Obit watch: January 30, 2023.

January 30th, 2023

Tom Verlaine, musician.

In 1972, inspired by the New York Dolls, they started a band called the Neon Boys. Mr. Verlaine bought an electric Fender Jazzmaster guitar for himself and picked out a $50 bass for Mr. Hell; their friend Billy Ficca joined them on drums.
In 1973 they added Richard Lloyd, a guitarist, and renamed themselves Television. They chose the name because they had a distaste for the medium and hoped to provide an alternative. Mr. Verlaine also enjoyed the resonance with his initials, T.V.
After seeing a performance by Television in 1974, David Bowie called the group “the most original band I’ve seen in New York.” However, Mr. Hell’s emotive, chaotic outlook on music clashed with Mr. Verlaine’s more controlled approach. Mr. Hell was replaced by Fred Smith in 1975 and later went on to form the punk band Richard Hell and the Voidoids.
Television signed with Elektra Records and in 1977 released its first album, “Marquee Moon,” which featured hypnotic guitar work that ranged from mournful to ecstatic.

…

While “Marquee Moon” received rapturous reviews and now regularly appears on lists of the greatest rock albums ever made, that did not translate into significant sales or airplay. “Shooting himself in the foot was a particular talent of his,” Mr. Lloyd said of Mr. Verlaine. “He had a will of iron and he would say no to big tours and big shows.”

Television is one of those seminal ’70s bands…that I just never got into.

Lisa Loring. Other credits include “As the World Turns” and “Barnaby Jones”.

Barrett Strong, Motown singer and songwriter.

Strong — who died Sunday, Jan. 29, at the age of 81 in Detroit — co-wrote some of Motown’s most enduring hits, with a variety of collaborators but primarily the late Norman Whitfield. Those included “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” for Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips, “War” for Edwin Starr, the Undisputed Truth’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes” and a wealth of material for the Temptations — “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Just My Imagination,” “Cloud Nine,” “Psychedelic Shack” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” for which Strong shared a Grammy Award.

Annie Wersching, actress. She was only 45: cancer got her.

Hattip on the previous two to Lawrence, who also sent over this article that’s not quite an obit, but as he put it, “is the sort of thing you like to link to”. Which is true.

Breaking: Bobby Hull, hockey player. I’m going to go ahead and link to the NYT directly, since this is just a preliminary obit: if I end up doing an obit watch tomorrow, I’ll link to an archive version of the full obit.

Posted in Music, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

The problem is not the guns.

January 29th, 2023

(This is a guest post from FotB RoadRich, speaking in his capacity as a private citizen, and not representing any organization or group. -DB)

In this article that I found after following links from the Michigan helicopter one, it is revealed that the old man who shot up two California farms had mental problems. But of course the problem is the guns.

Set aside the fact he tried to kill his roommate with a pillow.

It’s not mental illness, it’s the guns.

Oh, and later threatened the same roommate with a knife.

It’s the guns.

And also made a thinly veiled threat to bring his vengeance to work.

Can’t be mental illness.

Must be something we can take away from people so they can’t defend themselves when one of these lunatics snaps. So that we look like we’re doing something.

I know, we will just fight back with some paper laws and voluntary-only social programs.

Because people with mental illness will naturally sign up for those on their own, they know they need help.

Posted in Guest, Guns, Politics | 1 Comment »

Memo from the Department of Gun Books.

January 28th, 2023

I hadn’t been buying anything for a while, because I was in the “no purchasing anything for yourself” holiday period.

But we went out for a bit over the MLK weekend, and I ran across some things at Half-Price Books. After the jump, some previously undocumented purchases…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia | 1 Comment »

Quaint and curious…

January 28th, 2023

Lawrence sent over a link to this item that’s currently up for auction at Heritage Auctions.

Sometime between 1970 and 1972, Ernest Tidyman, who was riding high on the success of “Shaft”, thought it’d be a cool idea to do a “Shaft” newspaper comic strip. So he got together with Don Rico, who was an old-time Marvel Comics guy. Rico did a lot of work for Marvel’s precursors (Timely Comics and Atlas Comics) during the 1940s and 1950s, and is credited as a co-creator of Natasha “Black Widow” Romanova.

