Fogbow

Songwriter Cynthia Weil, who had hits with husband Barry Mann, honored at California memorial

Weil, the Grammy-winning lyricist who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped compose “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “Walking in the Rain” and dozens of other timeless tunes, died last week at age 82.

Weil and Mann were one of popular music’s most successful teams, part of a crew of young songwriters based in Manhattan’s Brill Building neighborhood, near Times Square. With such hit-making duos as King and Gerry Goffin and Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the Brill Building hit factory turned out many of the biggest singles of the ’60s and beyond.

The couple was collaborators with producer Phil Spector on songs for the Ronettes (“Walking in the Rain”), the Crystals (“He’s Sure the Boy I Love”) and other singers, and also provided hits for everyone from Lionel Richie to Leo Sayer.

Their most famous collaboration, a song that would become historic, was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” a soulful anthem produced by Spector with epic strings and sung with desperate intensity by the Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” topped the charts in 1965 and was covered by numerous other artists.

Appearing at the memorial via a recorded video, Bill Medley said Weil and Mann didn’t just write the Righteous Brothers a hit, “They wrote us a career!” According to Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), no other song was played more on radio and television in the 20th century.

Dolly Parton, who also appeared on video, recalled her career being sent “out into space” when the country star scored a crossover pop hit in 1977 with “Here You Come Again," written by Weil and Mann.

Treat Williams, the actor best known for playing Dr. Andy Brown on the Greg Berlanti-produced Everwood, has died, Deadline has confirmed. The actor was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dorset, Vermont. He was 71.

His family issued the following statement to Deadline, which reads in part, “Treat was full of love for his family, for his life and for his craft, and was truly at the top of his game in all of it…To all his fans, please know that Treat appreciated all of you and please continue to keep him in your hearts and prayers.”

Patagoniagirl wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 6:57 am Cormack McCarthy has put the lid on his typewriter. RIP.

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 7:18 am

Patagoniagirl wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 6:57 am Cormack McCarthy has put the lid on his typewriter. RIP.

RIP, but I must say I wasn’t a fan. I read The Road and No Country For Old Men and found them bitterly depressing.

About The Road in particular, I remember thinking, they’re going to make ninth graders read this in school - just like we had to read Bless the Beasts and Children, which sent me into a depressive funk it took me a long time to emerge from.

Kendra wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 8:22 pm

A bit spoilerish for those not familiar with the movie/play. RIP.

Glenda Jackson, who has died aged 87, had a career unmatched by any of her contemporaries. From 1957 to 1992 she enjoyed huge success on stage, film (twice winning an Oscar) and television. From 1992 to 2015 she was a Labour MP, first for Hampstead and Highgate and then for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, becoming a notably outspoken backbencher. In 2016 she returned to acting as a magnificent King Lear at the Old Vic, London; later, on Broadway, shewon a Tony award for her performance in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women.

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, dies aged 92
Analyst who leaked studies showing US government knew the Vietnam war was un-winnable became activist and writer

Martin Pengelly in New York
Fri 16 Jun 2023 20.04 BST

Daniel Ellsberg, a US government analyst who became one of the most famous whistleblowers in world politics when he leaked the Pentagon Papers, has died. He was 92. His death was confirmed by his family on Friday.

‘I’ve never regretted doing it’: Daniel Ellsberg on 50 years since leaking the Pentagon Papers

In March, Ellsberg announced that he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Saying he had been given three to six months to live, he said he had chosen not to undergo chemotherapy and had been assured of hospice care.

“I am not in any physical pain,” Ellsberg wrote then, adding: “My cardiologist has given me license to abandon my salt-free diet of the last six years. This has improved my life dramatically: the pleasure of eating my favourite foods!”

On Friday, the family said Ellsberg “was not in pain” when he died “surrounded by his family”. He spent his final months eating “hot chocolate, croissants, cake, poppyseed bagels and lox” and enjoying “several viewings of his all-time favourite [movie], Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” their statement added.

“In his final days, surrounded by so much love from so many people, Daniel joked, ‘If I had known dying would be like this, I would have done it sooner … ’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... lower-dies

Hikers have found human remains in a Southern California mountain area where British-born actor Julian Sands disappeared five months ago, authorities said.

The body was discovered at around 10am on Saturday in wilderness near Mount Baldy and was transported to the coroner’s office for identification next week, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Additional details were not immediately available.

Sands, a 65-year-old avid hiker and mountaineer, was reported missing on 13 January after setting out on the peak that rises more than 10,000ft (3,048 meters) east of Los Angeles. The region was pounded by severe storms during winter.

John Goodenough, who became the oldest Nobel Prize winner in 2019 for his work developing the lithium-ion battery which allows for rechargeable power in devices ranging from mobile phones to electric cars, has died aged 100.

Key points:

• The scientific leader died on Sunday, the University of Texas said
• He became the oldest Nobel Prize winner in 2019, when he was 97
• His work laid the groundwork for commercial rechargeable batteries

The American "was a leader at the cutting edge of scientific research throughout the many decades of his career", said Jay Hartzell, president of the University of Texas at Austin where Mr Goodenough was a faculty member for 37 years.

The scientist died on Sunday at an assisted living facility in Austin, the university announced. No cause of death was given.

Mr Goodenough was the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize when he shared the award with British-born American scientist M. Stanley Whittingham and Japan's Akira Yoshino.

"Live to 97 and you can do anything," he said when the Nobel was awarded, adding that he was grateful he wasn't forced to retire at 65.

Three researchers have won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for the development of lithium-ion batteries, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced.

John Goodenough of the US, at 97-years-old the oldest person to be awarded a Nobel prize, Britain's Stanley Whittingham, and Japan's Akira Yoshino will share the nine million Swedish kronor (more than $1.3 million) prize sum.

"This lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles... [and] can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society," the jury said.

"Lithium batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991," it said, adding they were "of the greatest benefit to humankind".

Grumpy Git wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 4:40 pm British actor Julian Sands confirmed dead after human remains found in Californian mountain range are identified.

RIP.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64328590

Alan Arkin, Oscar winning actor in Little Miss Sunshine, dies aged 89

The veteran US actor won multiple Academy Award and Emmy nominations for his film and TV roles during a 65-year career

Alan Arkin, the veteran US actor whose multi-decade career spanned the likes of Catch-22, Edward Scissorhands and Little Miss Sunshine (for which he won an Oscar), has died aged 89. His sons confirmed the news in a statement to People magazine, saying: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”