Rest In Peace

[Slim Cognito]

He was my first exposure to political humor.

[Luke]

Awww, one of my favorites and an amazing guy.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Japanese electronic music maestro dies
Published 42 minutes ago

The renowned Japanese composer and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto, admired for his electronic music experimentation, has died aged 71.

He won awards - including an Oscar, a Grammy and Bafta - for his work as a solo artist and as a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO).

Sakamoto had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time in 2021. His office said he died on Tuesday.

He starred in the film Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence with David Bowie in 1983.

His film score for The Last Emperor, in 1987, won him an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. He also acted in the movie, an epic about the life of Puyi, last emperor of China.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainmen ... gn=KARANGA

Listening to this now, it's beautiful.

[RTH10260]

Seymour Stein, music mogul who discovered Madonna, Talking Heads and more, dies aged 80
Influential executive co-founded Sire Records and signed Lou Reed, the Ramones and introduced the Smiths and the Cure to the US

Sian Cai
Mon 3 Apr 2023 03.14 BST

Seymour Stein, the music executive who launched the careers of Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones, and introduced the Cure, Depeche Mode and the Smiths to America, has died aged 80.

Stein died on Sunday morning in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, a spokesperson for the family confirmed to Variety.

As the co-founder of label Sire Records, Stein nurtured talents spanning pop to punk to new wave, including Madonna, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Depeche Mode, the Ramones, the Pretenders, the Smiths, the Cure, the Replacements, Aphex Twin and many more. Stein came to be known as the king of 80s pop, and continued to fly around the world hunting for new talent well into his 70s.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/ ... es-aged-80

[pipistrelle]

Last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor

The last surviving prosecutor from the post-World War Two Nuremberg trials has died aged 103.
Ben Ferencz was just 27 when he secured the convictions of Nazi officers for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He later advocated for the establishment of an international court to prosecute war crimes, a goal realised in 2002.
Ferencz died peacefully in his sleep on Friday evening at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Florida.

[RTH10260]

Norman Reynolds obituary
Production designer who helped create the look of the Star Wars films and of the Indiana Jones adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark

Ryan Gilbey
Sun 9 Apr 2023 16.08 BST

The production designer and art director Norman Reynolds, who has died aged 89, concealed a career in Hollywood blockbusters by telling people he made biscuits for a living. In fact, he played an integral role in bringing to fruition two of the most successful franchises in cinema history. As art director in a team that also included the production designer John Barry, his fellow art director Leslie Dilley and the set decorator Roger Christian, Reynolds helped create the Oscar-winning look of the original Star Wars (1977), which was simultaneously spectacular and lived-in. The impression it gave was of a future that had seen better days.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/a ... -star-wars

[somerset]

Al Jaffee, longtime Mad magazine cartoonist, dead at 102

https://apnews.com/article/al-jafee-mad ... b0daa5d571

NEW YORK (AP) — Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” has died. He was 102.

Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99.

Mad magazine, with its wry, sometimes pointed send-ups of politics and culture, was essential reading for teens and preteens during the baby-boom era and inspiration for countless future comedians. Few of the magazine’s self-billed “Usual Gang of Idiots” contributed as much — and as dependably — as the impish, bearded cartoonist. For decades, virtually every issue featured new material by Jaffee. His collected “Fold-Ins,” taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011.



The idea was so popular that Mad editor Al Feldstein wanted a follow-up. Jaffee devised a picture of 1964 GOP presidential contenders Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater that, when collapsed, became an image of Richard Nixon.

[Volkonski]

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Mad Magazine was the best thing to happen to kids in the 60's. No need for drugs.

[johnpcapitalist]

Mad Magazine was the best thing to happen to kids in the 60's. No need for drugs.

It ain't just for kids. I had a subscription from my early teens until around age 50. Proudly renewed it every year.

[somerset]

Mad Magazine was the best thing to happen to kids in the 60's. No need for drugs.

It ain't just for kids. I had a subscription from my early teens until around age 50. Proudly renewed it every year.

In my old laboratory, we subscribed to various magazines that we kept in the reception area: Semiconductor International, Microelectronics Reliability, Sports Illustrated and Mad Magazine. My customers were primarily IC design engineers. Guess which magazine got regularly stolen?

[Phoenix520]

MAD at as one of the things my parents bickered about. Mom thought it was vulgar (at first. She came around) while Dad thought we needed to be able to discern what deserved to be mocked about society.

[johnpcapitalist]

Mad Magazine was the best thing to happen to kids in the 60's. No need for drugs.

It ain't just for kids. I had a subscription from my early teens until around age 50. Proudly renewed it every year.

In my old laboratory, we subscribed to various magazines that we kept in the reception area: Semiconductor International, Microelectronics Reliability, Sports Illustrated and Mad Magazine. My customers were primarily IC design engineers. Guess which magazine got regularly stolen?

I'm going to guess it was Chemical-Mechanical Planarization Monthly, because of those "Foxy Flatmate" centerfolds in every issue.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/ac ... r-AA19Wyh7

Acclaimed jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal dies at 92

Ahmad Jamal was a lifelong friend of jazz icon Miles Davis and influenced a generation of musicians.

He was know for a sparse playing style - often placing silence between notes - and critics hailed his "less is more dynamics".

He said during his life that he liked to honour what he described as the spaces in the music.

He started his seven-decade jazz career as a teenager in the bebop age of virtuosic showmanship - but his style evolved rapidly.

His laid-back approach quickly became influential and commercial success followed with his 1958 album At the Pershing: But Not for Me - one of the best-selling instrumental records of its time.

In a piece written last year to mark the release of some of his unissued recordings, the magazine the New Yorker wrote that in the 1950s, "his musical concept was one of the great innovations of the time, even if its spare, audacious originality was lost on many listeners".

Jamal's life long friend, the trumpeter Miles Davis, once said: "All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal."

In his autobiography, Davis wrote that Jamal "knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages".

This was a sentiment echoed by Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett, among others.

Even in later decades his influence was evident, with his piano riffs sampled by hip hop artists including Nas and De La Soul.

[humblescribe]

The Deep Purple fell on April Stevens.

https://oxgaps.org/april-stevens/




Bob Crane on his KNX morning drive program played this song a lot. I loved it!

(Yes, THAT Bob Crane.)

[much ado]

Dame Edna Everidge

NY Times gift: Barry Humphries (Dame Edna to You, Possums) Is Dead at 89

[poplove]

Len Goodman, from Dancing with the Stars, at 78.

[Flatpoint High]

HARRY BELAFONTE, 96

[Foggy]

Oh, no.

[AndyinPA]

Harry Belafonte, age 96.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/ha ... smsnnews11

[Kendra]

When I was a child, #HarryBelafonte showed up for my family in very compassionate ways.

In fact, he paid for the babysitter for me and my siblings.

Here he is mourning with my mother at the funeral service for my father at Morehouse College.

I won’t forget…Rest well, sir.

[Foggy]

(my Beetlejuice post is Harry Belafonte)

[Dr. Ken]

Jerry Springer

[sugar magnolia]

Well, not peace, but at least she's dead.

https://www.wlbt.com/2023/04/27/carolyn ... -has-died/

[Patagoniagirl]

Well, not peace, but at least she's dead.

https://www.wlbt.com/2023/04/27/carolyn ... -has-died/

Anyone know if she ever expressed remorse?

[John Thomas8]