Wow. When it rains…
Joseph Alois Ratzinger, also known as Pope Benedict XVI. Vatican News Service.
I know I’m being short with both of these. Mike the Musicologist is up for New Year’s, and we have a long list of things to do. Also, both of these stories are being covered by everybody and his brother, so these obits are more for the hysterical record than they are hot news flashes.
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In his 21-year career, Pelé — born Edson Arantes do Nascimento — scored 1,283 goals in 1,367 professional matches, including 77 goals for the Brazilian national team.
Many of those goals became legendary, but Pelé’s influence on the sport went well beyond scoring. He helped create and promote what he later called “o jogo bonito” — the beautiful game — a style that valued clever ball control, inventive pinpoint passing and a voracious appetite for attacking. Pelé not only played it better than anyone; he also championed it around the world.
Dave Whitlock, fly fisherman.
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Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer.
Ms. Westwood was just 30 when she and her boyfriend, Malcolm McLaren — who as a music impresario would go on to manage the Sex Pistols — opened a shop called Let It Rock at 430 King’s Road in London. The business, which had a pink vinyl sign out front, was an unconventional one, selling fetish wear and fashions inspired by the Teddy Boy look of the 1950s.
In shaping the look of the era, Ms. Westwood came to be known as the godmother of punk. After her partnership with Mr. McClaren ended, she began designing collections under her own name, and she soon established an international reputation. She went on to open more stores in London and across the globe; her provocative creations appeared on supermodels and celebrities and influenced mainstream fashion. The corsets, platform shoes and mini-crinis (a combination Victorian crinoline and miniskirt) became her hallmarks.
“People really associate her with punk and that whole aesthetic, which is accurate and how she made her name, but she’s so much more than that,” Véronique Hyland, the author of “Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion From the New Look to Millennial Pink” (2022), said in an interview for this obituary. “She was influenced by art history, old master paintings. She’s very focused on the English tradition of tailoring.”
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Chrissie Hynde, who would later become the lead singer of the Pretenders, was an assistant at the shop. She was quoted in Ms. Westwood’s memoir as saying that “I don’t think punk would have happened without Vivienne and Malcolm.”
“Something would have happened,” she continued, “and it might have been called punk, but it wouldn’t have looked the way it did, even in America. And the look was important.”
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Daniel Brush, who the NYT describes as a “boundary-defying artist”.
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He had a morning ritual of sweeping the loft for several hours, “just as a Buddhist monk might sweep the temple ground in meditation,” The Times wrote in 2020. The loft held antique scissors, an 18th-century lathe and assorted other vintage objects and machines, a testament to Mr. Brush’s self-taught mastery of techniques like the aforementioned granulation — visitors who took a magnifying glass to some of his jewelry and other pieces saw that they were adorned with strings of grainlike bits of gold.
“What struck me in his work is his demanding nature and his ability to work gold, aluminum and steel with absolute precision,” Nicolas Bos, chief executive of Van Cleef & Arpels, the French jewelry company, wrote in the preface to the 2019 book “Daniel Brush: Jewels Sculpture.” “He claims to be a goldsmith, a jeweler and a metalworker, but I think, before everything, there’s a sort of magician within him.”
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I wasn’t familiar with Mr. Brush and his work until I read the obit. There are some photos in the obit, and I confess: his art impresses me.
Here’s a fun little quickie: a thoughtful Christmas present from FotB RoadRich.
The 1981 Braniff annual report.
The significance of this: the 1981 annual report came out in April of 1982. Braniff’s original airline operations ceased May 12, 1982.
(“Two later airlines used the Braniff name: the Hyatt Hotels-backed Braniff, Inc. in 1983–89, and Braniff International Airlines, Inc. in 1991–92.” Also: “…continues today as a retailer, hotelier, travel service and branding and licensing company, administering the former airline’s employee pass program and other airline administrative duties.“)
By way of my beloved and indulgent sister: a man and his wife are planning to celebrate the holiday holed up in their house. In Buffalo.
