RIP Neil Peart, drummer for Rush:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/neil-peart-obit-1.5422806
Very sad. I am a huge Rush fan and a (very) amateur drummer, this one is a big bummer. A shame he didn't have a chance to enjoy his retirement.
Bless me now with your fierce tears XII
Tue, 2020-01-14 11:56
#52
Fri, 2020-01-17 01:20
#53
Bonnie Burstow; author, activist, anarchist, professor, and rabble blogger
Those who knew Burstow would agree that it seems fitting for her to have the last word on her death, a message she left for her friends, family, students, colleagues and fellow activists.
“I love you, and my life has been enriched by what we have shared together,” she wrote. “I have thought of you often as the decades rolled by, usually with excitement, oh, so often with wonder and gratitude. What times we have had! Personally. In some cases, professionally. In some, communally. And what a mitzvah it has been to think, and talk, and hope, and dream, and disrupt, and create, and build, and tread together through time and space and meaning! Take care of the world. Shalom.”
Fri, 2020-01-17 10:08
#54
Very sorry to hear that, but love her farewell, and her fire-red shirt!
Wed, 2020-02-12 10:04
#55
Sat, 2020-03-21 10:33
#56
Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as Lucille, Lady and Islands in the Stream and embraced his persona as "The Gambler" on record and on TV died Friday night. He was 81.
He died at home in Sandy Springs, Ga., representative Keith Hagan told The Associated Press. He was under hospice care and died of natural causes, Hagan said.
The Houston-born performer with the husky voice and silver beard sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammys and was the star of TV movies based on "The Gambler" and other songs, making him a superstar in the `70s and '80s. Rogers thrived for some 60 years before retired from touring in 2017 at age 79. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer.
Sat, 2020-03-21 17:15
#57
I have things to say about him, but not right after his death. I'll say those at another time.
Mon, 2020-03-23 19:34
#58
Joyce Milgaard, who spent decades fighting tirelessly for the exoneration of her wrongfully convicted son, David Milgaard, has died after a lengthy illness, his brother said on Sunday.
Milgaard, 89, a mother of four, died in a care home in Winnipeg on Saturday, Chris Milgaard told the Canadian Press from Regina.
"My mom didn't totally like it in the care home because she wasn't quite as free to do things as she wanted but she's doing what she wants now," he said. "She really couldn't be stopped."
Her death was apparently unrelated to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Joyce Milgaard became a relentless advocate after her 16-year-old son was charged with the rape and first-degree murder of nursing aide Gail Miller, 20, in Saskatoon in 1969. Despite his protestations of innocence, he would spend 23 years in prison before being released in 1992.
His mother spent several more years fighting for his complete exoneration — which occurred when DNA evidence finally excluded him as Miller's killer in 1997 — and to see him compensated. The Saskatchewan government gave him $10 million.
Mon, 2020-03-30 11:12
#59
Country star Joe Diffie, 61, from coronavirus
In tribute, I will note that he has been propped up beside the jukebox.
Thu, 2020-04-02 13:48
#60
Mel Watkins, economist, professor, one of the founders of the Waffle, and frequent rabble contributer; passed away earlier this morning at the age of 87.
Thu, 2020-04-02 22:05
#61
laine lowe
I just saw the notice on Facebook, Douglas. Thanks for posting.
Lots of tributes pouring in on his site. I am so sorry that we have all lost a great socialist voice, advocate for advancing the welfare of society and economic warrior who knew how to explain alternative economic models in a clear and easily understood way. RIP Mel.
Fri, 2020-04-03 05:06
#62
Sad to hear that.
Fri, 2020-04-03 13:34
#63
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/04/manolis-glezos-obituary-greece-nazi-r... At 19, Manolis tore down the Nazi flag over the Acropolis, life of struggle for many decades afterwards.
Fri, 2020-04-03 21:41
#64
laine lowe
Speaking of amazing and important voices, Bill Withers also passed away. Here he is performing his great song, "Lean on Me" with Stevie Wonder and John Legend.
