the voice of yankee stadium has passed away at the age of 99

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5371001

This "kill" makes me sad

NEW YORK — George Steinbrenner, who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died Tuesday. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday July 4.

Steinbrenner had a heart attack, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and died at about 6:30 a.m, a person close to the owner told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not disclosed those details.

Just heard. Man...

That makes 2 old time Yankees. Who's gonna complete the trilogy?

Yogi Berra better watch out.

This will put a real solemn presence around the All-Star game tonight.

This is not a surprise...he has not been well for a long time.

What?!? I just saw him talking to George Costanza this morning on Seinfeld! Just kidding - Sincere Chitown condolences to all my fellow baseball Gotham fans. A true legend has passed. Rest in peace, George.

I am not sure how well known it is, but Steinbrenner was a huge philanthropist in Tampa. He gave millions to various charities and causes, and I am told often annonymously.

Pretty well known up here, DT. The guy was a giver. No doubt.

I loved the song "Oh Happy Day". The Hwakins brothers and Tramaine Hawkins were hugely popular among gospel music fans. Like the Staples Singers, they brought a little funk and rock to gospel. Walter was one of the great singers in modern music.

Walter Hawkins, a Grammy-winning gospel composer and singer whose songs brought a sense of contemporary rhythm to the howling, pleading, God-praising tradition of churchly ecstasy, died on Sunday at the home he shared with a brother and three sisters in Ripon, Calif. He was 61.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Bill Carpenter, a spokesman for the Hawkins family.

Mr. Hawkins and his brother Edwin were self-taught keyboard players from Oakland, Calif., who were helping to organize summer events for the Church of God in Christ when they recorded their first record. It was meant to be sold locally to raise money for the church, but after one of its songs, “Oh Happy Day,” a hymnlike incantation with a funky underbeat, became a crossover hit, the brothers began their musical careers.

As he did in “Oh Happy Day” (credited to the Edwin Hawkins Singers), Edwin became known for mixing secular sounds with church traditions; Walter’s music was something else. His best-known songs — “Changed,” “Goin’ Up Yonder,” “Marvelous” and “Thank You Lord,” among others — were characterized by the supplicating tones of a preacher in full thrall to his faith.

“Walter’s music was undoubtedly church music,” Mr. Carpenter said. “It wasn’t likely to be on the pop charts. It had rock ’n’ roll in it, but it was very church.”
Full Obit

Great tune, Lilo. The kid's rendition in "Sister Act 2" is my favorite.

I really only remember "Oh Happy Day" and did really like it.


TIS

Vonetta McGee, Film and TV Actress, Dies at 65
By MARGALIT FOX

Vonetta McGee, a film and television actress originally known for blaxploitation pictures like “Blacula,” “Hammer” and “Shaft in Africa,” died on July 9 in Berkeley, Calif. She was 65 and a Berkeley resident.

The cause was cardiac arrest, said Kelley Nayo, a family spokeswoman.

In “Blacula” (1972), Ms. McGee portrayed the love interest of Mamuwalde (William Marshall), an African prince who, after an ill-fated trip to Transylvania centuries earlier, re-emerges in modern Los Angeles as a member of the thirsty undead.

Reviewing the film in The New York Times, Roger Greenspun called Ms. McGee “just possibly the most beautiful woman currently acting in movies.”

In “Hammer” (1972), Ms. McGee appeared opposite Fred Williamson in the tale of a young black prizefighter. In “Shaft in Africa” (1973), the third installment in the private-eye series starring Richard Roundtree, she played an emir’s daughter.

Ms. McGee’s other films include “The Kremlin Letter” (1970); “Detroit 9000” (1973); “Thomasine & Bushrod” (1974); and “The Eiger Sanction” (1975), directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.

Lawrence Vonetta McGee, named for her father, was born in San Francisco on Jan. 14, 1945. While studying pre-law at San Francisco State College, she became involved in community theater. She left college before graduating to pursue an acting career.

