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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 20, 2021 9:40:03 GMT -5
Sports innovator and entrepreneur Dennis Murphy passed away on July 15. Murphy conceived and co-founded the American Basketball Association to take on the NBA in 1967. With Dr. J and Rick Barry the league was exciting and four ABA teams were absorbed in to the NBA when the league folded. In 1971 he helped found the World Hockey Association, which challenged the NHL's reserve clause and caused over fifty NHL players, including Bobby Hull, to jump to the new league. The WHA lasted until a 1979 merger with the NHL.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2021 22:16:01 GMT -5
Sports innovator and entrepreneur Dennis Murphy passed away on July 15. Murphy conceived and co-founded the American Basketball Association to take on the NBA in 1967. With Dr. J and Rick Barry the league was exciting and four ABA teams were absorbed in to the NBA when the league folded. In 1971 he helped found the World Hockey Association, which challenged the NHL's reserve clause and caused over fifty NHL players, including Bobby Hull, to jump to the new league. The WHA lasted until a 1979 merger with the NHL. I miss the days when you had rival leagues in the pros. i wasn't a big spectator, but the ABA red, white and blue basketballs and the flamboyance of the league made it stand out. You had a few attempt, in that decade, of creating an alternate, with the WFL, the ABA and the WHA. Once you corporatized things, it seemed to take the fun out of it.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 21, 2021 11:49:43 GMT -5
R. I. P. Jerry Granelli. The jazz drummer played for a number of years with the Vince Guaraldi Trio, including on the seminal soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas. Granelli was also a gifted session drummer who played with the likes of Lou Rawls and Sly Stone.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 25, 2021 10:01:33 GMT -5
RIP to Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, at age 93... Better known to the world as comic Jackie Mason.... He actually was a rabbi! Mason's family emigrated from Russia and he came from a long line of rabbis and Mason, at 18, became a cantor, then a rabbi, at 25. His sermons were peppered with jokes and he said, "Even the gentiles would come just to hear the sermons." It was only after the death of his father that he tried to earn a living, as a comedian. he worked the Borscht Belt circuit and nightclubs, eventually gaining an appearance contract on the Ed Sullivan Show, which led to the famous incident, when Sullivan signaled him he had 2 minutes (holding up two fingers) and to cut his act short (they were being pre-empted by President Johnson). Mason responded by ad-libbing, showing Sullivan his index finger and then his thumb; but Sullivan mistakenly believed Mason flipped him the Bird and banned him from the show. This led to lawsuits, apologies and a single reappearance; but, Mason's reputation was damaged, for many years. However, a hit run on Broadway saw him through it, until a resurgence of interest in the 80s, leading to his voice role on The Simpsons, as Krusty the Clown's father, Rabbi Krustofski, in a take off on The Jazz Singer. In later years, he became noted for some controversial political statements, both relating to domestic and political issues, though it had a minor effect on his shows.
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Post by tartanphantom on Jul 25, 2021 10:35:15 GMT -5
RIP to Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, at age 93... Better known to the world as comic Jackie Mason.... He actually was a rabbi! Mason's family emigrated from Russia and he came from a long line of rabbis and Mason, at 18, became a cantor, then a rabbi, at 25. His sermons were peppered with jokes and he said, "Even the gentiles would come just to hear the sermons." It was only after the death of his father that he tried to earn a living, as a comedian. he worked the Borscht Belt circuit and nightclubs, eventually gaining an appearance contract on the Ed Sullivan Show, which led to the famous incident, when Sullivan signaled him he had 2 minutes (holding up two fingers) and to cut his act short (they were being pre-empted by President Johnson). Mason responded by ad-libbing, showing Sullivan his index finger and then his thumb; but Sullivan mistakenly believed Mason flipped him the Bird and banned him from the show. This led to lawsuits, apologies and a single reappearance; but, Mason's reputation was damaged, for many years. However, a hit run on Broadway saw him through it, until a resurgence of interest in the 80s, leading to his voice role on The Simpsons, as Krusty the Clown's father, Rabbi Krustofski, in a take off on The Jazz Singer. In later years, he became noted for some controversial political statements, both relating to domestic and political issues, though it had a minor effect on his shows.
He was also the parody inspiration for the voice of the Aardvark.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 26, 2021 15:31:41 GMT -5
Henri Vernes, the creator of Bob Morane, just packed his explorer bag for a final journey. He was 102.
I don't think it's exaggerated to refer to him as a giant. His work inspired a whole generation of adventure fans, and I know very few creators of my generation (the French-speaking ones, that is) who don't count him among their influence. In many ways, he was to French-language young adult fiction what Stan Lee was to superhero comics.