Sun, 2020-04-05 17:21
#65
Shirley Douglas, 86
She attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England, where she acted in theatre and TV and participated in anti-nuclear marches.
In the '60s and '70s, while living in California, Douglas campaigned against the Vietnam War and protested for various politicial and social causes.
She also helped to establish a fundraising group called Friends of the Black Panthers. Her support for the group brought controversy, though -- she was refused a U.S. work permit and arrested in 1969 on conspiracy charges of possessing unregistered explosives. The courts eventually dismissed the case and exonerated her.
Douglas's other activism included co-founding the first chapter in Canada of the Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament.
She said she never worried whether standing up for what she believed in -- even in the days of the so-called Hollywood black list -- would hurt her acting career.
"I think to live your life you have to live it, and if you see something that offends you morally or any other way you have to follow that and take it up," Douglas told The Canadian Press, noting she also had support from many fellow actors and filmmakers.
"I know a lot of McCarthy-ite victims. It was hard for them but really they had no choice. And when you have no choice and you see something, it's like if you see a child going to be run over by a car -- you grab the child.
"And for me, many things that I see wrong are as obvious as grabbing a child and so what else would you do?"
[...]
Perhaps her biggest role, though, was as a champion for medicare.
Douglas would speak of the importance of a universal health-care system at virtually any opportunity and lobbied government officials and fundraised for the cause.
She was also a national spokeswoman for the Canada Health Coalition lobby group and was involved in the Toronto Health Coalition and the Friends of Medicare Toronto.
"Let us never forget that the federal government is the guardian and enforcer of the five principles of the Canada Health Act: universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness and public administration," she said in a statement on behalf of the Canadian Health Coalition during the 2011 federal election campaign.
Mon, 2020-04-06 18:49
#66
Pat Capponi, writer, anti-poverty and mental health activist; 70
From Pat:
"Good morning. Having my last coffee, listening to the birds. I chose the earliest day available to avoid possible new rules or restrictions or catching this virus. The only hardship has been getting to this day, Friday afternoon finally received all the directions of where to go and when. The other hard thing is leaving without knowing how you will all do in this time of trial. Know that I know you are scared, if I had a hundred hands they’d be resting on your shoulders encouraging and believing in you. Cancer is the least of my concerns, I am not beaten or defeated by it, I will walk into the room under my own steam, and accept the mercy shot. Think of me around high noon, and thank you for the comments and love and support. What a life you’ve allowed me!
Around high noon would you post the link for the video What Reva Taught Me, share widely as possible, love having the last word for the day!
Courage!"Attached is a video for you to watch.
Mon, 2020-04-06 19:51
#67
laine lowe
Wow, what an amazing person and touching farewell message. And such a loss to the social justice movement.
RIP Pat Capponi.
Wed, 2020-04-08 01:14
#68
Coronavirus has now killed the legendary Texas songwriter John Prine:
https://variety.com/2020/music/news/john-prine-dead-dies-singer-coronavi...
Damn.
Wed, 2020-04-08 09:59
#69
..first became aware of john prine at the very 1st wpg folk festival back in the early '70's. sweet honey in the rock was there, country joe and the fish, joan baez, joni mitchell..an all star lineup. everyone was so very young back then.
John Prine - Please Don't Bury Me
Sun, 2020-04-12 14:57
#70
Oilers forward Colby Cave, age 25:
Edmonton Oilers forward Colby Cave has died after suffering a brain bleed earlier this week.The 25-year-old native of Battleford, Sask., had been in a medically induced coma in a Toronto hospital.
The Oilers confirmed Cave's death with a statement from Cave's wife, Emily.
"I and both our families are in shock but know our Colby was loved dearly by us, his family and friends, the entire hockey community, and many more. We thank everyone for their prayers during this difficult time," the statement said.
