July 19

Tom Davis, the longtime stand-up comedy partner of Al Franken and a writer who created many of the most memorable sketches on “Saturday Night Live,” including the alien “Coneheads,” which he dreamed up while on LSD, died July 19 at his home in Hudson, N.Y. He was 59.

He had a metastatic tonsil cancer, said his wife, Mimi Raleigh.

Mr. Davis and Franken began writing jokes together as teenagers at the private Blake School in Minneapolis, making mock announcements over the public address system, including a satirical Ku Klux Klan march called “Superpatrioticanticatholicsegregatious.”

They joined “Saturday Night Live” before its debut season in 1975 and shared a single apprentice writer's salary of $350 a week, where they collaborated on sketches culled from politics, pop culture, and the bizarre.

Mr. Davis said he spent a small fortune throughout his lifetime on marijuana, hashish, cocaine, LSD and heroin, and enjoyed the substances with his friends Timothy Leary, John Belushi and Jerry Garcia.

The idea for the “Coneheads” came after a drug-fueled vacation to Easter Island with Dan Aykroyd, where Mr. Davis hallucinated that his own forehead had grown 10 inches.

Mr. Davis created the recurring Steve Martin character “Theodoric of York,” a medieval barber who dispatched sage advice on medicine and the law.

In one skit, Theodoric is called upon to rule judgment against a criminal, John the Tanner, who was accused of adultery.

“You were found guilty of theft and your right arm was cut off,” Theodoric says. “You were found guilty of lying and your tongue was cut out. Now, hmm, adultery.”

One of Mr. Davis’s best-known sketches was the scene in which culinary doyenne Julia Child tries to remain calm after she cuts the “dickens out of my finger.” She bleeds profusely all over her holiday chicken and shrieks, before passing out, “Save the liver! Save the liver!”
...

also

The two were largely inseparable and worked in tandem for much of their comedy careers. Franken even named his daughter in his best friend's honor, Thomasin Davis Franken.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by glatt

Tom Davis, writer for SNL, sidekick of Al Franken, died yesterday.

He and Franken were the baggage handlers transporting the gorilla in "Trading Places".

[wolf]

He's movin' on up to a dee-luxe apartment in the sky ...

[Gravdigr]

For those that didn't get Wolf's reference, Sherman Hemsley, of tv's "The Jeffersons" has died at the age of 74.

Never married, no children.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by wolf

He's movin' on up to a dee-luxe apartment in the sky ...

I was gonna post the same... greatish minds. From South Philly apparently.

[BrianR]

I thought he was living in El Paso?

Yes, celebrities live there. More than one. My wife once took me on the tour.

I still think the place is a craphole.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by BrianR

I thought he was living in El Paso?

Yes, celebrities live there. More than one. My wife once took me on the tour.

I still think the place is a craphole.

Chad Everett had a bit of a write up, and a clip from him... followed by a two sentence notice about Mr Helmsley. I was saddened to hear it described as "was found in his home in El Paso". Found? That's sad.

[Undertoad]

Good night Marvin Hamlisch, age 68.

I always remember him on Merv Griffin, behind the piano, talking about how he adapted Scott Joplin when he scored "The Sting". It was so perfect for the film, it renewed interest in ragtime. Ragtime FFS! And every kid who played piano that year was forever begged to bang out "The Entertainer".

He was also responsible for "A Chorus Line" which every theater person either has a true fondness for, or at least has heard their friends riffing on "One!..... singular sensation, every little step she takes..."

[Sundae]

Only just found out that Crowded House's drummer, Peter Jones died in May this year.
Not big news over here, despite him being English.

He replaced one of my pop heroes, Paul Hester. After the band separated in the mid-nineties he pursued a career in music and television but hanged himself in 2005. Peter Jones replaced him when he band reformed. BIG shoes to fill.

Jones died at the age of 45 of brain cancer.
I saw him live twice and although I cannot judge him as a musician, he was a presence on stage and certainly competent. I don't mean to damn him with faint praise - just that Hestie was such a character in live shows.

RIP Peter Jones. I didn't mark your passing and that bums me out.

And all I want is something I can write about
And all I want is something I can cry about...

[Gravdigr]

Damn Vevo.



The hell you say...

[wolf]

Phyllis Diller is back with Fang.

Nobody could wear a maribou dress like she could.

[ZenGum]

What a life. 95 years, and she didn't look an operation over 60.