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TheZookie007

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1620 on: September 04, 2017, 06:05:19 AM »
Walter Becker, one half of the Grammy-winning duo Steely Dan, died on Sunday. He was 67.

ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

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gonZo

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1621 on: September 05, 2017, 07:19:33 PM »
Quote from: Rolling Stone

WALTER BECKER, Feb 20 1950 - Sept 03 2017

Walter Becker, guitarist, bassist and co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band Steely Dan, died Sunday at the age of 67.

Becker's official site announced the death; no cause of death or other details were provided.

"Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967," Donald Fagen wrote in a tribute to Becker. "He was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny."

Becker missed Steely Dan's Classic East and West concerts in July as he recovered from an unspecified ailment. "Walter's recovering from a procedure and hopefully he'll be fine very soon," Fagen told Billboard at the time. Becker's doctor advised the guitarist not to leave his Maui home for the performances.

Becker and Fagen first became collaborators when they were both students at New York's Bard College. After working as songwriters (Barbra Streisand's "I Mean to Shine") and members of Jay and the Americans' backing band, the duo moved to California in the early Seventies to form Steely Dan – named after a sex toy in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch – alongside guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias, drummer Jim Hodder and singer David Palmer.

Following the release of their debut 1972 LP Can't Buy a Thrill, the lineup would change again with Palmer's exit; while Steely Dan would routinely rotate musicians, Becker and Fagen remained the group's core members. Despite the ever-changing lineup, Steely Dan made their stamp on music with a string of pristine, sophisticated albums with "calculated and literary lyrics" that blurred the lines of jazz, pop, rock and soul.

"I'm not interested in a rock/jazz fusion," Becker told Rolling Stone in 1974. "That kind of marriage has so far only come up with ponderous results. We play rock & roll, but we swing when we play. We want that ongoing flow, that lightness, that forward rush of jazz."

He added, "I learned music from a book on piano theory. I was only interested in knowing about chords. From that, and from the Harvard Dictionary of Music, I learned everything I wanted to know."

With Becker on bass, Can't Buy a Thrill produced the hits "Reelin' in the Years," "Dirty Work" and "Do It Again." Countdown to Ecstasy followed in 1973 with Fagen now entrenched as lead singer. Following 1974's Pretzel Logic – which yielded the band's biggest hit, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" – the band experienced a major upheaval as in-demand touring musicians Dias, Baxter and Hodder all exited the quintet. "It was unfair of us to spend eight months writing and recording when Jeffrey Baxter and others in the group wanted to tour," Becker told Rolling Stone in 1977. "We weren't making very much money and everybody wanted to be out touring a lot. We didn't. That was that."

For 1975's Katy Lied, the now-duo – with Becker also picking up guitar duties – surrounded themselves with a team of expert studio musicians that included Toto's Jeff Porcaro, guitarist Hugh McCracken and Michael McDonald. "We don't feel it's something to be ashamed of," Becker said of Steely Dan's "enlarged-band concept." "We had outside players on the first album. The Beatles did it quite a bit, by their own admission. A lot of things Eric Clapton played…everyone thought it was George Harrison."

With that "supergroup" structure in place – the album features contributions from McDonald, the Eagles' Timothy B. Schmit, drummer Jim Keltner and legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter – Steely Dan released their masterpiece Aja in 1977. The album, one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, features classics like "Peg," "Deacon Blues" and "Aja" and became the duo's first platinum album, selling over 5 million copies and peaking at Number Three on the Billboard 200.

As their manager Irving Azoff told Rolling Stone in 1977, "Think of the biggest American supergroups. Fleetwood Mac. The Eagles, Chicago... And Steely Dan. Everybody knows Steely Dan. They belong in that list. All we had to do was make it official." Despite the success, the duo would dissolve their partnership within three years, following the release of 1980's Gaucho.

It would be another 20 years – with the release of 2000's Two Against Nature – that Becker and Fagen would record another Steely Dan album. That LP ultimately won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The band would record one more studio album, 2003's Everything Must Go, with Becker making his Steely Dan lead vocal debut on the track "Slang of Ages."