Let this serve as a reminder that before coronavirus came and after it goes, life always has and always will be fragile. No amount of medical advances will ever change that fundamental fact. Let it serve as a reminder to always live the best life that you can and to never take anything for granted.
Sun, 2020-04-12 17:20
#71
So young.
I'd never heard of him, but the photo at the link is heartbreaking.
Sun, 2020-04-12 17:35
#72
So young.I'd never heard of him, but the photo at the link is heartbreaking.
Even more heartbreaking that his wife couldn't be with him to say goodbye because of the covid situation.
Mon, 2020-04-13 00:38
#73
So young.I'd never heard of him, but the photo at the link is heartbreaking.
Even more heartbreaking that his wife couldn't be with him to say goodbye because of the covid situation.
Wasn't that her in the photo in the tweet? The one that was taken from what looked like the head of his hospital bed?
Mon, 2020-04-13 01:49
#74
So young.I'd never heard of him, but the photo at the link is heartbreaking.
Even more heartbreaking that his wife couldn't be with him to say goodbye because of the covid situation.
Wasn't that her in the photo in the tweet? The one that was taken from what looked like the head of his hospital bed?
I don't know exactly when the picutre in the article was taken, but she did say:
"Colby's parents and myself got to see him through a window and talk to him with a walkie-talkie last night. We are no longer allowed to be in the hospital because COVID-19 rules. We have no idea when we will be allowed to see him again.
"The nurse has tied his wedding band to his ankle. I am dreaming of being able to touch you, hear your voice, squeeze your hand (three times) and kiss you again. I love you so much, and my heart is shattered into a million pieces without my best friend."
Tue, 2020-04-14 16:43
#75
In any case, a great loss for those who knew this young man. I wonder if anything that happened to him on the ice would have played a role in the development of that cyst.
Mon, 2020-05-04 21:12
#76
Sat, 2020-05-09 15:28
#77
Little Richard
Sat, 2020-05-09 20:01
#78
The best tribute the record industry and everyone else could pay to Little Richard's memory would be to destroy all remaining copies of the Pat Boone version of "Tutti Frutti".
If there's one song that should NEVER be have been covered by a homophobe...
Sat, 2020-05-09 21:03
#79
laine lowe
Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy has passed away of the COVID-19 virus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/obituaries/roy-horn-dead-covid.html
Mon, 2020-05-11 11:32
#80
Little Richard - Freedom Blues - 1970
Mon, 2020-05-11 20:52
#81
laine lowe
Mon, 2020-05-11 21:34
#82
Stiller and Meara: Hershey Horowitz Mary Elizabeth Doyle wedding plans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=UH86NXcvosI&feature=emb_logo
Sat, 2020-05-16 15:13
#83
Astrid Kircherr, the Hamburg photographer who dated early Beatle Stu Sutcliffe before and after Stu left the group. who took some of the earliest group photos of the Beatles, and who is generally credited with creating the "Beatle haircut"-a style which was worn by her earlier boyfriend, Klaus Voormann, before the Beatles themselves wore it, age 81:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/beatles-photographer-astrid-kirchhe...
Sat, 2020-05-16 20:38
#84
laine lowe
Another comedic talent lost, Fred Willard. I read that one of his last tweets was to honour Jerry Stiller's passing.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/comedic-actor-fred-willard-dead-1....
Sun, 2020-05-17 06:09
#85
Kirchherr had quite the style herself! Will be looking up some of her post-Beatles work.
Sun, 2020-05-17 14:40
#86
Kirchherr had quite the style herself! Will be looking up some of her post-Beatles work.
If you can find it anywhere, watch the movie BACKBEAT-which is about the Beatles' Hamburg years, but is also probably the closest thing we will ever get to an Astrid Kircherr biopic.
Tue, 2020-05-19 12:14
#87
Yes, I'd love to see that.