Ms. McGee’s first film work was in Italy, where her credits include the 1968 films “Faustina,” in which she played the title role, and “Il Grande Silenzio” (“The Great Silence”). After seeing her Italian work, Sidney Poitier arranged for her to be cast in her first American film, “The Lost Man” (1969), in which he starred.

....

Vonetta McGee Obit

"Major League" star James Gammon dies.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b190925_major_league_star_james_gammon_dies_70.html

Veteran journalist Daniel Schorr, who broke stories from the Cold War era to Watergate for CBS News before a second career as as news analyst for National Public Radio, died Friday at the age of 93.

Schorr died at Washington's Georgetown University Hospital. No cause of death was given.

For more than 60 years, Schorr lived and breathed the news, starting in 1948 as a stringer for The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times in Europe.

He joined CBS in 1953 as its Washington-based diplomatic correspondent working with legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow as one of "Murrow's Boys."

The often combative Schorr spent more than two decades at CBS News until he was forced to resign in 1976 after refusing to reveal the source of secret documents, which he made public, regarding illegal FBI and CIA activities. The network later asked him to return. Instead, he lectured at colleges and later joined Ted Turner at CNN.

The New York native, the son of Russian immigrants, favored journalism at an early age. He got his first "scoop" at age 12, when he saw the body of a woman who had died from a fall from the roof of his apartment building. He called the police — and the Bronx Home News, which paid him $5 for the tip.

While Schorr won three Emmy Awards reporting for CBS, he also earned a far more dubious honor — a spot on President Richard Nixon's "enemies list" for his Watergate political coverage.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/2010-07-23-daniel-schorr_N.htm

How did I not have Alex Higgins!?

who??

And lets not forget Ralph Houk.

Who??

they will never be forgotten

Miggie is an owl!

Look out! The Colonel might shoot you!

Nah!!! If I was a deer then maybe.

My brother took a prom date to Lelli's and I seem to remember going there as a kid for special occasions.

Mario Lelli, who owned and operated a traditional Midtown Italian restaurant during Detroit's heyday, died Saturday at age 97.

Mr. Lelli opened Mario's Restaurant on Second Avenue in 1948 -- which remains in business 62 years later -- and operated it until he sold it in 1980.

"It was very traditional; it was old classic Italian food," said Mr. Lelli's nephew, Joe Pirrone, who grew up around the restaurant and waited tables there as a student. "There was no pizza. It was all the veal and the good steaks and everything."

Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1913, Mr. Lelli came to the United States as a child and worked in California before he came to Detroit in 1939.

That year, he and his cousin, Nerrio Lelli, opened Lelli's Inn on Woodward. Mario Lelli sold Lelli's to his cousin when he opened Mario's.

The restaurant was a hit with the business, union, theater and sports crowds. Among the regulars were travel host George Pierrot, broadcasters Joe Garagiola, Ernie Harwell and George Kell, and former Detroit Mayor Coleman A.Young. Michael Landon of "Little House on the Prairie," Lorne Greene of "Bonanza" and Nat King Cole are among the hundreds of celebrities who dined there over the years, Pirrone recalled.

"He knew every customer's name," Pirrone said. "It was very much old school when it came to service." The all-male serving staff was instructed: "You don't pick up a dish until everyone at the table is done."

The restaurant hosted legendary parties, such as one for Lee Iacocca when he was named president of Ford Motor Co. in 1970.

"He was a larger than life character," said freelance writer Molly Abraham, who writes restaurant reviews for The Detroit News. "It was just operatic the way he prowled around that dining room; you couldn't miss him.

"If he saw a waiter who wasn't doing the salad exactly the way he thought it should be done, he would take the two spoons and mix the salad himself."

Mr. Lelli's words were inscribed on the restaurant's menu. "We believe that the enjoyment of food is one of life's great pleasures," he wrote. "We believe that the true measure of success of a restaurant is the degree of esteem and pride gained in the guest's mind and heart."