Cutting to the chase, instead of digging the van out (these people weren’t going anywhere in that snow) they invited the travelers in.
The visitors — seven women and three men — filled the three-bedroom house, sleeping on couches, sleeping bags, an air mattress and in the home’s guest bedroom. The other travelers included parents with their daughter, an Indiana college student, and two college-age friends from Seoul. Three of them spoke English proficiently.
They spent the weekend swapping stories, watching the Buffalo Bills defeat the Chicago Bears on Christmas Eve and sharing delicious Korean home-cooked meals prepared by the guests, like jeyuk bokkeum, a spicy stir-fried pork dish, and dakdori tang, a chicken stew laced with fiery red pepper. To the surprise and glee of the Korean guests, Mr. Campagna and his wife, who are both fans of Korean food, had all the necessary condiments on hand: mirin, soy sauce, Korean red pepper paste, sesame oil and chili flakes. There was also kimchi and a rice cooker.
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Really, the only downside to this story from my point of view is that the Buffalo Bills won. The rest of the tale warms the cockles of my heart.
I got a little behind in doing these, for reasons. But I’ve been on vacation all last week, and will be on vacation all this week and next, so I’ve got some time to catch up.
Stephen Greif, British actor.
Other credits include some “Doctor Who” related shows, some “Judge Dredd” related work, “EastEnders”, “Drop the Dead Donkey”, and “The Last Days of Pompeii”.
Lawrence sent over an obit for Michael Reed, noted director of photography. Other credits include “The Groundstar Conspiracy”, “Rasputin: The Mad Monk”, and “God’s Outlaw“.
I know, it is December 26th, but as I always say: all people of goodwill know the Christmas season runs through January 6th.
Today’s Christmas present: Nathaniel Hackett out as head coach of the Denver Broncos, less than a year after being hired.
The Broncos are 4-11 this season (and in Hackett’s tenure) and lost 51-14 to the (5-10) Rams on Sunday. But they did beat the Texans in week 2, so they’re not quite the most pathetic team in the NFL this season.
Not exactly traditional, or musical, but why not?
Not a video, but I kind of liked this. One line in particular got me in the feels:
…”because it was the right thing to do.”
(Since I’ve already linked Paul Harvey, here’s the rest of the story: Bob May left Montgomery Ward to manage Rudolph, but returned seven years later. Yes, he made a ton of money, but sales declined over time, and the federal tax rates were usurius. He worked for Ward’s until his retirement in 1970, and died in 1976. He converted to Catholicism in 1972, after his second wife died, and married her sister the same year.)
Here’s a brief historical note, suitable for use in schools, from the Imperial War Museum:
And now a musical interlude from our interlude.
One more, I think, just for fun:
Merry Christmas to one and all. May those of you on the watch have a quiet shift. May those of you who are suffering find comfort.
He is frequently credited with inventing chicken tikka masala.
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Maggie Thrett, actress. Credits other than that minor SF TV show from the 1960s include “Run, Joe, Run”, “I Dream of Jeannie”, and ‘The Wild Wild West”.
Diane McBain, actress.
Other credits include “Airwolf”, the good “Hawaii 5-0”, “Barbary Coast”…
…and “Mannix”. (“Blind Mirror”, season 3, episode 17. She was “Stella Diamond”.)
This story is a couple of days old, but I only got around to reading it this morning. When Rod Dreher says the NYT got a story about religion right, you should probably pay attention.
“The Miraculous Life and Afterlife of Charlene Richard“, about a Cajun farm girl who died in 1959 and the lengthy effort to make her a saint.
This is long, but I think it repays the effort. There’s a lot of discussion in the article about the specifics of the canonization process (including the relatively recent changes) and the internal Church politics involved in making someone a saint. If this isn’t the kind of thing that makes your eyes glaze over, I commend this article to your attention.