The comic strip never sold, unfortunately. Which is a shame, as I think I would have read the heck out of a “Shaft” newspaper comic when I was a small boy. It almost certainly would have been more interesting than “The Amazing Glacial Spider-Man”.

And think of the crossover opportunities with other strips! Mary Worth suspects one of her neighbors is selling smack, so she calls her old friend John Shaft to investigate. Shaft goes back to Africa…and teams up with The Phantom.

To give you some idea of the way my mind works, I had a terrific idea last night. Casca, the Eternal Mercenary, winds up in Harlem in the 1970s…and teams up with Shaft to fight crime. Sadly, this idea is probably infeasible for intellectual property reasons, but if the current authors of the Casca series want to take a run at it, they have my blessing.

Posted in Books | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 27, 2023.

January 27th, 2023

Wally Campo, actor.

Other credits include “Shock Corridor”, “Ski Troop Attack”, and “Hell Squad”.

Sylvia Syms, British actress.

Other credits include “Doctor Who”, “Dalziel and Pascoe”, “The Poseidon Adventure” (the TV movie), “Doctor Zhivago” (the TV series), and “EastEnders”.

Posted in Movies, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

The rabbit comes out of the hole, around the tree, and back down the hole…

January 27th, 2023

This is another rabbit hole that I attribute to McThag: the Casca book series.

I remember the Casca books from when I was a teenager: I never bought any, but I remember seeing them around.

I actually saw a bunch of them (if memory serves, it was eight or nine out of the first dozen) at Half-Price Books a month or so ago. I thought about buying them, but there were a little expensive, and this was during the “not buying anything for myself” time period.

Things I did not know until I read McThag’s post and looked up the books:

  • The series is still going on, even though Barry Sadler died in 1989.
  • Yes, yes, I know it isn’t uncommon for a series to continue after the death of the author. But this isn’t a “V.C. Andrews®” or “Tom Clancy” situation.
  • There are, sort of, 56 books in the series. The first 22 are credited to Barry Sadler, though there’s a suggestion that some of them were ghostwritten. The post-Sadler books are credited to Paul Dengelegi (two after Sadler’s death) and Tony Roberts (up through #56, the most recent book), with two exceptions.
  • I said “sort of” above because two of the later books, Immortal Dragon (#29) and The Outlaw (#33) were removed from the series…
  • …because they were allegedly plagiarized. Those were both written by someone who is not Paul Dengelegi or Tony Roberts.
  • Immortal Dragon specifically was (allegedly) plagiarized from David Morrell’s novelization of Rambo III, which does not strike me as being a smart strategy. Not just ripping off a popular movie novelization, but ripping off a best-selling author who has lawyers, money, and can get people with guns…
  • Paul Dengelegi wrote his final Casa book in 2001. In 2004, he published an unauthorized audiobook, “Casca: The Outcast”, which is considered non-canon. The publisher is defunct and the book is apparently no longer available. (I haven’t looked to see if there’s an MP3 download somewhere on the Internet.)
  • The first Casca book was published in 1979. That works out to 56 (or 54) books over 43 years, or a little more than one book a year. Not bad.
  • Panzer Warrior may be the best of the Casca books. I can’t say, because I haven’t read any. Also, I spent a lot of time reading the Paperback Warrior site last night. I respect the blogger and his scholarship, but his tastes are considerably different than my own, so I am taking that with a grain of salt.
  • Casca #50, The Commissar: “Casca joins the Red Army during the Soviet–Ukrainian War, but soon turns on them after learning of their brutality.” That would be the 1917-1921 Ukrainian–Soviet War, to be clear.
  • Casca certainly seems to make some questionable life choices: fighting for the Nazis, participating in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the 7th Cavalry Regiment pre-Little Bighorn, the Red Army…

I may have to go back to Half-Price and see if they still have those Casca books.

