Zappa.com

Sad to hear Aspy. Hope you are okay.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

I just heard, aspy. I'm sorry for your loss. big hug.

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Country music + Black music = Rock and Roll

Jim Lemon, 78; Star Batter For Old Washington Senators
Jim Lemon, 78, a star hitter with the Washington Senators in the late 1950s who later was a batting instructor for the Minnesota Twins, died May 14 at his home in Brandon, Miss. He had melanoma.

Mr. Lemon, an outfielder, was sold to the Senators in 1954 from the Cleveland Indians. He spent two years in the minor leagues and then proved a successful slugger for the Senators before the team moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul in late 1960 and became the Minnesota Twins.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/14/AR2006051400957.html

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"If Frank Zappa cut a fart and mixed it to stereo, I'd buy it!" - jimmie d

Clarabell the Clown dead at 84
Lew Anderson was final version of Buffalo Bob sidekick


NEW YORK (AP) -- Lew Anderson, who captivated young baby boomers as the Howdy Doody Show's final Clarabell the Clown, has died at the age of 84.

The musician and actor died Sunday in Hawthorne of complications of prostate cancer, said his son, Christopher Anderson.

Long mute as Clarabell, Anderson broke the clown's silence in the show's final episode in 1960. With trembling lips and a visible tear in his eye, he spoke the show's final words: "Goodbye, kids."

Though Anderson was not the only man to play "Buffalo Bob" Smith's mute sidekick, he was the best, Smith said in his memoir.

With the Peanut Gallery looking on, Anderson used bicycle horns to give yes and no answers. For more expressive moments, he wielded a bottle of seltzer.

The show, which launched in 1947 when televisions were still a novelty, was the first network weekday children's show. Anderson joined "Doodyville," a circus town peopled with puppets and human actors and watched by a Peanut Gallery of kids, in the mid 1950's.

Though his fame as Clarabell followed him throughout his life, Anderson was also a success as a musician and bandleader. In recent years, his All-American Big Band appeared on Friday nights at New York's Birdland jazz club.

Anderson was born in 1922 in Kirkman, Iowa. He started a band while serving in the Navy during World War II and later toured the Midwest with bands before landing in New York.

It was when he joined the Honey Dreamers, a singing group that appeared on radio and early television shows, that he met Smith and became a clown

"Clarabell just fell into his lap," said his stepdaughter, Lorie George.

Anderson followed Bobby Nicholson, who later played Doodyville's J. Cornelius Cobb, into the role. The first to play the mute clown was Bob Keeshan, who later became known as Captain Kangaroo.

Anderson, who lived in South Salem, is survived by his wife, Peggy, two sons, his stepdaughter and five grandchildren.

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This world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness.

Freddie Garrity, the lead singer of the 1960s pop band Freddie and the Dreamers, has died in hospital.
The 69-year-old, originally from Manchester, had been receiving treatment for what were described as "circulation problems".

He died on Friday at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, north Wales.

The five-piece band had success in both Britain and the US with hits such as I'm Telling You Now and You Were Made For Me.

Mr Garrity, who lived in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, was on holiday with his wife Christine when he was taken to hospital.

A family friend, Eric St John-Foti, said Mr Garrity had been suffering from circulation problems.

He was married three times and leaves four children - a daughter by his first wife, Josie, and a son and two daughters by his second wife, Deirdre.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

DO THE FREDDIE! I've got a nice compilation cd that I play a few times a year. Nice upbeat stuff.

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"If Frank Zappa cut a fart and mixed it to stereo, I'd buy it!" - jimmie d

"I knew John Kennedy, John Kennedy was a friend of mine, and you Senator, are no John Kennedy". - Lloyd Bentsen addressing Dan Quayle



Ex-Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen dies at 85: AP
--11:15am - By Gabriel Madway
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Former Senator, Treasury Secretary and vice-presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen has died, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing family members. He was 85. Bentsen, a Democrat from Texas, served 22 years in the Senate, six years in the House of Representatives and ran for vice president on the ticket with Michael Dukakis in 1988. Bentsen was secretary of the Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton.

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"If Frank Zappa cut a fart and mixed it to stereo, I'd buy it!" - jimmie d

Man that was a killer debate where he said that quote. He let Dan have it.

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Raï singer Cheikha Rimitti died at 83 on May 15th.

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condamné pour l'eternité

Reggae legend Desmond Dekker dies

Reggae singer Desmond Dekker has died suddenly from a heart attack, aged 64.


Dekker's last gig was in Leeds on 11 May (Photo: egigs.co.uk)

Dekker, whose 1969 hit Israelites was the first reggae song to top the UK charts, collapsed at his Surrey home.

Manager Delroy Williams said the Jamaica-born performer had seemed fine when they met a day earlier, adding: "I don't think I will ever get over this."



Reggae DJ Daddy Ernie, of Choice FM in London, said: "Any history book that you pick up on reggae, Desmond Dekker's name will have to be in there."

He added: "People like Desmond Dekker only come along once in a lifetime. This is one of the pioneers that has passed away - his place is definitely cemented in reggae history."

