[TheZookie007]

“You have to not let yourself believe you can’t. Do what you can do within the framework you have. And don’t look outside. Look inside.”

― the iconic artist, filmmaker, actor, playwright, novelist, composer and sage Melvin Van Peebles who died today at the age of 89.

[rtpoe]

I should have caught this earlier this month, when Greece declared three days of national mourning in his honor.

MIKIS THEODORAKIS (1925-2021)

Mikis was a large man, with a full head of curly black hair, a piercing gaze and a presence I can only recall as overpowering. He would bend singers and orchestras to his will, shape audiences, charm crowds, and issue ringing calls for political action and pay—frequently—for his audacity and daring. For his rich creative life was punctuated with long periods of exile in remote islands or mountain villages, with tuberculosis, with death-threats from political adversaries who had already killed....

Trained in classical composition, he already possessed the technical tools he needed. The next step, only a man of his political convictions could have achieved. As a member of the Greek Communist Party he set to music the words of Greece’s communist poets. This he did in a musical idiom drawn from the urban sub-proletariat and the working class. Its instrument was the bouzouki; its roots were in the Greek-speaking communities of Turkish cities like Izmir and Istanbul.

Suddenly these songs were on everyone’s lips. They spoke now of political oppression, resistance and struggle; of a mother’s mourning for her dead son.

But Theodorakis did not stop there. He set to music—and brought into the country’s cultural mainstream—Greece’s two Nobel laureates, George Seferis and Odysseas Elytis. Overnight, their poetic elegance and transforming language now belonged to millions. He wrote a cantata called Mauthausen, about the Nazi forced labour camp in Austria and so brought the horrors of Nazism to a nation that had looked the other way when the Jewish population of Salonica was deported en masse and exterminated in 1942.

He broke with the Communist Party, but remained faithful to its guiding principles. “I lived as a communist and I wish to die as one,” he wrote to his former comrades in the days before his death.

"Remembering Mikis Theodorakis", Fred A. Reed, Counterpunch, 9/10/21

Some of his music made it over to the US, in movies.

You may not know of this one:


I'm sure you know the movie, even though you don't know the music:


And COME ON - Is there anything more "Greek" than this?

[solvegas]

The only good Communist is a dead one. They are much worse than Fascists and that is saying something. The historical record should not be ignored. Stalin and Mao both made Hitler look better amazingly enough. 

[TheZookie007]

Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on [social media]. He was 84.

"General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19," the Powell family wrote on [social media], noting he was fully vaccinated.

A source familiar with the matter said Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body's immune response. Even if fully vaccinated against Covid-19, those who are immunocompromised are at greater risk from the virus.

"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," the family said.

Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of ronald reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President george h.w. bush. His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. But his reputation would be forever stained when, as george w. bush's first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a "blot" on his record.

bush said in a statement Monday that Powell was "a great public servant" who was "such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend."

Though Powell never mounted a White House bid, when he was sworn in as bush's secretary of state in 2001, he became the highest-ranking Black public official to date in the country, standing fourth in the presidential line of succession.

"I think it shows to the world what is possible in this country," Powell said of his history-making nomination during his Senate confirmation hearing. "It shows to the world that: Follow our model, and over a period of time from our beginning, if you believe in the values that espouse, you can see things as miraculous as me sitting before you to receive your approval."

Later in his public life, Powell would grow disillusioned with the Republican Party's rightward lurch and would use his political capital to help elect Democrats to the White House, most notably Barack Obama, the first Black president whom Powell endorsed in the final weeks of the 2008 campaign.

The announcement was seen as a significant boost for Obama's candidacy due to Powell's widespread popular appeal and stature as one of the most prominent and successful Black Americans in public life.

Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell, whom he married in 1962, as well as three children.

[MaxBigfoot]

I was always impressed by General Powell.  It's sad he's passed.   

[Hiram]

I was always impressed by General Powell.  It's sad he's passed.   