When asked by Time Out in 2008 about "Deacon Blues" sneaking onto classic rock radio, Becker said, "That's sort of what we wanted to do, conquer from the margins, sort of find our place in the middle based on the fact that we were creatures of the margin and of alienation, and I think that a lot of kids our age were very alienated. To this day when I read some text that somebody writes about alienation, I always think to myself, 'Gee, they make it sound like it’s a bad thing!' So yeah, I think that's great. Naturally that's very satisfying to us to hear that something has slipped through the cracks."

In 2001, Steely Dan were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "The musical tradition that Steely Dan represent is certainly one that's more cerebral and intellectual and beautiful as well," Moby said in his induction speech for the duo. "Although they always seemed to approach popular culture with a certain sense of irony and distaste, they also clearly have a love for beauty and beautiful music."

 
« Last Edit: September 05, 2017, 07:25:14 PM by gonZo »

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rtpoe

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1622 on: September 14, 2017, 10:14:14 PM »
CASSINI (1997-2017):

In the early hours of September 15 (EDT), the Cassini probe will break apart and burn up in Saturn's atmosphere.

Launched in October of 1997, it entered orbit around the ringed giant on July 1, 2004. A complex dance amongst the moons and rings revealed many surprises. The moon Enceladus has an ocean of water under its icy shell. Titan has lakes of methane, and an atmosphere of hydrocarbons that contains complex molecules that just might be able to combine into lifelike assemblages. The rings are a far more dynamic and interesting place than we imagined.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2017/09/cassini-saturn-nasa-3d-grand-tour/#preamble

The probe is deliberately being destroyed so as to avoid possible contamination of Enceladus and Titan.

It's a bittersweet ending for the scientists on the program, many of whom were there from the planning stages in the 1980s.

"It’s been part of my life for so long, this spacecraft, it’s going to be a shock to have this happen," said Thomas Burk, a JPL engineer. Linda Spilker, a Cassini project scientist, said, “Our families have gotten to know each other, in some cases our children have grown up together, and now in the final two weeks we’re sharing the end of this incredible mission.”

By the time you read this, Cassini will have passed the "point of no return", taken its final photographs, and sent its collected store of data back home. About 12 hours after that, the onboard computers will have reconfigured for real-time data transmission. It will attempt to send back information on temperature and the composition of the atmosphere for as long as it can. But eventually, there won't be any fuel left to stabilize the craft as it shudders and tumbles in the upper atmosphere. Cassini will heat up; parts of it will break off. The main body of the craft will explode. As NASA spokesperson Preston Dyches has said, “We’re going out in a blaze of glory.”

The next big planetary science effort is the Europa Clipper, which will launch in the 2020s. Its goal is to investigate Jupiter’s ice moon. There's nothing else in the works for the outer solar system. Given that it takes about a decade of planning just to get a mission off the ground (literally), trips to the outer Solar System are for the next generations to enjoy.

Yes, we all know there are more important things to spend our money on here on Earth. And we're not giving up on Mars at all. But it's still a sad sign to know that an era of exploration is coming to an end, with no plans at all to return to those farthest shores.

The Earth, taken from behind Saturn by Cassini. This photo was taken on "The Day the Earth Smiled". NASA and JPL announced in advance when the photo was going to be taken, and encouraged people to go outside, look up at Saturn, and smile and wave.
rtpoe

The last fling of winter is over ...  The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.  It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.
-  Donald Culross Peattie

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TheZookie007

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1623 on: September 15, 2017, 01:18:07 AM »
Quote
Yes, we all know there are more important things to spend our money on here on Earth. And we're not giving up on Mars at all. But it's still a sad sign to know that an era of exploration is coming to an end, with no plans at all to return to those farthest shores.