Mark Lamarr, presenter of BBC Radio 2's Reggae Show, said: "He probably was the first reggae superstar to have hits outside Jamaica in the US and UK.

"I saw him live dozens of times and he couldn't do a bad show - he was always magnificent."

Peaceful

Mr Williams said Dekker had led the way for reggae stars such as Bob Marley.

"Desmond was the first legend, believe it or not," he said.

"When he released Israelites nobody had heard of Bob Marley - he paved the way for all of them."


Surely only second to Bob Marley in terms of importance of bringing reggae music to the masses
Mitchell Stirling, Rochester, UK


The star was divorced with a son and daughter.

He had been due to perform at the Respect Festival in Prague on 2 June, and numerous dates across Europe during the summer.

His last concert was at Leeds Metropolitan University on 11 May.

"He was at his peak fitness, he had this big tour coming up for this summer and he was looking forward to it - and then that was it," Mr Williams said.

"He died peacefully but it still hurts. I was his manager and his best friend. I don't think anyone knew how close we were - we go back so far."

He added: "I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye properly."

Chart-topper

Dekker was born on 16 July 1941 in Kingston, Jamaica, and began his working life as a welder before turning to singing full-time.


Dekker's hits included Israelites, It Mek and 007 (Shanty Town)

His band Desmond Dekker and the Aces topped the UK charts with Israelites, which also made the US top 10.

He moved to the UK in the '70s, later recording the hit You Can Get It If You Really Want, written by Jimmy Cliff.

The musician's popularity waned in the late '70s and '80s, and Dekker was declared bankrupt in 1984.

But a new version of Israelites was released in 1990 and used in television commercials, boosting the star's popularity.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5018910.stm

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

For Desmond....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e2aRfqp1sY&search=Israelites

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Dont know much about dancin'....

That's the Eighties remixed version, I like the tune a lot, but I never dug that version.

Here's the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_613xl ... Israelites

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"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again." -- Eric Dolphy

http://www.frappr.com/frankzappaforum - FZ Forum World Map

Edouard MICHELIN director of the Michelin Tyre Company, during a fishing trip, the boat he was in capsized. He was 43.

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"You can fly like a Penguin when you're dealing with Turkeys."

Hamza El Din has passed away but i don't think it's hit the news yet. I saw it on metafilter. So i don't have any info.

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Stop Plate Techtonics!!
http://www.myspace.com/originalfacelift
http://www.balkanmusic.org/
http://thesurfonics.com/index.html

Actually, the original is called "You Can't Do That".

PAUL GLEASON--known for his roles in Trading Places and most notably as the principal watching over a saturday detention group in The Breakfast Club. Passed away 5/27 in Los Angeles just 3 weeks after being diagnosed of a rare from of lung cancer due to asbestos. very sad loss indeed. perfect example of a character you loved to hate.

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One two, buckle my shoe!

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you're crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out, is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

Vince Welnick, last keyboardist of the Grateful Dead, dies at 51


By John Rogers
Of The Associated Press
Vince Welnick, the Grateful Dead's last keyboard player and a veteran of other bands, including the Tubes and Missing Man Formation, has died, the Grateful Dead's longtime publicist confirmed Saturday. He was 51.

Welnick died Friday, said Dennis McNally, who would not release the cause.

He lived in the northern California town of Forestville, but McNally said he didn't know whether he died at home or in a hospital.

''His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share,'' the group said in a statement on its Web site. ''Our Grateful Dead prayer for the repose of his spirit: May the four winds blow him safely home.''

Welnick was the last in a long line of Grateful Dead keyboardists, several of whom died prematurely, leading some of the group's fans to conclude that the position came with a curse.

Welnick had replaced Brent Mydland, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. Mydland succeeded Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. And Godchaux had replaced the band's original keyboard player, Ron ''Pigpen'' McKernan, who died at 27 in 1973.

Welnick was the last musician to join the group before the 1995 death of lead guitarist and unofficial leader Jerry Garcia, which McNally said hit Welnick particularly hard.

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"If Frank Zappa cut a fart and mixed it to stereo, I'd buy it!" - jimmie d

Vince Welnick was one of the sweetest guys on the planet. I met him a couple times at Tubes concerts. He always had time for idle chit-chat.

One of my favorite moments involving Vince was the time he, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at a San Francisco Giants baseball game. Welnick, of course, was the only one on key.

And by the way, Welnick wasn't 51; he was born in 1951. But that's what happens when you get your news from The Grateful Dead. I wonder if Mc Nally has ever even heard of The Tubes.

Billy Preston, the exuberant keyboardist who landed dream gigs with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and enjoyed his own series of hit singles, including Outta Space and Nothing From Nothing, died Tuesday at 59.

Preston's longtime manager, Joyce Moore, said Preston had been in a coma since November in a care facility and was taken to a hospital in Scottsdale Saturday after his condition deteriorated.

"He had a very, very beautiful last few hours and a really beautiful passing," Moore said by telephone from Germany. "He went home good."

Preston had battled chronic kidney failure, and he received a kidney transplant in 2002. But the kidney failed and he has been on dialysis ever since, Moore said earlier this year.

