susana clark (73, june 27) singer/songwriter wife of guy clark; painter, include album covers for guy clark, willie nelson and emmylou harris.
ossie hibbert (61, july 1) jamaican keyboardist; the aggrovators & the revolutionaries
ben davidson (72, july 2) washington huskies, oakland raiders defensive end. made an illegal play on len dawson in 1970 that was nullified by a personal foul on kansas city. after the season, nfl rules changed to penalize personal fouls after the play.
andy griffith (86, july 3) the sherriff of small town america, griffith was the esteemed sherrif of mayberry, and of course the lawyer in matlock. but not so remembered, he was a pretty accomplished singer. he sang a lot of the songs for his shows & movies, including the theme song to the andy griffith show. in some of the episodes of andy griffith, there was a band called the darlings. in real life, they were called the dilliards. earlier this year, dilliards singer/guitarist founding member andy dilliard also passed away.
jimmy bivins (92, july 4) hall of fame boxer
maria hawkins coleman (89, july 4) jazz singer; wife of nat king, mother of natalie
uncle batiste (81, july 8) singer; treme brass band
ernest borgnine (95, july 8) legendary actor who only ever won one grammy ~ the 1955 film “marty.” started on stage, including, as the gentleman caller in the 1948 version of “the glass menagerie.” tv roles included “mchale’s navy,” which brought him an emmy in 1962, the 80s action show “airwolf” & won another emmy, at the age of 92, for his role in “er” in 2009. of his movie career, he was in the super awesome “from here to eternity” with clift, lancaster, sinatra, keer & reed. ernest played famously in “vera cruz,” with lancaster & cooper. then won the best actor grammy for “marty” in 1955, awarded to him by princess grace kelly. that film has also been given the award for cultural, historical or aesthetic significance by the library of congress. then came the western “the wild bunch” with william holden, “the dirty dozen,” with lee marvin. ernest played the sherrif in “convoy” alongside kris kristofferson & was in the cult classic “escape from new york” with kurt russell. most intriguingly, he was in a b-movie starring william shatner called “devil’s rain.” other fun odd stuff , he played vince lombardi in a 1973 film “legend in granite,” narrated a documentary called “american hobo,” and on the show “fox & friends,” ernest tells steve doocy the secret to long life. see the long-lived legend in the upcoming film “the man who shook the hand of vicente fernandez.”
zach booher (22, july 8) singer; “while we’re up”
dennis flemion (57, july 9) keyboardist for the frogs; drowned
perry baggs (50, july 12) drummer; jason & the scorchers
sage stallone (36, july 13) son of syvlester stallone
maurice davis (71, july 13) trumpeter; the funk brothers (see below babbit)
kitty wells (92, july 16) they call her the queen of country. she was one of the very few country stars that were actually born in nashville. in 1952, kitty became the first woman to chart a #1 single on the country charts (not to take away from pre-chart singers like jeanie shepard or patsy montana), but being well-loved wasn’t enough to secure kitty an extension of her record contract in the days when the boys made the scene. nonetheless, “it wasn’t god who made honky tonk angels” went on to become one of the most recognizable country songs of the twentieth century, covered by everyone. kitty was one of the five female country singers who had royalty status, along with dolly, loretta, reba & tammy. 1976, kitty was inducted into the country music hall of fame & received a grammy lifetime achievement award in 1991. her career went more than 75 years, the same amount of time as her marriage to legendary singer johnny wright (of johnny & jack) who passed away in 2011. then queen has gone home to the big country.
jon lord (71, july 16) the founding member & organist for deep purple. at a time when moog keyboards were the standard of the scene, lord opted for organ which, along with his orchestral training & blues roots, made deep purple a unique early heavy metal band. they are one of three flash acts: with led zeppelin & black sabbath, though dep purple is somehow not in the rock and roll hall of fame. lord began playing classical piano at age five & got his first pro training with bill ashton in london. one of lord’s early credits was playing keyboards for the kinks’ “you really got me.” his early bands were the artwoods, with art wood & keif hartley (d. 2011) & santa barbara machine head, with art wood’s brother ronnie (the rolling stones guitarist since 1972).
