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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 22, 2021 23:36:52 GMT -5
Ahhhh F@#$!
Now Mira? Way too many people on that show were taken way too young. Mira was such an amazing actress and Babylon 5 was really the only thing in America that really showed of her talent. Interviews with her were a delight to read (I haven't come across many video interviews), as they were always very thoughtful and full of passion for her art. I remember her speaking of the delight of doing the episode with Turhan Bey, as the Centauri Emperor. He was Austrian and they were able to sit and chat, on the set, in High German, which was a rare experience, since coming to America, for her.
Such an amazing presence in that series.
She was the center of one of my most favorite single moments of the series....
JMS loved to write speeches for her and for Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) and she had some great quotes that apply...
"All life is transitory, a dream. We all come together in the same place, at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in a place where no shadows fall." Confessions and Lamentations
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,583
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Post by Confessor on Jan 23, 2021 11:18:03 GMT -5
Going back to the Phil Spector conversation, I never actually much liked his production work. His famous "wall of sound" style is instantly recognisable and graces a number of truely great records, but it always sounds murky, overly busy, and with too much damn reverb on it to my ears.
Plus, of course, he was a total asshole.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 23, 2021 11:29:43 GMT -5
Jean Graton has passed away at the age of 97. Best known for his series Michel Vaillant, set in the world of Formula 1 competition, Graton was one of the last few of the great generation that counted Goscinny, Uderzo, Morris, Tillieux, Franquin and so many others. I'll always remember the sound effect of his race cars revving up : Vroarrrr!2021 isn't turning out so well up to now, is it?
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 23, 2021 14:17:51 GMT -5
Veteran media personality Larry King has died at the age of 87. Also today, I saw that actor Gregory Sierra has died at the age of 83. He's another one of those guys whose name you don't necessarily recognize, but recognize immediately when you see his face, because he appeared in a bunch of TV shows and movies back in the 1970s and '80s.
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Post by junkmonkey on Jan 23, 2021 14:32:21 GMT -5
F@#$! indeed.
I am genuinely saddened by this. Often times when you see that someone famous has died it's just another of those things, but sometimes... I don't know what makes the difference but sometimes you suddenly realise you are never going to bump into that person somewhere, not be able to thank them for their art, not to be able to buy them a drink and have a blether with them.
No matter how unlikely that ever was going to be, the chance of it ever happening is suddenly, forever, gone.
F@#$!
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 23, 2021 15:43:17 GMT -5
R. I. P. to the Home-run King Hank Aaron. One of the true greats of baseball and one of the few links remaining to the Negro Leagues. Classy and courageous. Take away his 755 HRs and he still had over 3,000 hits.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 23, 2021 18:47:26 GMT -5
Veteran media personality Larry King has died at the age of 87. Also today, I saw that actor Gregory Sierra has died at the age of 83. He's another one of those guys whose name you don't necessarily recognize, but recognize immediately when you see his face, because he appeared in a bunch of TV shows and movies back in the 1970s and '80s. He had a small role in Beneath the Planet of the Apes; but, to me, he will always be Chano Amanguale, the Puerto Rican detective assigned to the 12th Precinct, on Barney Miller, Such a great actor and a terrific show. The first season episode, "The Hero," really showcased his talent. Chano and Fish take a bank robbery call and Chano went inside and was forced to shoot the two armed bank robbers. The effect it has on the character is brilliantly essayed by Sierra. Sierra also appeared on Sanford and Son, and briefly had his own series, which is why he left Barney Miller (and regretted it). He also had a long stage career, appearing with the National Shakespeare Conservatory, at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 23, 2021 19:57:43 GMT -5
Sierra was excellent in Barney Miller, which is still the most realistic police show ever.
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Post by berkley on Jan 23, 2021 22:24:16 GMT -5
Going back to the Phil Spector conversation, I never actually much liked his production work. His famous "wall of sound" style is instantly recognisable and graces a number of truely great records, but it always sounds murky, overly busy, and with too much damn reverb on it to my ears. Plus, of course, he was a total asshole. I usually hate those qualities in pop songs - over-cluttered arrangements and over-all muddiness - but with Spector it doesn't usually bother me, perhaps because I grew up hearing so much of it, though without knowing who was responsible.
What do you think of his work with the Beatles? I think it sounds good, though in retrospect that probably should be a bit of a surprise, as on paper it doesn't immediately strike me now as a promising combination of styles. And I really like the sound of some of those early early Lennon solo tracks, like Instant Karma, if that was Spector - the reverb was under control and such a unique sound to the vocal and the drums.
Complete evil piece of s#!t, though, yes. I can never hear his name without thinking of his poor wife.
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Post by Calidore on Jan 24, 2021 0:23:42 GMT -5
Didn't know the name Gregory Sierra, but as soon as I saw the picture, I thought, "Oh, that guy!" Which is probably what I thought every time he popped up in a guest role in a show back in the day.
It's funny, my dad and I both love old R & B, but he prefers Motown and Spector's wall of sound productions, while I've always preferred the looser, live-band Stax sound.