Here's a dollar of US tax revenue. You know how much of that goes toward "defense"? Twenty-five cents. You know how much of that goes towards America's space exploration efforts? I'll let Neil deGrasse Tyson take that one:

"How much do you think we’re spending up there? Here’s your tax dollar. How much? Ten cents on the dollar? Five cents? The answer is one half of one cent. That funds the space stations, the space shuttles, all the NASA centers, all the launches, the Hubble Space Telescope, the rovers on Mars. All of it. Half a penny. So the question isn’t, 'Why are we spending money up there and not down here?' The question is, 'If we pumped that half a cent back into the 99.5 percent of the budget, would the country be fundamentally different in the ways you want? Do you believe that?' NASA should be counted as a force of nature. There is no greater stimulus of the public’s interest in science and technology than the ambitions that NASA places in front of the country.”
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1624 on: September 15, 2017, 07:29:17 AM »
Today the movie producer of Poltergeist died

Poltergeist was produced by Frank Marshall and Stephen Spielberg, both of whom are still with us. I believe you meant to say that the director of the movie has died:

From what I understood he was the main producer of Poltergeist. Steven Spielberg gave him the job producing it, but later decided to have his own name listed as producer. Not very unlikely if you know his other "productions".
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1625 on: September 15, 2017, 07:42:35 AM »
Well this week (12 Sept.) a German politican Heiner Geißler died. He is the only conservative politican I truly say he earned my respect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiner_Gei%C3%9Fler
 
He was a member of the Merkel party CDU. But unlike many of his fellow CDU politicans he was not only conservative, he was liberal, he was social, he had a lot of sense for what is good for the people. After his real active phase as minister and CDU secretary general and normal parliament member he even became an member of the ATTAC network.

He successfuly moderated tarif negotians and moderated negotiations for an infrastructure project Stuttgart 21. A big projects that had a lot of trouble for acceptance in and around Stuttgart as well as in Germany in general.
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1626 on: September 15, 2017, 08:35:16 AM »
Good Things Die Young

CASSINI (1997-2017):

In the early hours of September 15 (EDT), the Cassini probe will break apart and burn up in Saturn's atmosphere.

Launched in October of 1997, it entered orbit around the ringed giant on July 1, 2004. A complex dance amongst the moons and rings revealed many surprises. The moon Enceladus has an ocean of water under its icy shell. Titan has lakes of methane, and an atmosphere of hydrocarbons that contains complex molecules that just might be able to combine into lifelike assemblages. The rings are a far more dynamic and interesting place than we imagined.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2017/09/cassini-saturn-nasa-3d-grand-tour/#preamble

The probe is deliberately being destroyed so as to avoid possible contamination of Enceladus and Titan.

It's a bittersweet ending for the scientists on the program, many of whom were there from the planning stages in the 1980s.

"It’s been part of my life for so long, this spacecraft, it’s going to be a shock to have this happen," said Thomas Burk, a JPL engineer. Linda Spilker, a Cassini project scientist, said, “Our families have gotten to know each other, in some cases our children have grown up together, and now in the final two weeks we’re sharing the end of this incredible mission.”

By the time you read this, Cassini will have passed the "point of no return", taken its final photographs, and sent its collected store of data back home. About 12 hours after that, the onboard computers will have reconfigured for real-time data transmission. It will attempt to send back information on temperature and the composition of the atmosphere for as long as it can. But eventually, there won't be any fuel left to stabilize the craft as it shudders and tumbles in the upper atmosphere. Cassini will heat up; parts of it will break off. The main body of the craft will explode. As NASA spokesperson Preston Dyches has said, “We’re going out in a blaze of glory.”

The next big planetary science effort is the Europa Clipper, which will launch in the 2020s. Its goal is to investigate Jupiter’s ice moon. There's nothing else in the works for the outer solar system. Given that it takes about a decade of planning just to get a mission off the ground (literally), trips to the outer Solar System are for the next generations to enjoy.

Yes, we all know there are more important things to spend our money on here on Earth. And we're not giving up on Mars at all. But it's still a sad sign to know that an era of exploration is coming to an end, with no plans at all to return to those farthest shores.

The Earth, taken from behind Saturn by Cassini. This photo was taken on "The Day the Earth Smiled". NASA and JPL announced in advance when the photo was going to be taken, and encouraged people to go outside, look up at Saturn, and smile and wave.
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

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tdotter

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1627 on: September 15, 2017, 11:12:46 PM »
Harry Dean Stanton.He was 91.
My favorite film he was in was Repo Man.

