Mirrorless.

 O.J. Simpson has died, apparently of cancer.  He was 76.  

After he was acquitted of murdering his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman he stated he would try to find the real murder.  This makes me wonder if he didn't have any mirrors in his house.

The Last Walk Off.

Rush drummer Neil Peart has died.  He was 67.  He had been fighting brain cancer for the past three years, which he managed to keep quiet about.  For those familiar with him that's probably not a surprise.  Despite being drummer for one of Canada's most successful rock bands Peart was a fairly private man.  He tended to let Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson do most of the PR side of things, and that tendency became even stronger after the horrifying double blow of losing his daughter Selena in a 1997 car accident, following the death from cancer 10 months later of his common-law wife Jacqueline Taylor.  The song "Limelight," from Rush's 1981 album Moving Pictures, reflected that introverted side of Peart.  He is survived by his second wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall, and their daughter Olivia.

An Ironic Death.

Getting hit by a hearse while jay walking. 

This came to mind when I was crossing a local street with a hearse heading my way.  I was nowhere close to being hit, but I sure wouldn't want to go that way.

Sympathy For Humboldt.

I know me posting this is only a drop in the bucket, but if you've been effected by the Broncos tragedy I hope things get better for you in the best way possible.  There are lots of people out there willing to help, even if it's only by listening. 

For those of you that didn't hear about this late Friday afternoon a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos, a team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, was hit by a semi-trailer  truck near the town of Tisdale, Saskatchewan.  15 people were killed.  14 more were injured, at least one of whom may not walk again.  

Goodbye, Commander.

Veteran actor Martin Landau has died at 89.  If things had worked out a bit differently Landau might be known as a cartoonist instead of an actor.  He was still a teen when the New York Daily News hired him as a cartoonist, but five years later he decided to quit to pursue acting.  A student of Lee Strasberg, Landau's big break came when Alfred Hitchcock saw him in a play, and cast him as the villainous Leonard in North by Northwest, leading to a nearly 60 year career.

My first real exposure to Landau was as Commander John Koenig in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Space: 1999, where he starred opposite his then wife Barbara Bain.  In memoriam here's the Space: 1999 episode "The Black Sun," one of Landau's favourites.

Do They Want Someone To Die?

I watch both boxing and MMA, but at times it's hard to do so without wondering about the ethics of doing so.  Fighting can be dangerous, and sometimes it can be lethal.  Former UFC competitor Tim Hague died after a Friday boxing match.  Hague, 33, fought Adam Braidwood in Edmonton, and was knocked down several times during the fight before being knocked out.  Although he left the ring under his own power he subsequently collapsed, and passed away.  His last boxing match was in April, where he lost by TKO, bringing up the obvious question of whether he should have been allowed to fight by the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission.

This tragedy came only a short time after another Canadian boxer, David Whittom, was severely injured during a May 27th match in Fredericton with Saskatoon boxer Gary Kopas.  He was placed in a medically induced coma after being taken to hospital.  Whittom is another fighter who it could be argued should not have been allowed to fight.  Despite some early success he had racked up a career record of 12-24-1, including losing 18 of his last 20 bouts.  In other words he'd become a human punching bag, hired to be an opponent even though he obviously had no chance of winning.

And what did I find out this morning?  That UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell is talking about fighting again, this time for Bellator.  Liddell last fought in 2010 at UFC 115, when he was KOed by Rich Franklin.  His last three fights were all losses by KO.  He's 47.

Unfortunately I would be entirely unsurprised if he does fight for Bellator.  I've criticised them in the past for signing over the hill fighters, the most notorious example being MMA pioneer Ken Shamrock.  Shamrock was 51 when he fought the late Kimbo Slice in 2015.  He would later fight Royce Gracie, who hadn't fought in years and was really too old to be fighting as well.  Then there's Kimbo Slice.  Slice died in June of 2016 of heart failure, shortly after a mass was found on his liver.  Yet somehow Bellator managed to get him cleared to fight in February of that year.  Keep signing these kind of fighters and you're just increasing the chance of someone sustaining a severe injury, or even dying in the cage.

Goodbye, John.

John Wetton was a tough man.  For years he'd been fighting health problems, including heart problems, arm and shoulder problems that left his picking hand numb, and more recently cancer, but still continued to work when his health allowed.  It was the cancer that killed him.  He was 67.