Known for his big smile and towering Afro, Preston was a teen prodigy on the piano and organ, and lent his gospel-tinged touch to classics such as the Beatles' Get Back and the Stones' Can't You Hear Me Knocking?

He broke out as a solo artist in the 1970s, winning a best instrumental Grammy in 1973 for Outta Space, and scoring other hits with Will It Go 'Round In Circles,Nothing From Nothing and With You I'm Born Again, a duet with Syreeta Wright.

He also wrote Joe Cocker's weeper, You Are So Beautiful, and co-wrote with Quincy Jones the score for 1970 movie They Call Me Mr. Tibbs. Other achievements included being a musical guest on the 1975 debut of Saturday Night Live, and having a song named after him by Miles Davis. Among his film credits: Blues Brothers 2000 and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Preston's partnership with the Beatles began in early 1969 when friend George Harrison recruited him to play on Let It Be, a back-to-basics film and record project that nearly broke down because of feuding among band members. Harrison himself quit at one point, walking out on camera after arguing with Paul McCartney.

Preston not only inspired the Beatles to get along — Harrison likened his effect to a feuding family staying on its best behavior in front of a guest — but contributed a light, bluesy solo to Get Back, performing the song with the band on its legendary "roof top" concert, the last time the Beatles played live. He was one of many sometimes labeled "The Fifth Beatle."

Preston remained close to Harrison and performed at Harrison's all-star charity event, The Concert for Bangladesh and at the Concert for George, a tribute to Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001. He played on solo records by Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon.

Preston also toured and recorded extensively with the Rolling Stones, playing on such classic albums as Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. In the mid-'70s, he parted from the Stones, reportedly unhappy over not getting proper credit for Melody and other songs. He reunited with the band in 1997 on its Bridges to Babylon record.

His sessions credits included Aretha Franklin's Young, Gifted and Black, Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Sly and Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, three of the most acclaimed albums of the past 35 years.

The Houston native earned his performance chops at age 10 playing the keyboard for gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and at 12 portraying a young W. C. Handy in the 1958 biopic St. Louis Blues. He toured with mentors and fellow piano greats Ray Charles and Little Richard in the early 1960s, first encountering the Beatles while on the road in Germany.

Preston had numerous personal troubles in recent years. In 1992, he was given a suspended jail sentence, but ordered incarcerated for nine months at a drug rehabilitation center for his no-contest pleas to cocaine and assault charges. Five years later, he was sentenced to three years in prison for violating probation. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and agreed to testify against other defendants in an alleged scam that netted about $1 million.

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This world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness.

WOW!!!

R.I.P. Mr Preston hope you jam with Lennon and Harison....

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Yeah, that is a bit of a shocker, I didn't even know he was in a coma.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

Yeah, he was keeping quiet about it.

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Everytime we picked a booger we'd flip it on this one winduh. Every night we'd contribute, 2, 3, 4 boogers. We had to use a putty knife, man, to get them damn things off the winduh. There was some goober ones that weren't even hard...

(Catcalls and hisses)

He sang and played on the Harrison tribute which is one of my favorites right now.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, was killed in a coalition airstrike near Baquba, jubilant U.S. and Iraqi authorities announced Thursday.

The 3-year-old insurgency has "lost its leader," Gen. George Casey, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, told reporters.

Details are still emerging of the operation against the self-proclaimed leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

But the killing of al-Zarqawi, who had a $25 million bounty on his head, is a major coup for the embattled coalition forces.

"Today is a good day," U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told a news conference soon after cheers and applause broke out when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced: "Zarqawi has been killed."

Khalilzad called al-Zarqawi "the godfather of sectarian killing and terror in Iraq" -- said the death "marks a great success for Iraq and the global war on terror."

"His organization has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in Iraq and abroad."

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called al-Zarqawi's death "a very important moment in Iraq. A blow for al Qaeda in Iraq is a blow for al Qaeda everywhere."


Casey said al-Zarqawi and a key lieutenant, spiritual adviser Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, were at an isolated safe house outside Baquba at 6:15 p.m. (10:15 a.m. ET) on Wednesday.

"Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baquba when the airstrike was launched," he said.

Baquba is a volatile area northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, a mixed Shiite-Sunni jurisdiction. There have been many roadside bombings and shootings throughout the province and within the week, severed heads were found in fruit boxes there.

"Iraqi police were first on the scene after the air strike, and elements of Multi-National Division North, arrived shortly thereafter," Casey said. "We have been able to identify al-Zarqawi by fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars."

In addition to Zarqawi and the spiritual adviser, seven others died in the attack.

Casey wouldn't provide many details about the action but said that "all of these operations are the result of a long, painstaking process where tips and intelligence are received, processed and checked out."

This particular operation had been in the works for a couple of weeks, leading to the location of the house in a wooded area and the meeting, he said.

Al-Maliki indicated that the strike on al-Zarqawi was the "result of cooperation" with ordinary Iraqis, saying that authorities many times have asked the citizenry to provide information.

"This is a message to all those who take violence as a path."

Khalilzad said the demise of al-Zarqawi won't end the violence in Iraq, but it is "an important step in the right direction."

CNN's Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.

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"Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself" - FZ
http://www.myspace.com/kirnehness