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TheZookie007

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1628 on: September 16, 2017, 12:25:08 AM »
Entertainment Weekly: "Sopranos, Goodfellas actor Frank Vincent dies at 80"

Famed film and television tough guy [Frank Vincent Gattuso Jr., who went by the professional name of] Frank Vincent, who battled James Gandolfini and Robert De Niro in his most prominent roles, has died at 80.

“Legendary actor and accomplished musician Frank Vincent has passed away peacefully at the age of 80 surrounded by his family on Sept. 13, 2017. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time,” his family said in a statement.

The New Jersey native, who began his career in entertainment as a musician, began acting in the 1970s, a decade that also saw him form a short-lived comedy duo with fellow musician Joe Pesci. “I would abuse the audience,” Vincent said in a 1996 interview with the New York Times, “and Joe would abuse me.”

After getting his big acting break alongside Pesci in 1976’s The Death Collector, Vincent appeared as an antagonist for Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s 1980 classic Raging Bull. A fruitful collaboration with Scorsese, Pesci, and Robert De Niro would soon follow. Vincent memorably played mobster Billy Batts in Scorsese’s 1990 classic Goodfellas, uttering the immortal line, “go get your f—ing shine box,” among other profane zingers. (Vincent’s graphic death scene, at the hands of Pesci’s character, both starts Goodfellas and acts as a narrative turning point later in the story.)

In 1995, the quartet collaborated again for Casino, where Vincent scored a modicum of onscreen retribution against Pesci. In the mafia epic, it’s Vincent who kills Pesci’s character in a similarly explicit fashion.

“Marty has a knack for … picking people who are really not that well known and to develop them as actors,” Vincent said of Scorsese in a 2011 interview. “Joe Pesci and I had the chemistry anyway, from playing together for years. Marty used it three times: He used it [in Raging Bull], he used it in Casino, and he used it in Goodfellas. It was quite a nice thing for us because it brought us into the film business. And we had to learn pretty fast how to do it and what to do.”

More roles would follow Casino, including a part in the TV movie Gotti and work on New York Undercover and NYPD Blue. In 2004, Vincent joined the cast of The Sopranos as Phil Leotardo, a major thorn in the side to Tony Soprano (the late James Gandolfini) as the HBO hit drew to its close. (Vincent’s character dies in the series finale — again, in shocking moment of violence.)

“I would say that Phil was [one of the great TV villains], yeah,” Vincent said in another 2011 interview. “He didn’t fool around. Phil was serious. He had a job to do and he thought, you know, ‘This Soprano guy is from Jersey, what does that mean? We are New Yorkers! The Jersey mob is nothing — they don’t even prick their fingers when they do the ceremony.’ Some of the writing for Phil was just brilliant.”

In 2006, as The Sopranos was coming to an end, Vincent also published a book: The Guy’s Guide to Being a Man’s Man. More recently, Vincent appeared on shows like Law & Order: SVU and Stargate: Atlantis, and voiced a character on Adult Swim animated series Mr. Pickles from 2014 to 2016.
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

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TheZookie007

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1629 on: September 20, 2017, 11:13:28 PM »
Rolling Stone: "Bernie Casey, 'Revenge of the Nerds' Actor, Dead at 78"
Former athlete co-starred in 'I'm Gonna Git You Sucka' and 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'

Bernie Casey, noted for his memorable roles in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and Revenge of the Nerds, has died, The Hollywood Reporter reports. He was 78. A rep told THR that the athlete-turned-actor died following a brief illness on Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Casey launched his acting career in 1969 with his debut role in Guns of the Magnificent Seven, the sequel to The Magnificent Seven. Over the past four decades he starred in roles both on television and film, including acting in several Seventies blaxploitation films and playing the lead as a widower in the 1979 television series Harris and Company. He portrayed a wide range of characters, from former slave and train robber in Martin Scorsese's 1972 film Boxcar Bertha, to detective (starring opposite Burt Reynolds in 1981's Sharky's Machine) and CIA agent ([unofficial] James Bond film Never Say Never Again) as well as famous roles in several Eighties comedy classics.

