Don Kirshner dead at 76

I LOVED his show back in the '70s. You weren't cool if you couldn't talk about his "Saturday Night Rock Concerts" on Monday morning in high school. Plus, he helped put Bobby Darin (one of my all-time favorite performers) on the map.

RIP Donny!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthe...ert-in-the-sky/

Oh yea, I remember Don Kirshner's Rock concerts. I use to watch them all the time. Those were the days!

I had to look at the pic in the link, since I am most familiar with his name than what he looks like.

Too bad!!

TIS

I missed the deadline for this year's pool, but I think I had Sargent Shriver the last two years.

You can still add your list. (It will forever be noted with an *).

Just double check your names. Evidently it's against the rules to have dead people on your list. Can you imagine that?

TIS

ANOTHER wiseacre heard from.

Don Kirshner was still alive?? Egads...

They shot him five times and he was still alive!

(Don't you just love when two dons go at it?)

Shriver's a pimp, until this day I didn't know it was Don Kirshner all along (but I did have Sarg on my list).


RIP to both of them.

I believe I had him to.

I'm never in this pool, but does anyone have Charlie Sheen? In the latest episode of his show this past Monday, he looked like a corpse.

Maybe next year we should exempt people like Charlie Sheen and other train wrecks like him.

so, i can't put sarah palin on the list then?

I would like credit for Sargent Shriver please.

yea me too

Holy cow!!! I just read that Jack LaLanne finally died. I remember my mom watching his excersize show when I was a kid. Sometimes it seemed like he'd live forever!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110124/ap_on_sp_ot/us_obit_jack_lalanne

I had LalLanne and Shriver the past 2 years. Again I kick myself for not playing.

You can still enter, klyd.

You just won't get credit for Shriver or LaLanne.

(You like my small legal print?)

Done, sorry ... (still) dealing with hackers on a client's site the past few days.

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I'm almost tempted to go into advertising...

Signor V.

What? Me worry?

I hope Charlie Sheen lives to be a 100.

Glady Horton passes away

Co-founder of Marvellettes helped usher in girl group era
Susan Whitall / The Detroit News

Gladys Horton, who helped launch the girl group era of the '60s with her sassy, girlish lead vocal on the Marvelettes' "Please, Mr. Postman," the first Motown song to reach No. 1 on the pop charts, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. The singer, 66, had been recovering from a stroke in a Los Angeles nursing home when she died, according to her son, Vaughn Thornton.

"She fought until the end, her son told me," said fellow Marvelette Katherine Anderson Schaffner. She had alerted friends and fans several weeks ago that Horton was ill.

"When I let everybody know on my Facebook page that she was ill, she was already in hospice," Schaffner said. "Even though you try to prepare, and know the inevitable is about to happen, I don't think you're ever prepared for (someone's) death."

Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., who was wowed by the 15-year-old Horton and her group, said in a statement, "I am so saddened to hear of the passing of another Motown great, one of our first, Gladys Horton, who with the Marvelettes, recorded our first #1 hit, 'Please Mr. Postman,' and many others. Gladys was a very, very special lady, and I loved the way she sang with her raspy, soulful voice."

They were just teenagers when Horton, Schaffner and several friends from Inkster High School's choir formed a group so they could enter a talent contest.

Schaffner remembers that Horton was determined to get into the mix when she heard the prize was an audition at Motown. They called their group the "Casinyets" (i.e. "can't sing yet"), and no, they didn't win the contest.

But a sympathetic counselor secured a meeting at Motown for the group. They wowed Gordy and his staff.
....

Lilo,

I read this story last night. I can't say I'd remember Whithall's name but I sure remember the Marvellettes. They, along with many female groups from Detroit at the time, sure had that "Motown" sound that I fondly remember.

I remember very well, Mr. Postman and probably just as famous, Beachwood 45789. Sorry to hear of her passing.

TIS

Charlie Callas, comedian, died at age 86.

I don't know any details yet, but he was a FUNNY guy!!!

Thanks for the laughs, Charlie. R.I.P.

A clip from Charlie's work:





He used to appear on the "Tonight Show" (with Johnny Carson) a lot until he once pushed Carson (after a bad performance) which got him banned from the show.

I remember Charlie Callas. That clip is hilarious. His facial expressions are a crack-up.

Too bad!!



TIS

David Frye, one of the best impressionists I've ever seen, died this past Monday. He was 77 years old.

His impersonation of Richard Nixon was his main claim to fame.

Agreed, his Nixon impersonation definitely made him. But he also did an excellent William F. Buckley, LBJ, Henry Fonda, George Jessel and countless others.

I remember the time, many years ago, when impressionists reigned supreme. There were loads of variety shows on television, and they provided lots of exposure for talented mimics. David Frye was pretty much at the top of the heap. But there was also Will Jordan (who looked and sounded more like Ed Sullivan than Sullivan himself), John Byner, Frank Gorshin, George Kirby, Marilyn Michaels, Sheila MacRae and an up-and-coming Rich Little (who, IMO, was quite overrated back then). After a while, there was Fred Travalena as well. Charlie Callas did voices. too.

Then, fairly suddenly, the bottom seemed to fall out. Impressionists weren't popular anymore - at least not on television. Everybody seemed to fade into obscurity (or Las Vegas), Rich Little got banned by Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show, and voice mimicry seemed to be a lost art.

David Frye's career seemed to go up in a puff of smoke after Tricky Dick resigned. How many people on the boards remember his hilarious Nixon album I Am the President? Classic. Especially the segment where Nixon smokes weed for the first time under the watchful eye of FBI Agent Jones (played by Chuck McCann) and starts to hallucinate. ("Jones! I think I'm having a bum voyage!")




Will Jordan told me that David Frye was plagued by alcoholism for years after his TV appearances dried up, and that that was what really destroyed his career. A real pity. I don't know if he ever got sober, but I saw in the newspaper that Frye died in Las Vegas. I heard years ago that he would make occasional live appearances there, but I hadn't heard his name mentioned professionally in quite a long time.

But I'll always remember him as one of the absolute very best mimics of the late '60s/early '70s. RIP

Signor V.

I'm not sure if I remember Frye. He is the one famous for the Nixon, "I'm not a crook" line? For some reason I thought that was Rich Little that started the fun with Nixon.



TIS

BTW, totally off topic for this thread but remember John Byner's imitation of Ed Sullivan? And Frank Gorshin's hilarious Kirk Douglas?? His facial expressions were classic.