Wed, 2020-05-27 13:08
#88
Larry Kramer, writer, and co-founder of ACT UP and the Gay Men's Health Crisis
Wed, 2020-05-27 18:31
#89
Larry Kramer was given a terminal diagnoses, owing to AIDS, in 1988. It is a tribute to the man's passion and determination, and to the power of a just cause in keeping a person going, that he won thirty-two more years of brilliant, angry life to fight on for the LGBTQ community and a meaningful, effective official response to HIV-AIDS.
Wed, 2020-05-27 18:47
#90
Ken, yes, heroic (though I don't want to diss anyone who was unable to survive for so long. Thinking of two close friends and comrades,
Wed, 2020-05-27 18:48
#91
Ken, yes, heroic (though I don't want to diss anyone who was unable to survive for so long. Thinking of two close friends and comrades,
Wed, 2020-05-27 19:12
#92
Ken, yes, heroic (though I don't want to diss anyone who was unable to survive for so long. Thinking of two close friends and comrades,
Good point, and I meant no disrespect to anyone who fell in that epidemic at an earlier age-a group that included at least two of my friends, btw.
Wed, 2020-06-17 04:18
#93
Delbert Africa (MOVE - 9) has passed.
April 2, 1944 - June 15, 2020
Travel well. Enjoy the view...
Tue, 2020-06-30 11:54
#94
Carl Reiner dead at 98. Truely one of the last remaining giants..
Tue, 2020-06-30 13:29
#95
And as late as yesterday morning, still railing against Trump.
https://twitter.com/carlreiner/status/1277716128823836672?s=20
Tue, 2020-06-30 14:59
#96
The only good thing we can say here is that Mel Brooks, at 2,000 years old, lives on.
Mon, 2020-07-20 21:38
#97
Mon, 2020-07-20 22:43
#98
laine lowe
I just hear about Michael Brooks passing on Facebook. I never realy knew of him and I wish I had. Seems way too young.
Seems like an oversight that nobody mentioned the passing of civil rights activist and congress representative, John Lewis.
Wed, 2020-07-22 07:18
#99
Yes, I confess I didn't even think to do so as news of Lewis's demise was prominent in news media throughout the world, and brought back how perillous it was to challenge Jim Crow in its heartland and even farther north.
Thu, 2020-08-13 18:04
#100
Misfit
Canadian jazz icon, Salome Bey, passed away on August 8, 2020. She was an American born Canadian blues and jazz singer.
According to wiki,
"Born to a middle-class African-Americanfamily in New Jersey, Bey formed a vocal group with her brother Andy Bey and sister Geraldine Bey (de Haas), known as Andy and the Bey Sisters, performing in local clubs and touring North America and Europe. After moving to Toronto in 1964 and playing the jazz club circuit, she became known as "Canada's First Lady of Blues". Bey appeared on Broadway in Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award for her work on the cast album. She put together a blues & jazz cabaret show on the history of black music, Indigo - which earned her the Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding performance. The show was later taped for TV networks.
Bey recorded two albums with Horace Silver, and released live albums of her performances with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and at the Montreux Jazz Festival. She received the Toronto Arts Award for her contributions to the performing arts in 1992, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for lifetime achievement from the Black Theatre Workshop of Montreal in 1996.
Beginning in her early sixties, Bey began showing signs of dementia. As of 2011 her illness had progressed to the point that she could no longer perform.[3]
Bey was a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.[4]"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_Bey
I remember as a child seeing her perform for a Canada Day program televised from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. I was so proud that she was Canadian and was our very own special internationally recognized and famous jazz and blues singer. My two very favourite singers then were Salome Bey and Buffy St. Marie.
This is her recording of the song, "Hit the Nail Right on the Head".
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PG8M-nQZXkk
Wed, 2020-08-19 01:31
#101
Former Winnipeg Jet Dale Hawerchuk, 57
Dale Hawerchuk, a hockey phenom who became the face of the Winnipeg Jets en route to the Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 57 after a battle with cancer.
The Ontario Hockey League's Barrie Colts, a team Hawerchuk coached, confirmed the death on Twitter on Tuesday.