bob babbit (74, july 16)
bass player for the funk brothers, a somewhat underaapreciated group of studio musicians hired to give the backing sounds to some of motown’s greatest albums. rarely did the backing musicians even receive credits. the book “standing in the shadows of motown” said that the funk brothers played on more #1 hits than the beatles, the stones, elvis & beach boys…combined. babbit himself gave some nice bass lines to edwin starr’s “war,” marvin gaye’s “inner city blues,” & the temptations “ball of confusion” among his career highlights. and to jimi hendrix, frank sinatra, phil collins & many others in a session career.
stephen r. covey (79, july 16) a professor in utah, wrote the massively influential book “seven habits of highly effective people.” covey died after suffering injuries from a bicycle accident in idaho falls. sad, but amazing. maybe effective people still ride bicycles for fun & sport at the age of 79.
nelson lyon (73, july 17) writer for saturday night live
ms. melodie (43, july 18) rapper, boogie down productions; ex-wife of krs one
tom davis (59, july 19) saturday night live writer
omar suleiman (76, july 19) ousted egyptian general & vice president
half of the syrian government (july 18)
aurora movie theatre mass shooting (july 21)
veronica moser-sullivan (6)
gordon cowden (51)
matthew mcquinn
alex sullivan
micayla medek (23)
john larimer
jesse childress (29)
alexander boik
jonathan blunk (26)
rebecca ann wingo (32)
jessica ghawi (24)
alexander teves (24)
alexander cockburn (71, july 21)
the co-editor of counterpunch, alexander wwas one of the most hard-lined, go-to sources for cutting edge news in a market otherwise owned by rupert murdoch or ted turner. everyone in cockburn’s immediate family were writers. his father wrote a book called “beat the devil” which became the name of alexander’s own column for the nation. at the time of his death, he was writing for counterpunch, the nation and the week. his early career was spent writing for new york review of books, esquire, harper’s and the village voice. he was controversially fired from village voice for being accused of anti-semitism. this tag became his trademark & he wore it with pride, often referring to himself sarcastically as anti-semitic. in fact, one of his great statements in arguing against a quote in which rev. billy graham advised president nixon that if the paris peace talks failed, the u.s. should cut off irrigation to north vietnam. such would have caused the deaths of at least a million vietnamese, which cockburn recognized and said infamously that it was p.c. to say something like that because they “didn't say they wanted to kill a million jews. that's what graham said about the vietnamese and no one raised a bleat.”
sally ride (61, july 23) first female astronaut in space
sherman helmsley (74, july 24) actor; george jefferson
larry hoppen (61, july 24) singer; orleans
john atta mills (68, july 24) president of ghana
thelma glass (96, july 24) secretary of women’s political council; organizer montgomery bus boycott
neil reed (36, july 27) indiana hoosier basketball player; famously choked by bob knight
pat porter (53, july 27) olymic long distance runner; plane crash
lupe ontiveros (69, july 27) actress; “goonies,” “el norte,” “as good as it gets”
darryl cotton (62, july 27) singer; zoot, cotton, keays & morris
sepp mayerl (75, july 28) mountineer; climbing accident; much the same as with stephen r. while an accident took the life of mayerl, it is an honorable death. amazing that in this age of apathy, laziness, obesity, etc. that someone at the age of 75 was still climbing mountains, still following their true passions.