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Post by foxley on Jan 24, 2021 0:44:59 GMT -5
I didn't recognize the name Gregory Sierra, but as soon as I looked him up on IMDB I knew who he was. He had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote, and played South American military strongmen in several episodes of MaGyver, one of my all time favourite shows. He was also in The Towering Inferno.
R.I.P.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,583
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Post by Confessor on Jan 24, 2021 4:19:09 GMT -5
Going back to the Phil Spector conversation, I never actually much liked his production work. His famous "wall of sound" style is instantly recognisable and graces a number of truely great records, but it always sounds murky, overly busy, and with too much damn reverb on it to my ears. Plus, of course, he was a total asshole. I usually hate those qualities in pop songs - over-cluttered arrangements and over-all muddiness - but with Spector it doesn't usually bother me, perhaps because I grew up hearing so much of it, though without knowing who was responsible.
What do you think of his work with the Beatles? I think it sounds good, though in retrospect that probably should be a bit of a surprise, as on paper it doesn't immediately strike me now as a promising combination of styles. And I really like the sound of some of those early early Lennon solo tracks, like Instant Karma, if that was Spector - the reverb was under control and such a unique sound to the vocal and the drums.
Complete evil piece of s#!t, though, yes. I can never hear his name without thinking of his poor wife.
I think his work with the Beatles and on their various solo records is patchy. It works as often as it doesn't. For example, I think his controversial production and overdubbing on the Let It Be album actually covers up a multitude of sins and musical shortcomings in the original material which are much more obvious on bootlegs of the unreleased Get Back album or the McCartney curated Let It Be...Naked. That said, sometimes it is heavy-handed and unnecessary, such as with the choir on "Across the Universe"; that was not needed at all. But the original Let It Be album is still my favourite collection of that material. So, I'm with Lennon on that score: Spector's production made some fairly lacklustre performances sound as good as they possibly could. His work on various solo Beatles tracks is likewise hit and miss. I really like his production on parts of Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and imagine albums, for example. But I find the sound of non-album Lennon singles like "Cold Turkey", "Instant Karma" and "Power to the People", as well as Lennon and Harrison album tracks like "Mother", "Wah-Wah", "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier", "What Is Life", and "Gimme Some Truth", to be boxy, muffled, and thin sounding. I particularly dislike the flat, thuddy sounding drums on those records. The production on all of Sometime in New York City is similarly muddled and reverb drenched IMO. So, it's a real mixed bag. I also think that Spector's production on the solo Beatle records sounds very "early 70s" and therefore quite dated nowadays. George Martin's production is much more timeless and holds up in the modern era much better IMO. Likewise, early 70s McCartney albums like McCartney and Ram sound much fresher overall in 2021 than any of Harrison or Lennon's Spector-produced records.
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Post by Ozymandias on Jan 25, 2021 6:03:03 GMT -5
I don't think this list has been posted. It's a little outdated but there's a lot of names there, some might've been missed:
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 25, 2021 13:09:44 GMT -5
Writeup cribbed from the National Cartoonists Society Facebook page:
Famed animator/producer/director/storyboard artist Ron Campbell has passed away at age 81. Ron’s career began In 1958 with cartoons such as Popeye, Beetle Bailey, and Krazy Kat. His career spanned the entire golden age of Saturday Morning Cartoons, lasting 50 years. He retired in 2008 with the show Ed, Edd, n Eddy.
Campbell began his animation career in the late fifties, soon working on Beetle Bailey, Krazy Kat, and Cool McCool, directing the spectacularly successful TV cartoon series The Beatles. The show debuted on 25 September 1965, and remained number one in the ratings for the duration of its four-year run. He then moved to the United States and Hanna-Barbera, going on to write and produce cartoons for Sesame Street and animate on the original George of the Jungle and Tom Slick TV shows. His Hollywood studio, Ron Campbell Films, Inc., produced and directed the animation for the Big Blue Marble.
In the late 60’s Ron Campbell, working with his friend and colleague Duane Crowther, animated many scenes in the Beatles Yellow Submarine feature film. In the early 1980s, he storyboarded Hanna-Barbera’s hit series, The Smurfs, including the Emmy-award winning “Smurfolympics” special. Also, during the 70’s and 80’s, Campbell was the line producer and story editor for the hit European children’s show ‘The Smoggies’ and produced, directed, animated, or storyboarded numerous other hit shows of the era, including the Flintstones, Jetsons, Captain Caveman, and Scooby Doo. where he contracted animation direction and storyboarded on Bonkers, Goof Troop, Darkwing Duck, and Winnie the Pooh. His studio produced publicity films for Disney. He also spent much of the decade storyboarding for the Rugrats, Rocket Power, and Duckman.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 25, 2021 14:01:25 GMT -5
I don't think this list has been posted. It's a little outdated but there's a lot of names there, some might've been missed: Thanks for posting that, Ozymandias, even if it bummed me out big time ... I had forgotten about many of these folks' passing, and learned about a few more. Even one about whom I had mean thoughts just a few days ago, for which I now feel pretty crummy.
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