Archive for December 30th, 2019

Obit watch: December 30, 2019.

Monday, December 30th, 2019

Neil Innes, musical humorist.

In the early 1960s he was one of the first members of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, also known as simply the Bonzo Dog Band. He wrote the group’s biggest hit, “I’m the Urban Spaceman,” which climbed into the Top 10 on the British charts in 1968.
In the 1970s he wrote material for Monty Python, the groundbreaking six-member comedy troupe. Midway through that decade he and Eric Idle, a Python, came up with the Rutles, a deadpan parody of the Beatles; the group not only recorded albums but also made films, most notably the mock documentary “The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash” in 1978.

Sleepy LaBeef, noted rockabilly musician.

He claimed to know 6,000 songs and played, as he put it at the time, “root music: old-time rock ’n’ roll, Southern gospel and hand-clapping music, black blues, Hank Williams-style country.”

Syd Mead.

…Mead went to produce conceptual artwork and other products on films including 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1982’s Blade Runner, where he first gained the credit “visual futurist” (a name he coined to describe his position), 1982’s Tron, 1986’s Aliens, 1984’s Timecop, 2000’s Mission to Mars, 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, 2013’s Elysium, 2015’s Tomorrowland and 2017’s Blade Runner 2049.

Lee Mendelson, producer of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

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Blood in the streets!

Monday, December 30th, 2019

Your Monday morning firings watch. I’ll try to keep this updated through the day.

Bruce Allen out as Redskins president. The team already fired head coach Jay Gruden earlier this year.

Update 1: the New York Football Giants have fired head coach Pat Shurmur. Two seasons, a 9-23 record, and the worst record in the NFL since 2017.

Update 2: Miami fired their offensive coordinator (Chad O’Shea) and two other guys.

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