sluggy ranks (44, july 25) jamaican dancehall singer; "95% black, 5% white” “ghetto youth bust”
gore vidal (86, july 31) novelist & talk show person
eduardo quesada (70, august 1) singer; lost fronterizos
tony sly (41, august 1) singer/git; no use for a name
abdi jeylani malaq marshale (43, august 1) comedian, journalist; shot
bill doss (43, august 1) singer; olivia tremor control & the apples in stereo
keiko tsushima (86, august 1) actress; seven samurai
mihaela ursuleasa (33, august 2) romanian pianist
jimmy jones (82, august 2) 50s pop singer; “handy man”
marguerite piazza (86, august 2) southern soprano; amazing life story
johnnie bassett (76, august 3) bluesman
arnie risen (87, august 3) boston celtics hall of famer
stuart swanlund (54, august 3) guitarist; the marshall tucker band (later)
joan stein (59, august 3) theatre, tv producer
jason noble (40, august 4) guitarist, lead singer; rachel’s; the shipping news; rodan
stephen hill (55, august 5) gospel singer
marvin hamlisch (68, august 7) composer, conductor; won emmy, grammy, oscar & tony awards; “the way we were”; “nobody does it better”
marvin lee wilson (54, august 7) murderer? maybe, but legal issues always baffling
carl davis (77, august 9) record producer; “yr love keeps lifting me (higher & highger)”
mel stuart (83, august 9) director; “willy wonka & the chocolate factory”
gregory ulas powell (79, august 12) convicted murderer of “the onion field”
gary cox (59, august 12) guitarist; artful dodger
dan hosker (46, august 12) guitarist of holy terrors; intensive care since may car wreck
johnny pesky (92, august 13) boston red sox hall of famer
phyllis thaxter (92, august 14) actress; “30 seconds over tokyo” & “superman”
ron pallilo (63, august 14) actor; “welcome back, kotter!”
bill tillman (66, august 15) sax; blood, sweat & tears
lou martin (63, august 17) keyboardist; rory gallagher
scott mckenzie (73, august 18) singer, songwriter; “if you’re going to san francisco”
tony scott (68 , august 19) director "top gun"; producer "numb3rs"
meles zenawi (57, august 20) prime minister & ex-president of ethiopia
phyllis diller (95, august 20) actress; comedian
mika yamamoto (45, august 20) journalist; shot
james fogle (75, august 23) author; “drug store cowboy”
“a career criminal & writer who blew every chance he ever had to go straight, including the brief period after his manuscript about a band of outlaw junkies “drugstore cowboy” ~ made later into a well regarded movie [featuring william s. burroughs] ~ died in prison in monroe, washington. he died of a type f lung cancer often assosciated with asbestos exposure. he was serving a 16-year term for robbery. it was the only novel he ever had published out of 11 he wrote in prison.””he only had a sixth-grade education. but i thought his novel was amaxing, because of the uniqueness of the world he wrote about, an alternate world where there are just a different set of rules.” most awesome quote of all-time: “most people don’t know how they’re gonna feel from one minute to the next. the dope fiend has a pretty good idea. he just has to look at the labels on all the little bottles. it’s almost like having a future.” talking about his early life of crime beginning “when he stole a car at age 12, he spent his youth in a series of reformatories which he described as being like going to school to learn to be a thief.” his father beat him, so he stole cars to escape. that career ended in redmond, washington, when, at age 73, he was caught leaving a pharmacy with a pink bandana over his face, rubber gloves & two trash cans full of pharmaceuticals. -- from los angeles times, august 26
steve franken (80, august 24)
neil armstrong (82, august 25) first man to walk on the moon
george gallacher (68, august 25) singer; the poets
chris lighty (44, august 25) hip hop manager
hal david (91, september 1) songwriter; songwriters hall of fame; hollywood walk of fame; collaborator with burt bacharach & dionne warwick; lyricist for “raindrops keep falling on my head” “what the world needs now is love” “there is always something there to remind me”
lillian lopez (76, september 4) singer; odyssey; “native new yorker” “inside out” “use it up & wear it out”
joe south (72, september 5) grammy 1970 “games people play” & nominated 1972 “rose garden”. started career with “the purple people eater meets the witch doctor”, was staff guitarist for national recording corporation with ray stevens & jerry reed. south played guitar on aretha franklin “chain of fools”, tomy roe “sheila” bob dylan album “blonde on blonde” & simon & garfunkel “sound of silence”. wrote “walk a mile in my shoes” & many hits for county singers, including lynn anderson.
