November 2022 Deaths: Takeoff, Chrysostomas and Cook

**  TAKEOFF, 38

A rapper best known for his work with the Grammy-nominated trio Migos.

Died November 1.

**  ARCHBISHOP CHRYSOSTOMAS II, 81

Outspoken leader of Cyprus' Greek Orthodox Church whose forays into the country's complex  politics and finances fired up supporters and detractors alike.

Died November 7.

**  JEFF COOK, 72

Guitarist who co-founded the country group Alabama and steered them up he charts with such hits as "Song of the South" and "Dixieland Delight."  Of course, their "Farewell Tour" took five years.

Died November 8.

One of my all-time favorite country acts that got their start at Myrtle Beach's "Bowery."  We used to go their regularly.  The house band, which Alabama was before they hit it big, was not paid, but relied on tips.

Deaths in Oct. 2022: Fuller, Lynn, Lansbury and Coltrane

CHARLES FULLER, 83

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of the searing and acclaimed "A Soldier's Play" who often explored and exposed how social institutions can perpetuate racism.  

Died October 3.

LORETTA LYNN, 90

The Kentucky coalminer's daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music.  

Died October 4.

ANGELA LANSBURY, 96

British actor who kicked her heels in the Broadway musicals "Mame" and "Gypsy" and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the TV series "Murder, She Wrote."  

Died October 11.

ROBBIE COLTRANE, 72

Comedian and character actor whose hundreds of roles included a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series :Cracker and the gentle half-giant Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" movies.

Died October 14.

What?  No More Hagrid?

Deaths in May 2022-- Part 6: Mineta, Gilley, Lanier, Akleh and Liotta

NORMAN MINETA, 90

**  He broke racial barriers for Asian Americans serving in high profile government posts who ordered commercial flights grounded after the 9/11 terror attacks as the Federal Transportation Secretary.  Died May 3.

MICKEY GILLEY, 86

**  Country singer whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy" and a nationwide wave of Western-themed night spots.  Died May 7.  No Bull!!

What great music.  But, I never got on one of those mechanical bulls.  My back is still okay.

BOB LANIER, 73

**  The left-habded big man who muscled up beside the likes of Kareen Abdul-Jabbar as one of the NBA's top players of the seventies.  Died May 10.

SHIREEN ABU AKLEH, 51

**  A correspondent who became a household name synonymous with with Al Jazeera's coverage of life under occupation during her more than two decades reporting in the Palestinian territories.  Died May 11.

RAY LIOTTA, 67

**  Actor best-known for playing mobster Henry Hill in "Goodfellas" and baseball player "Shoeless " Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams."  Died May 26.

"Do I Amuse You?"  

Influential Figures We Lost in April 2022-- Part 5: Harris, Gottfried, Hatch, Mower and Judd

APRIL

ESTELLE HARRIS, 93

**  She hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza's short-fused ,other on "Seinfeld" and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" franchise.  Died April 2.

Serenity Now!!

GILBERT GOTTFRIED, 67

**  Actor and legendary standup comic known for his scorched voice and crude jokes.  Died April 12.

ORRIN HATCH, 88

**  The longest-serving Republican senator in history who was a fixture in Utah politics for more than four decades.  Died April 23.

DR. MORTON MOWER, 89

**  A former Maryland-based cardiologist who helped invent and automatic implantable defibrillator that helped countless heart patients live longer and healthier.  Died April 25.

NAOMI JUDD, 76

**   Her family harmonies with daughter Wynonna turned them into the Grammy-winning country stars, the Judds.  Died April 30.

Loved their songs.

We Remember People We Lost in 2020-- Part 7: Stiller, Philbin, Reiner, Prine, Davis and Holm

JERRY STILLER, 92

The George's father in "Seinfeld" and Carrie's in "King of Queens."  With wife, was the comedy duo of Stiller and Meara.  Also in movies like "Zoolander and with his son Ben in "The Heartbreak Kid."  Died May 11.

REGIS PHILBIN, 88

Best known as host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Live! With Regis and Kelly.  Set a Guinness World Record for "Most Hours on Camera" in 2004. Died July 24.

CARL REINER, 98

Laid the building blocks of TV comedy in the 1950s and 1960s.  Directed movies including four with Steve Martin, including "The Jerk."  Of course "The Dick Van Dyke Show."  Died June 29.

JOHN PRINE, 73

Illinois-born and a great one.  Singer-songwriter.  I liked him before his death, but really didn't know how great he was until I went to YouTube and started listening to his songs.  Wow, what a talent.  Died April 7.

MAC DAVIS, 78

Country singer-songwriter who wrote "In the Ghetto" for Elvis and sang "Baby, Don't Get Hooked On me."  Then there's my favorite "It's Hard to Be Humble."  Died September 29.

IAN HOLM, 88

Star of stage and probably best known for his role as Bilbo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings."  Died June 19.

We Remember People We Lost in 2020-- Part 6: Brimly, Osmond, Dubois, Lewis, Rogers and Morricone

WILFORD BRIMLEY, 85

Recognized for his thick mustache and down-home drawl and performances in "The China Syndrome," Cocoon," Absence of Malice" and  "The Natural."  Was a real-life cowboy.  Died August 1.

KEN OSMOND (EDDIE HASKELL), 76

If Eddie Haskell doesn't do it, then think "Leave It to Beaver."  Wally's buddy and character indeed.  Died May 18.

JA'NET DUBOIS, 74

Played neighbor Willona Woods on "Good Times" TV show and co-write and sang the theme song to "The Jeffersons."    You know, "Moving On Up."  Okay, stop singing it now.  Died February 17.

REP. JOHN LEWIS, 80

Famed Civil Rights activist and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  One of the 13 original Freedom Riders and led the "Bloody Sunday" march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  Died July 17.