Posted in Books | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 26, 2023.

January 26th, 2023

Paul La Farge, author. He wasn’t someone I’d heard of before, but he sounds interesting:

Mr. La Farge’s novels and short stories defied easy categorization, but they were all characterized by a sort of writer’s derring-do.
“With each novel he would set out, and then it would become clear to him that he had set what seemed like an impossible formal challenge for himself,” Ms. Stern, the artistic director of the Vineyard Theater in Manhattan, said by email, “but he would keep on, wrestling forward and sideways and backwards, and eventually the story and its form would be inextricable in a way that was awe-inspiring and yet felt inevitable.”

…

Mr. La Farge began “Haussmann: Or the Distinction” (2001) by presenting it as a translation of an unearthed French text from 1922. The novel goes on to tell a made-up tale about the real-life French official Georges-Eugène Haussmann, who oversaw the redesign of Paris in the 1800s.“The Facts of Winter” (2005) was another exercise in fiction-as-reality. Mr. La Farge presented it as his translation of a minor French poet, Paul Poissel, whom he had invented out of whole cloth.

…

“Luminous Airplanes” (2011), about a San Francisco programmer who returns to upstate New York to sort through his dead grandfather’s possessions, is perhaps the most realistic of Mr. La Farge’s novels, but it had its own unexpected element: Readers were invited to go to a website where Mr. La Farge posted elaborations on and continuations of the story.
His most recent novel, “The Night Ocean” (2017), again takes a real historical figure — the writer H.P. Lovecraft — and weaves a story around him.

…

A La Farge novel could be packed with history, and, Mr. La Farge told the literary magazine TriQuarterly in 2017, that meant research. For “Haussmann,” after spinning the story, “I went back to check all the little things,” he said. “Were the street lamps in Paris in the 1850s gas lamps or oil lamps? It was surprisingly hard to find out.”

Lance Kerwin. Other credits include “FBI: The Unheard Music The Untold Stories”, “The Fourth Wise Man”, and “Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy”.

Posted in 1970s, Books, Lovecraft, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 25, 2023.

January 25th, 2023

Victor S. Navasky, former editor and publisher of The Nation.

Posted in Obits | Comments Closed

Administrative notes.

January 24th, 2023

I haven’t forgotten about part two of Day of the .45. I do want to get that up. Unfortunately, the weather on Saturday was bad for photo taking, Sunday was entirely consumed by battleship, and the weather so far this week is also kind of hinky.

This weekend is looking less busy, so if the weather holds up and we get some sunlight, I may be able to take some photos and get a post up.

Also have some more books to post about as well, but that should be an easier process as it does not depend so much on good weather. Possibly Thursday?

And I also have not forgotten that I need to update the City Council/Commissioner’s Court/Congressional Representatives lists. That is, for sure, on the agenda, especially in light of recent events. As I think everyone knows, I try to wait until after January 20th to update those lists, as it takes time for people to get sworn in and websites to get updated. Updating those lists is also part of my evil master plan for this week.

Posted in Admin | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: January 24, 2023.

January 24th, 2023

Yoshio Yoda, actor.

He only has five acting credits in IMDB, but one of those was 163 episodes of “McHale’s Navy” as “Fuji Kobiaji”. He was also in two “McHale’s Navy” movies.

Betty Sturm, actress. “The World’s Greatest Sinner” is her only IMDB credit. (I have not seen “Sinner”, and I’m not aware of anyone ever screening it while I’ve lived in Austin. Apparently it is on Amazon Prime. I have seen “200 Motels”, and would have to think hard about repeating that experience. And I’m a Zappa fan.)

Posted in Obits, TV | Comments Closed

One more.

January 23rd, 2023

Last boat post of the day, and until Memorial Day (I think), just because I think people might be getting tired of me going on about the Texas.

Did the stern, pretty much have to do the bow as well.

Posted in Boats, History | 3 Comments »

Legal news of the weird.