I still re-read a few of his books each year. Granted, Bob Morane is not Les Misérables or Madame Bovary... but it's always a fun series, told in a very rich prose, and stealthily teaching kids a lot about dinosaurs, great apes, the Mayas, space-time, colonial regimes, secret societies, airplanes, Nicolas Flamel and lots, lots more. Even more important: it was not a cynical series. The heroes were as good as Steve Ditko could want them: chivalrous with ladies, brave, responsible, curious, strong, altruistic, tolerant, smart, and even wise at times. Modern Galahads out to protect the weak and the innocent, no matter what the odds.
Comic-book adaptations of Vernes' work are unfortunately usually below par. The early ones illustrated by Gerald Forton (of Arak, son of Thunder fame), Dino Attanasio and especially the great William Vance (XIII) were pretty good, but the ones produced since the late '70s were so-so at best.
Vernes' passing does not come as a surprise, given his age, but it is still a great loss. I'll always cherish the memory of going to the drugstore to see if his latest novel was up on the shelf, next to other pulp novels like Doc Savage. Those were good days, made better by Mr. Vernes' work.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 28, 2021 15:04:07 GMT -5
R. I. P. Dusty Hill. ZZ Top's music was ubiquitous in my teen years, particularly after Eliminator hit. Though I ultimately came to prefer their earlier blues oriented music there's no denying the power of their MTV hits. And they are the band I've seen most often in concert having seen them three times including what would be the first concert my boys are likely to remember. Hill was certainly a quieter presence in the band than Billy Gibbons. But he was a quality bass player and his rhythm always kept the band grounded in the blues.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 15:39:47 GMT -5
Oh man, did not see that coming even though I know the years have been getting on, I'm crushed. The MTV years may have brought commercial success, but musically it was those earlier years that defined them and were a big influence on me as a musician, Tres Hombres is essential listening. This is how I will always remember Dusty, he was a wonderful performer and I will miss him greatly:
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 28, 2021 15:44:55 GMT -5
Yeah, just saw the news about Dusty Hill. I'm with you on their output: I *loved* Eliminator when the album was released, but eventually got so tired of it and ZZ Top's subsequent releases in the '80s. But I'm still quite fond of their earlier material from the 1970s.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 28, 2021 16:23:36 GMT -5
Yeah, just saw the news about Dusty Hill. I'm with you on their output: I *loved* Eliminator when the album was released, but eventually got so tired of it and ZZ Top's subsequent releases in the '80s. But I'm still quite fond of their earlier material from the 1970s. Those are my feelings exactly. I saw them when they were touring for Recycler and for Antenna. I'd be unlikely to listen to either album at this point...and Recycler is honestly pretty bad (though I think "My Head's in Mississippi is pretty decent). I then saw them maybe ten years ago at a small venue in Nevada. I don't even think they were touring in support of an album. Just a great show heavily weighted to their early blues-rock sound with a segue into their biggest MTV hits at about the 2/3 point of the show.
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Post by tartanphantom on Jul 28, 2021 17:09:12 GMT -5
Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres, Fandango, Deguello.
It just don't get no better than that.
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Post by impulse on Jul 28, 2021 17:25:42 GMT -5
It's been a rough week for metal. Mike Howe, singer for metal church passed along with Joey Jordison, founding drummer of Slipknot. Aged 55 and 46 respectively. That is way too young.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 28, 2021 18:00:04 GMT -5
(...) I saw them when they were touring for Recycler and for Antenna. I'd be unlikely to listen to either album at this point...and Recycler is honestly pretty bad (though I think "My Head's in Mississippi is pretty decent). I then saw them maybe ten years ago at a small venue in Nevada. I don't even think they were touring in support of an album. Just a great show heavily weighted to their early blues-rock sound with a segue into their biggest MTV hits at about the 2/3 point of the show. 'Recycler' was a such an apropos album title - it seemed at the time like they were just doing the same stuff over and over. In fact, not long after it was released, I remember the morning crew of a radio station in San Jose, CA (where I was living at the time) doing a spoof song called "Repeat and Steal" to the tune of "Concrete and Steel." I guess the formula paid off, but it didn't hold a candle to the material on the albums tartanphantom mentioned. Or the more recent solo albums released by Gibbons.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 28, 2021 18:03:03 GMT -5
Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres, Fandango, Deguello. It just don't get no better than that. Tres Hombres is legit one of the best Blues-Rock albums of all time. Deguello is just barely behind it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 19:39:01 GMT -5
It's been a rough week for metal. Mike Howe, singer for metal church passed along with Joey Jordison, founding drummer of Slipknot. Aged 55 and 46 respectively. That is way too young. Totally, hearing about Dusty on top of all that is the capper to a really bad week.
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