In 1984, he portrayed U.N. Jefferson, head of the Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity, in Revenge of the Nerds. He starred as John Slade in the comedy blaxploitation parody film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988, and in 1989 he played high school teacher Mr. Ryan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

While movie fans may remember Casey most for his notable film characters, he began his career as a star athlete in the Sixties. Casey was a top track and field athlete at Bowling Green University, where he received national honors, including qualifying for the finals at the 1960 United States Olympic Trials. He was also halfback for the school's Falcons football team. Following graduation, Casey was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, where he spent six seasons, followed by two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. He made one ProBowl in 1967 and left the NFL one year later.

Beyond his acting and athletic accomplishments, Casey was also a published author and poet as well as a painter.
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

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TheZookie007

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1630 on: September 27, 2017, 10:45:59 PM »
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

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solvegas

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1631 on: September 27, 2017, 10:50:55 PM »
New York Times: "Hugh Hefner, Who Built Playboy Empire and Embodied It, Dies at 91"


Probably won't go to heaven since the accommodations are not up to his standards.  ;) ;D

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Hiram

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1632 on: September 28, 2017, 01:48:06 AM »
New York Times: "Hugh Hefner, Who Built Playboy Empire and Embodied It, Dies at 91"
I'm surprised he only **84** with a 1000 women - I've done far more than that.
Lipsmacking, thirst quenching, ace tasting, motivating, good buzzing, cool talking, high walking, fast living, ever giving, cool fizzing... #BOOBs

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rtpoe

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1633 on: September 28, 2017, 07:21:17 PM »
Pamela Anderson, who was on the cover of Playboy more than anyone else, broke down posting to her Instagram feed:

"You taught me everything important about freedom and respect. Outside of my family You were the most important person in my life. You gave me my life... People tell me all the time That I was your favorite... I'm in such deep shock. But you were old, your back hurt you so much. Last time I saw you You were using a walker. You didn't want me to see. You couldn't hear. You had a piece of paper in your pocket you showed me - with my name Pamela with a heart around it. Now, I'm falling apart. This feeling is so crazy. It's raining in Paris now. I'm by the window. Everything anyone loves about me is because you understood me. Accepted me and encouraged me to be myself. Love like no one else. Live recklessly With unfiltered abandon. You said the magazine was about a girl like me. That I embody the spirit you fantasized about. I was the one. You said. I can hear you say - Be brave. There are no rules. Live your life I'm proud of you. There are no mistakes. And with men - Enjoy ... (Your wonderful laugh) You have the world by the tail You are a good girl And you are so loved - You are not crazy. You are wild and free Stay strong, Stay vulnerable. ... "It's movie time" You loved my boys ... You were always, always there for us. With your love Your crazy wisdom. I will miss your everything. Thank you for making the world a better place. A freeer and sexier place. You were a gentleman charming, elegant, chivalrous And so much fun. Goodbye Hef ... Your Pamela"

Hefner started the magazine in 1953, after collecting a total of $8000 in loans. He used his contacts at Esquire where he had worked to bring in top notch writers. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 first appeared in Playboy; other writers included a "Who's Who" of 20th century fiction: Nabokov. Updike. Vonnegut. Cheever. Oates. People who sat down for interviews included Jimmy Carter, Marlon Brando. Lech Walesa, Frank Sinatra, and Fidel Castro.

Hef made sure that you really *could* read it just for the articles.
rtpoe

The last fling of winter is over ...  The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.  It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.
-  Donald Culross Peattie

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tdotter

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Re: The R.I.P. Thread
« Reply #1634 on: September 28, 2017, 08:15:12 PM »
New York Times: "Hugh Hefner, Who Built Playboy Empire and Embodied It, Dies at 91"
I'm surprised he only **84** with a 1000 women - I've done far more than that.
I always found his taste in women to be very bland and middle of the road.
Blonde,mid 20's,slim with fake large c or small d cups.Rinse,repeat.