God, sometimes, in the Municipal Stadium days,  his drumbeats were the only thing you could hear in that cavern of a ballpark.

I wondered why he didn't seem to be part of the soundscape lately.

An heir to the legacy of stalwart fans like Hilda Chester and Karl Ehrhardt.

Not a great day to be a Gen X-er; 1st Wednesday Addams (original) and now Shirley Feeney. I just glanced; that leaves Michael McKean as the last surviving cast member of Laverne & Shirley, depending on if you count Leslie Easterbrook, who played Rhonda Lee, when they relocated to California.

Her improv roots showed in that role. She was great.

Never realized that she was twice an Oscar nominee and that she was the first actress to play Honey in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” on Broadway back in 1962.

Sad. I had quite a case of the hots for Melinda Dillon in her Close Encounters days. RIP.

Cei-U!
I summon the sorrowful sigh!

RIP to influential designer Paco Rabanne.



Born Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo, in the Basque region of Spain. His father was a colonel, on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War and was executed by Nationalist troops (those loyal to Franco). His mother was chief seamstress at a couture house and moved the family to Paris, in 1939. He studied architecture, but earned money by making sketches for Dior and Givenchy and shoe sketches for Charles Jourdan. However, after completing his studies, he went to work for the leading developer of reinforced concrete, in France and worked there for over 10 years.

In the mid-60s, he started designing jewelry for Givenchy, Dior and Balenciaga, using materials like metal, plastic, and paper. He started his own fashion house in 1966 and became known for his unusual use of such materials and his futuristic and Space Age designs....



He also became known for his perfumes and colognes, by the end of the 60s.

I've always been interested in Mid-Century Modern and Space Age Desing, which permeated the 50s and 60s (especially the early to mid-60s), from the influences of movies and tv of that era. Rabanne was one of those names that crops up significantly through it, with his metal dresses, jewelry and his designs. He was a forward-thinking designer and was very much a part of the Swinging 60s.

A favorite piece of related material is a story for Tales of the Shadowmen, an anthology series from Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficer and their Black Coat Books. In Vol 3 (Danse Macabre), there is a story by French sci-fi writer Xavier Maumejean, featuring the French pulp character, Madame Atomos, a super-villain out to destroy the United States, as revenge for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (she is Japanese). This particular story finds her dealing with several spy characters, from film, tv, and literature and attending a chic party. She is wearing what is supposed to be a one-of-a-kind Paco Rabanne metal dress, but, storms out of the party when she sees Modesty Blaise enter, wearing the exact same dress! The story is filled with references to 60s spy-fi and 60s style and culture.

In comic terms, the design of the chainmail outfit, worn by Western's Magnus, Robot Fighter, looks like it was inspired by Rabanne.

A trio of Legion artists have died too young the past few years: Steve Lightle, Jason Pearson, and now Lee Moder.

We just noted it was the 50th anniversary of the start of the Hagar the Horrible strip in another thread a few days ago, and I learned today that Chris Browne, who carried on the strip when his father Dik passed, passed today as well. RIP good sir.





-M