Wetton came out of Bournemouth music scene, as did Robert Fripp, Greg Lake, Andy Summers, and various others.  After stints with Mogul Thrash and Family it was his time with King Crimson that brought him to prominence.  But after his time in Crimson, touring with Roxy Music and Uriah Heep, and being one of the founders of UK it was the band Asia that brought him the most commercial success.  The group's self titled 1981 debut would go on to sell more than 10 million copies, although they never managed to top that success.  He collaborated with many musicians over the years, both on his own solo material, as a co-leader of several projects, and as a session man.  For the last decade Wetton had been a member of a re-united Asia, and had been planning to tour with the group when his condition deteriorated. 

In memoriam here's "Starless," from King Crimson's 1974 album Red.  It's a great example of Wetton's bass playing and singing.  (Thanks to DGM Live for putting this up on YouTube.)

Goodbye, Mr. Barnsley.

Sad news to report.  Greg Barnsley has died at 83.  Anyone who watched Saskatoon TV prior to 1992 will be familiar with Barnsley.  One of the original on air personalities at CFQC TV Barnsley appeared in various roles for the station, including weatherman on CFQC's news broadcasts and host of Kingo Bingo.  In 2014 the newly renovated CFQC studio was named the Greg Barnsley Studio in his honor. 

You can hear Barnsley's distinctive voice in the following 1984 documentary.

Another Voice Goes Silent.

In a year that has seen many musicians pass yet another one is gone.  Greg Lake has died at age 69 after a long battle with cancer.  Lake came out of the Bournemouth, England music scene that produced numerous musicians.  In 1969 his friend Robert Fripp recruited Lake as vocalist for his new band, King Crimson, and asked Lake to be the band's bassist as well, although Lake had been a guitarist.  The group's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King was a critical success, but tensions in the band led Lake to decide to leave in 1970.  He soon teamed up with keyboardist Keith Emerson and drummer Carl Palmer to form Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.  With their complicated music and often bombastic image ELP, along with Yes, was the band that came to represent what most people though of '70s progressive rock, and against which the punk movement claimed to rebel. 

Although ELP originally broke up in 1979 Lake and Emerson would work together again in the mid '80s with the late drummer Cozy Powell as Emerson, Lake, and Powell, and reunite with Palmer as ELP in the '90s.  Lake also did solo albums, and a duo tour with Emerson in 2012.  His best known solo work was the 1975 single "I Believe in Father Christmas."

Another One Passes.

Yet another rock musician from the '60s and '70s has died.  Keith Emerson was 71.  Emerson first came to public attention with the band The Nice before forming Emerson, Lake, and Palmer with bassist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer in 1970.  Although the instrument had already been used on pop recordings Emerson was an early advocate for synthesizers in rock music, touring with a Moog modular synthesizer from the band's earliest appearances. ELP were successful for a number of years, but were often the whipping boys for the excesses of the progressive rock genre they were one of the biggest bands in.  After their breakup in 1979 Emerson would go on to do a number of film soundtracks, such as for Sylvester Stallone's 1981 thriller Nighthawks.  He would reunite with Lake in Emerson, Lake, and Powell in 1986, with Palmer in 3 in 1989, and with a reunited ELP in 1991.

In tribute here's the title cut from their second album, Tarkus. 

"I Heard The News Today."

There is probably nothing novel I can add to the stream of stories and tributes you'll see today.  But there is no way I could let the death of veteran record producer George Martin pass without acknowledgement.  Along with figures such as Sam Phillips and Berry Gordy it's fair to say the musical world would be a much different place, and my life with it, without him.  Without Martin's open mind and creativity the Beatles would likely have been a much lesser group than they became.

But Martin did more than produce the Beatles.  He produced numerous comedy records in the 1950s and '60s, including for British comedy greats such as Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan.  He worked with numerous pop and rock musicians, including the Beatles' Liverpool contemporaries Gerry and the Pacemakers, '70s soft rockers America, and jazz saxophonist Paul Winter.  He also had connections to the James Bond films, producing the theme song to Goldfinger, and scoring Live and Let Die. 

The past few months have not been good for the world of pop and rock music, with several prominent figures dying.  Hopefully this is the last such death we'll see for a long time to come.

Lemmy, 1945-2015.