I feel the same - shame they sold him down the river over Iraq

[TheZookie007]

I was always impressed by General Powell.  It's sad he's passed.   

I feel the same - shame they sold him down the river over Iraq

In my opinion (bolstered from what observers at the time reported), they didn't sell him down the river -- he knew that Dubya, rummy & cheney had a hard-on for the non-existent WMDs as an excuse to topple Saddam Hussein and get cheney's Halliburton those non-bid oil & repair contracts in the wake of the invasion, and initially pushed back at having to go in front of the whole world at the UN and lie about it. But he was a soldier at heart, and a soldier's gotta obey the last order. So, he did make that speech to the UN Security Council as US Secy. of State, knowingly lying about those WMDs, and tarnished his legacy in the process.

Which is sad because he otherwise was an exemplar of what makes this country great.

[TheZookie007]

"Peter Scolari Dies: Emmy-Winning Bosom Buddies, Newhart, Girls Actor Was 66"

Peter Scolari, the prolific television and stage actor who found instant fame and a lifelong friendship with Tom Hanks when the two co-starred in the hit 1980 TV comedy Bosom Buddies, died early Friday morning following a two-year battle with cancer. He was 66.

His death was announced by Ellen Lubin Sanitsky at Wright Entertainment.

Scolari’s 43-year show business career included such highlights as his Emmy-nominated series regular role of producer Michael Harris on Bob Newhart’s 1984-90 comedy Newhart, an Emmy-winning recurring role as the father of Lena Dunham’s character on HBO’s Girls, and, most recently, his role as Bishop Thomas Marx on the CBS supernatural drama Evil.

A partial roster of other TV credits include Fosse/Verdon, Madoff, The Good Fight, Murphy Brown, The West Wing, ER, Gotham, Law & Order: SVU, Ally McBeal, From the Earth to the Moon and Honey I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, to name a relative few. Film credits include The Polar Express and a cameo appearance as a TV host in the 1996 comedy-drama That Thing You Do!, directed by and starring his old friend and co-star Hanks.

Scolari also had a busy career on the stage, appearing on Broadway six times beginning in 2003 with Hairspray, Wicked in 2016, Sly Fox (2004), Magic/Bird (2012) and, with wife Tracy Shayne, Bronx Bombers (2014). In yet another re-teaming with Hanks, the two shared the stage of Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre in 2013’s Lucky Guy, the biographical drama about newspaper journalist Mike McAlary written by Nora Ephron.

...Although he had appeared on television before Bosom Buddies — 1979’s Angie, 1980’s Goodtime Girls, both short-lived — it was his pairing with Hanks that brought instant recognition and launched both men’s careers. Like the classic film comedy Some Like It Hot, Bosom Buddies followed the misadventures of two desperate men who disguise themselves as women, in Buddies‘ case so they can live in the very affordable, but female-only, Susan B. Anthony Hotel. The premise, even at the time, might have been a bit creaky, but the chemistry and joyful camaraderie between the two stars was noticed immediately by viewers, and set the two actors on course for decades in film, TV and the Broadway stage.

Here he is giving his Emmy speech for his work in Girls:

[TheZookie007]

Ronnie Wilson, founding member of R&B group The Gap Band, has died at the age of 73. His passing was confirmed by his wife, Linda Boulware-Wilson, in a FB post published Tuesday. "The love of my life was called home this morning, at 10:01am. Please continue to pray for The Wilson, Boulware, and Collins family, while we mourn his passing," she wrote. “Ronnie Wilson was a genius with creating, producing, and playing the flugelhorn, Trumpet, keyboards, and singing music, from childhood to his early seventies. He will be truly missed!!!"

Wilson formed The Gap Band in the late 1960s along with his brothers Charlie and Robert, according to the band's website. The group was originally named The Greenwood Archer Pine Street Band, after three streets in a Black area of their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was targeted by a white mob during the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.  They later abbreviated the name to The G.A.P. Band and finally The Gap Band. The group rose to fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s, opening for bands such as The Rolling Stones.