KENNY ROGERS, 81

Sang many crossover hits from country to pop like "The Gambler," "Islands in the Stream" and "We've Got Tonight."  First gained fame in the 1960s with the group First Edition and "Just Dropped In (To see What Condition My Condition Was In)."  Died March 20.

ENNIO MORRICONE, 91

Italian composer who orchestrated more than 500 movies including the Spaghetti westerns "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."  Died July 6.

We Remember, People We Lost in 2020-- Part 1: Boseman, Daniels, Ginsburg and Rigg

From the December 6, 2020, Parade Magazine "We remember" by Dillon Dodson.

I do Music Deaths in my Down Da Road I Go blog.

CHADWICK BOSEMAN, 42

Movie actor.  "42" (Jackie Robinson), "Get On Up" (James Brown), "Marshall" (Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and, of course, "Black Panther." Died August 28.

CHARLIE DANIELS, 83

A whole lot of great music, especially "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" a #1 crossover hit in 1979.  Died July 6.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, 87

Supreme Court Justice.  Leader in women's rights and gender equality movement.  Died September 18.

DIANA RIGG, 82

Actress "Game of Thrones" and "Avengers" TV show.  Died September 10.

Depression-era Colony Cashing In On Johnny Cash's fame-- Part 2

Before he was the Man in Black, he was J.R. Cash, a son of Kingsland, Arkansas, farmers who successfully applied to take part in a 1930s Works Progress Administration experiment.  The government brought in 487 families, gave them land and a mule.

"This was a practice in socialism," said Roscoe Phillips, who was born at Dyess 77 years ago.  "They took people who had nothing and gave us something.  It wouldn't happen today."

Under the selection criteria--  the application ran on for eight pages-- families were rewarded for their rugged independence but on arrival had to share their excess with the community.  Their contributions qualified them for "doodlum," a paper currency not unlike the script issued at company towns.

--Cooter

Depression-era Colony Cashing in On Johnny Cash's Fame--Part 1

from the August 16, 2014, Northwest Herald (Illinois) Buzz.

Dyess, Arkansas.

Money and memorabilia from Johnny Cash's family and friends have helped preservationists restore a large part of the Historic Dyess Colony, a government collective built during the Great Depression to help agricultural families out of poverty.  Johnny Cash's family lived here while he was growing up and his boyhood home and the colony's former headquarters opened Saturday.

The colony and town is in northeastern Arkansas and was on once sunken land.

Ruth Hawkins, executive director of the heritage Sites Program at Arkansas State University said, "Restoring the Dyess Colony Administration Building, and even saving at least one of the typical colony houses, would have been a worthwhile project, even without the Johnny Cash connection.

"But the project would not have gotten anywhere near the public support that it has, and it would not be a major tourism draw.

I am aware of a lot of the projects developed to help get the country out of the Great Depression, but hadn't heard of this one.

"Because You're Mine, i walk the ___."  --Dacoot in Black

Dead Page: Country Singer-- Internet Developer

MEL McDANIEL, 68

Husky-voiced singer-songwriter whose songs "Baby Got Her Blue Jeans On," "Louisiana Saturday Night,"  "Big Ole Brew" and "Stand Up" were big hits in the 80s, and favorites of mine.  Died March 31, 2010.


PAUL BARAN, 84

Played a key role in the development of the internet.  Without him, I wouldn't be wasting so much of my time doing this, but I enjoy it.  He did commercial work on UNIVAC computer, developing it to survive a nuclear war during the Cold War.

Dead Page: Funk-- Deep-- Queen

While looking through the Yahoo! obituaries, I came across the names of two people I'd never heard of before, but whose music I greatly enjoyed.  Also, there was a woman who was called the Queen of Country Music that I had heard of, but for only one song, but, what a song that was.

What they had in common was that all died July 16th.


BOB BABBITT, 74

Was a studio musician for Motown and a member of the Funk Brothers who backed up so many of those great Motown singers and groups.  Some of the 200 Top 40 songs he played on were the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion," Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me (Ecology Song)," Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered,"  Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" and Edwin Starr's "War."

If there is a bigger Motown fan than me, I'd like to know.


JON LORD, 71

British keyboardist and member of Deep Purple and later, Whitesnake.  Co-wrote one of my favorite songs ever, "Smoke on the Water."

I am still a big Deep Purple fan and liked some of Whitesnake's songs.


KITTY WELLS, 92

Called the Queen of Country Music after she became the first female to have a #1 song on the Country charts, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels."  Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976.  Her most success was in the 1950s.

This was the only song of hers I am familiar with, but what a song!!

Gone, But Not Forgotten.

Dead Page: "Blue Jeans On"-- Internet-- Super Glue-- Old-Time Blues

MEL MCDANIEL, 68

Husky-voiced country songwriter-singer from Oklahoma died March 31st. He had hits with "Louisiana Saturday Night" in 1981 (which always got folks up on the dance floor and yelling when I played it while deejaying), "Stand Up" and "Big Ole Brew." His only #1 hit was 1985's "Baby Got Her Blue Jeans On."


PAUL BARAN, 84

Died March 27th and played a key role in the development of the internet. Boy, I sure love my internet. All that information right at my fingertips and that fast.


HARRY COOVER, 94

Creator of Super Glue. Cyanoucrylate was first discovered in 1942 during search for materials to make plastic gun sights for World War II. However, the stuff stuck to everything so it was rejected. Mr. Coover thought, why not glue.

Unfortunately, about the only thing I've ever been able to glue with it are my fingers. It does a real good job gluing those.


PINETOP PERKINS, 97

Born in 1913 in Belzoni, Mississippi and was in his 50s when he joined the Muddy Waters Band to begin his blues career. Played up until this year. More fun than a piano should have.