January 23rd, 2023

1. The Alex Murdaugh murder trial starts today.

I probably will not be covering it in detail, but I will try to keep half an eye on it, and will link anything I find interesting and not offensive.

(I specify “not offensive” because: there was a story in the media last week which summarized the autopsy reports on Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh. It went into enough detail that I decided not to link it, because I felt it was just too much detail for my readers.)

2. Back in 2021, a 15-year old boy hit a mother and child in Venice, California.

The video shows a stolen vehicle speeding the wrong way down a one-way backstreet. It plowed into a woman walking her infant son in a stroller. Then he hit the gas, accelerating away from the scene, where a good Samaritan in a pickup truck rammed the suspect vehicle head on.
Los Angeles police responded and found drugs in the driver’s system and marijuana in the car, according to an incident report obtained by Fox News.

This case was in the news last year:

…Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s office sought a five- to seven-month sentence in juvenile probation camp, a punishment for young offenders described as less severe than military school but harsher than summer camp.

…

The teen was already on felony probation for poisoning a high school girl’s drink at the time of the hit-and-run – which surveillance cameras captured on Aug. 6, 2021.

Last week, someone shot the (now 17-year old) boy.

Sources close to the investigation told FOX News that he had been at a fast food restaurant earlier trying to “get with a girl.”
“As he walked home alone, a car pulled up next to him and an argument broke out. Someone in the vehicle opened fire, then sped off,” FOX News reported.

The police don’t currently think there is any relationship between the hit-and-run and the shooting. It seems more like a violation of the Rule of Stupids.

3. Former Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson died by suicide last Friday. She resigned in 2021.

Her problems began when her daughter Sarah, then 16, started working at a clothing store that Andress-Tobiasson claimed was a front for criminal activities and tried to stop it, first by reporting the issue to the police, the Daily Mail reported. She said the store, Top Knotch, was involved with prostitution and trying to recruit her daughter.
She called out Las Vegas cops for ignoring information about the alleged sex trafficking at the store. She claimed that the store was an unlicensed, underage nightclub and added that she was “terrified” of Shane Valentine, who ran the store at the time.

…

Andress-Tobiasson said she had to go to the FBI with the information after being ignored by local police — which resulted in officers investigating her for allegedly breaching judicial rules by making an allegation to federal agents.
A complaint filed against Andress-Tobiasson alleged that she failed to comply with and uphold the law, and allowed family interests and relations to influence her conduct, the Daily Mail reported.

I’m not clear on why “judicial rules” would preclude making a complaint to federal agents if you believe there’s wrongdoing or corruption, and can’t get any results at the local level. I understand the “family interests and relations” part, but I wonder how much truth there is to that.

And before you say I’m giving the innocent Mr. Valentine a hard time…

Valentine was later linked to a shooting where a couple was found dead.
They did not officially link him to the killings of Sydney Land, 21, and Nehemiah “Neo” Kauffman, 20, until months later, according to the Daily Mail.

Here’s the Daily Mail article, which includes a photo of Mr. Valentine. Neither article, however, is specific about what “linked to a shooting” means: there’s no mention of Mr. Valentine actually facing any charges.

But Andress-Tobiasson contacted Land’s mother and “began to personally investigate the case” because she thought that Valentine was responsible, the complaint stated.
It added that she used “burner phones” to contact Land’s mother and sent texts to another woman she thought was involved in the murder.
The commission alleged that Andress-Tobiasson stated publicly that she reached out to Valentine’s lawyer at the time and “told him to tell Valentine that if he called her daughter again, she would ‘take care of it herself,’” and that one time she “went to Shane Valentine’s house and kicked in the door.”

Yay, burner phones! Been a while since I’ve seen a case with those.

Detectives learned of Andress-Tobiasson’s activity, according to the charges, and launched an investigation into the judge, going as far as tracking her phone records.
They also alleged that she had links to a man called “Anthony Danna” who was a “known and documented organized crime figure.”

“known and documented organized crime figure”. Again, what does that mean? (As best as I can tell, he’s not in the Black Book.)

Posted in Law, Murdaugh | 1 Comment »

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