Their best-known songs include "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," "Party Train" and "Burn Rubber on Me.” Another famous song, “Outstanding," has been sampled by more than 150 artists, according to the band's website.

[TheZookie007]

Dean Stockwell, Actor Known for Quantum Leap, Blue Velvet and Married to the Mob, Dies at 85"

Dean Stockwell, who began his acting career as a chi!d in Hollywood’s golden age and later performed memorably in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet; in the comedy Married to the Mob, for which he was Oscar nominated; and on TV’s Quantum Leap, for which he was Emmy nominated, died Sunday. He was 85.

The actor racked up an extraordinary 200 credits in a career that spanned seven decades, working with notable directors including Lynch, Jonathan Demme, Robert Altman, Wim Wenders, Sidney Lumet and Francis Ford Coppola.

He picked up a supporting-actor Oscar nomination for Demme’s 1988 Mafia comedy Married to the Mob, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine, in which he played mob boss Tony “the Tiger” Russo, who was simultaneously chilling and amusing.

One of Stockwell’s most memorable roles was as Admiral ‘Al’ Calavicci in NBC sci-series Quantum Leap which ran for five seasons between 1989 and 1993. The womanizing, larger than life character was the foil for Scott Bakula’s role as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who engaged in space time experiments.

Bakula and Stockwell became close friends. Bakula remembered Stockwell as a kind man who was generous to other actors, having been a chi!d star, and full of varied interests ranging from music and the environment to cigars and golf.

“I loved him dearly and was honored to know him,” Bakula said. “He made me a better human being.”

The role earned Stockwell four nominations for the Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe win in 1990 for “best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, miniseries or motion picture made for television.” Stockwell received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame on Feb. 29, 1992, the same year in which he played a disgruntled screenwriter in Robert Altman’s The Player.

But there were plenty of memorable performances for which Stockwell did not receive awards recognition. Among them was his bizarre turn in Lynch’s exploration of the dark netherworld that secretly lies beneath a nominally ordinary town in Blue Velvet. Here Dennis Hopper had the more shockingly brutal role, but Stockwell was more subtle in his creepiness as he lip-syncs to the Roy Orbison song “In Dreams.”

Writing about Blue Velvet in 2006, 20 years after its release, Terrence Rafferty referred to “this movie’s indelibly weird Ben, played by Dean Stockwell as the epitome of suavity.”...

Describing his development from chi!d actor to adult, the Times said, “The cherub seen scampering with a toe-tapping Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh had turned into a dark, intense, charismatic leading man.”

Stockwell could play memorable oddballs or establishment figures with equal ease.

Reviewing Harrison Ford actioner Air Force One (1997), the New York Times said, “Dean Stockwell has a brief, amusing turn as the overly ambitious secretary of defense.”

On military courtroom drama JAG from 2002-04, Stockwell recurred in the role of Sen. Edward Sheffield, who becomes secretary of the Navy.

Stockwell recurred as a different kind of authority figure on the new Battlestar Galactica from 2006-09 as a Cylon known as Number One or John Cavil.

In 2013 Stockwell appeared in Jerry Lewis’ long-in-the-works return to film, the little-seen Max Rose.

[Cutter]

He also played Cain one of the 12 Human like Cylons in the most recent BattleStar Galactica series.

[rtpoe]

STEPHEN SONDHEIM (1930-2021)

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Sweeney Todd
Sunday in the Park with George
Into the Woods

“Every so often someone comes along that fundamentally shifts an entire art form. Stephen Sondheim was one of those. As millions mourn his passing I also want to express my gratitude for all he has given to me and so many more." - Hugh Jackman

Top 10 Best Stephen Sondheim Songs - MsMojo

[TheZookie007]

One of his more-underrated works: Assassins.

He really changed the world of entertainment with his work.

[TheZookie007]

Not to mention he wrote the lyrics to West Side Story (1961).

[TheZookie007]

"Virgil Abloh, Barrier-Breaking Designer, is Dead at 41"