After selling to the Passalacqua family of Carl's Chop House fame, Mr. Lelli bought and operated another restaurant, The Golden Eagle in Rochester, until he retired in 1996, Pirrone said. The original restaurant, Lelli's, later relocated to Auburn Hills, where it remains in business today.

Mr. Lelli loved cigars, martinis and red wine, but exercised regularly and swam a mile a day until age 85, Pirrone said. He loved to read and travel and spoke English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Pirrone said Mr. Lelli had slowed down in recent months and was living with his son in Coldwater when he was admitted to a hospital in Angola, Ind. About three weeks ago. He may have suffered a stroke before he died.

Predeceased by his wife, Guerina, in 1992, Mr. Lelli is survived by his son, John, and daughter-in-law Amy; four grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. He is also predeceased by his son Mario Jr.; his brothers, Nello and Arthur; and his sister, Lillian.

Visitation is Tuesday from 6-9 p.m. at Price Funeral Home, 3725 Rochester Road, Troy. The service will be at the funeral home at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The burial will be private.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100808/...7#ixzz0w3oCrCsN

This was one of the great ones. He was a favorite guitarist of mine although he was usually in the background. But his solo on "Ain't it Funky Now" on the James Brown 1971 Live Paris album was a masterpiece. I always thought that was two guitarists but it was just one. And when you leave both James Brown and George Clinton to work on your own thing it's fair to say you must have some talent..

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100...cumbs-to-cancer

KENNEDY HEIGHTS – Before there was Bootsy, there was Catfish.

The older brother of Cincinnati’s legendary funk icon, Phelps “Catfish” Collins was a jovial guitar player with a huge smile, a mentor who helped shape his brother’s musical career as well as his life.

“He was a father figure to my husband,” said Patti Collins, William “Bootsy” Collins’ wife. “He’s the reason why Bootsy is who he is.”

Phelps Collins died Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was 66.

Mr. Collins was a lifelong musician and Cincinnati resident. He was born eight years before Bootsy, who gave him the nickname “Catfish” because he thought he looked like one. He was fiercely protective of his family, once threatening to kill his father with a butcher knife if he saw him hurt their mother again, Bootsy told the Enquirer in an interview last year.

In 1968, Phelps and Bootsy Collins helped form local R&B band the Pacemakers, which became the rhythm section at the renowned King Records in Evanston. They played with James Brown, backing him on such songs as “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” as part of a group that became known as the J.B.’s.

In 1971, the brothers formed a flashy funk group called the House Guests with band mates including drummer Frankie “Kash” Waddy and former Pacemakers singer Philippé Wynne. Wynne went on to lead a group called the Spinners, and the rest joined the free-wheeling Parliament-Funkadelic.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keyboardist Bernie Worrell played with the Collins brothers in Parliament-Funkadelic. Worrell said he and Catfish were the elders of the group.

“He was a loving, caring person, but at the same time, he wouldn’t take any bullcrap when it came to business,” Worrell said. “He was a hell of a musician. He taught me a lot about rhythms. People seem to forget that the rhythm guitar behind James Brown was Catfish’s creative genius, and that was the rhythm besides Bootsy’s bass.”

Phelps Collins later joined Bootsy’s Rubber Band and would go on to play rhythm guitar on albums by Deee-Lite, Freekbass and H-Bomb. He also performed on the soundtrack to the 2007 Judd Apatow comedy “Superbad” with Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and other original members of the J.B.’s.

Patricia Neal died yesterday. This may bring SC out of his shell a bit. She was Paul Newman's (an SC favorite) co-star in "Hud."

She saved the world with three words ~ "Klatu barada nikto".

Her portrayal of the housekeeper in "Hud" (opposite Paul Newman) was one of the greatest roles I've ever seen on the screen.

She was a VERY "tough old broad," SC. And I mean that with all due deference and respect. She had her first stroke at like 39 years old, and she wasn't expected to ever speak again. Remarkable, if you ask me.