I wasn't a Motorhead fan, but I couldn't let his death pass without acknowledging it.  It wasn't a huge surprise, since reports of his poor health had been circulating for a good while, and as the man himself sang he didn't want to live forever.  Unfortunately we're going to be seeing more and more of that generation of rock musicians passing away in the next few years.

Good Bye, Chris.

What an unpleasant surprise tonight when I learned Chris Squire died yesterday of leukemia.  He was 67.  Squire was the only consistent member of Yes from its formation in 1968 to his death, and was one of the most influential rock bass players of the 1970s.  In memoriam here are a couple of great examples of his playing with Yes.

 

Goodbye, Leonard.

I doubt there will be any chance of you missing this.  But I just couldn't let the death of Leonard Nimoy go by unmentioned.  Like most people who grew up in the '70s, and had any sort of interest in sci fi TV, Star Trek was such a fixture.  And so another familiar face of my childhood is gone.

Edgar Froese, 1944-2015.

Tangerine Dream founder, and sole consistent member, Edgar Froese has died at 70 of a pulmonary embolism.  In memoriam here's "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" from Tangerine Dream's 1979 album Force Majeure.  That's Froese on guitar.



Appropriately I was listening to a live version of "Choronzon" when I read he died.

Thanks, Glen.

Although he died Friday it only became public yesterday that veteran TV writer and producer Glen A. Larson died Friday.  If you watched any amount of US made TV programming in the '70s and '80s there's a good chance you were a regular viewer of a series Larson had a hand in.  His entertainment career began in 1956 when he was a member of the vocal group the Four Preps, whose 3 gold records were written by Larson.  Larson moved on to the TV business, working for Quinn Martin Productions before going out on his own.  His work ranged over a variety of genres, from the crusading coroner Quincy, ME, to the space drama of Battlestar Galactica.  The latter was Larson's most personal project, one he began work on in 1968, and had elements based on his Mormon faith.

Unlike some of his contemporaries Larson proved unable to sustain his success, with his projects after the mid '80s being largely unsuccessful, or rehashes of his earlier work.  He had no real involvement in the 2003 remake of Galactica, and work on a big screen continuation of the original with Bryan Fisher circa 2010 stalled.  It was often suggested during the height of his career that Larson's projects were too often attempts to cash in on trends, or had elements taken from other works.  However valid such criticisms might be Larson had a lot of influence on American TV while he was successful, and his work continues to have influence.

Couldn't Even Get That Right.

"Psychic" Sylvia Browne has died at 77.  But her death is a good indication of the effectiveness of her supposed psychic powers.  Browne told Larry King years ago she would die at 88.  Of course I've seen more than one psychic claim they can't directly benefit from their powers, such as making predictions about themselves.  Funny that she didn't know that.

Goodbye, Peter.

Original Yes guitarist Peter Banks has died.  He was 65, and apparently died of a heart attack.  Banks had played with Yes bassist Chris Squire in the bands The Syn and Mabel Greer's Toy Shop before the latter mutated into Yes, a name Banks came up with.  Although only supposed to be temporary the name stuck.  Banks appeared on the group''s self titled debut and the followup Time and a Word.  He and the rest of the band because increasingly at odds, and he was kicked out in 1970, to be replaced by Steve Howe.  Banks continued in the music business with the bands Flash and Empire during the '70s, along with several solo albums and various collaborations. 

In tribute, here is Yes's "Astral Traveller."

Goodbye, Metro.

Chances are the name Les Pavelick won't be familiar to most visitors.  Unless you're of a certain age and from the Canadian Prairies  the name Metro isn't likely to be much more familiar.  But he was another element of my 1970s childhood.  Pavelick died Tuesday at 71.  The kind of humour that Pavelick presented as Metro is hard to find these days, and of course many are no doubt quite happy about that.  You can judge for yourself.  "Big Bad Steve" is a parody of the classic country tune "Big Bad John."

Goodbye Gerry.

Veteran British TV creator/producer Gerry Anderson died today at age 83.   He first came to notice as the mind behind such puppet/marionette series, most with science fiction themes as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet before moving to live action with the 1968 movie Doppleganger, known in North America as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun.  Anderson's most successful live action production would turn out to be 1975's Space: 1999, starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain.  Although he had been working on a number of projects in recent years it was announced in June of this year he was suffering from Alzheimers.

In memoriam here's "Breakaway," the opening episode of Space: 1999