art modell (87, september 6) owner, baltimore ravens; scumbag to cleveland brown’s fans
dorthy mcguire (84, september 7) singer; the mcguire sisters
lance legault (77, spetember 10) actor; airwolf, a-team
homer joy (67, september 11) songwirter; “streets of bakersfield”
obo addy (76, september 13) african drummer from ghana; one of 55 children; lived in portland since 1978, teaching at lewis & clark college, lincoln high school
james “sugar boy” crawford (77, september 15) singer; sugar boy & the cane cutters
steve sabol (69, september 16) nfl films host
andy williams (84, september 25) singer; had a string of success with cadence & then columbia records, that included 3 platinum & 18 gold records, only sinatra, elvis & johnny mathis had more. andy also had his songs done by the likes of the everly brothers, but the most famous was undoubtedly “moon river” though the song never charted, it did become his signature song after winning a 1962 oscar in the film “breakfast at tiffanys.” andy was the host of his own variety show for 10 years, during which time he formed his own record company called barnaby records. barnaby signed an unknown singer/songwriter in 1970 named jimmy buffett. andy later went on to open a club called moon river in branson, missouri, which has been a leading club in that scene for a few decades.
johnny lewis (28, september 26) actor; sons of anarchy; runaways
raylene rankin (52, september 30) co-leader of the rankin family, canadian irish folk group
terrance conner (26, october 1) drummer of total slacker; hit & run on his bicycle
nick curran (35, october 6) rockabilly, blues guitarist/singer; toured with kim lenz, then joined the jaguars for a spell (“the one & only” & “it’s all true”) always used vintage equipment to get his tone & sound compression; formed nick curran & the nitelifes; played with fabulous thunderbirds, deguello, the flash boys
amanda todd (15, october 10) canadian teen committed suicide after cyber bullying
gary collins (74, october 13) actor of a pretty famous talk show; star on the hollywood walk of fame; 1983 emmy as outstanding talk show host; also hosted the miss america pageant from 1982-1990; worked from 1962 – 2012, recently in dirty sexy money.
alex karras (77, october 10) defensive tackle for the detroit lions from 1958-70; made the all decade 1960 NFL team & the college football hall of fame; karras led iowa over oregon state in the 1957 rose bowl. one of only two linemen to ever finish as high as runner-up in heisman voting. later career in acting: played in m*a*s*h*, played mongo in blazing saddles, the adoptive dad on webster & the film for plimpton’s paper lion. And many others as well as a colorful way of bending his way around the law.
bobby load (42, october 19) punk singer of load; breifly the psycho daisies, among others; “a drinker with a singing problem”
joel burrows (october 28) drummer: the minders; guitarist: the thermals, from portland, joel was hit by a van last year & spent several months in ICU
blake mackey (25, october 28) portland singer/songwriter/psychedelia musician
tim johnson (52, october 21) noti, oregon; country songwriter for daryl singletary, diamond rio, kellie pickler, etc. producer for blaine larsen.
george mcgovern (90, october 22) south dakota congressman (2 terms), senator (3 terms); george grew up a shy kid, poor athlete, poor student, often scolded by his strict family for going to the movies. he grew up in poverty level dust-bowl north dakota & then served in ww2 as a way to fight insecurities & psychological pain. trials made the kid who could hardly speak into a great orator, made the poor athlete instead recruited for debate, the poor student turn it around & graduated in top 10% of his class. dust-bowl life connected him to farm life. and no doubt his distinguished flying cross for recovery of crew in a pretty nasty landing over german occupied europe must be one of the most enduring experiences in human history for a person to have experienced. mcgovern was well rounded & esteemed such that bobby kennedy endorsed him early in ‘68. experience made him a very peaceful man, starting the idea “bleeding heart liberal.” his presidency would have meant a better resolution to vietnam no doubt, but we the people elected nixon in a landslide in ’72 versus mcgovern (who had been the only choice among of democrat field of completely inept human type but heartless and gutless bastards if you could ask hunter s. thompson, supporter of mcgovern, writer of an unparalleled book on political campaigns “fear & loathing on the campaign trail ‘72”). other mcgovern projects were “food for peace” & the “mcgovern report” which discussed hunger & set up new dietary guidelines. he was definitely the kind of person people hope politicians could be but almost never are, taking care of homeless and hungry and making a peaceful empathetic enviroment. if everyone had been given their vote back after watergate, there is no doubt mcgovern would have been president. it would have been prudent to offer him the presidency after nixon’s resignation. one of the few politicians that kid yoshida can love, mcgovern was a perfect father figure & statesman.
bill dees (73, october 24) songwriting collaborator of roy orbison
emanuel steward (68, october 25) trainer of 41 world champion boxers, including thomas hearns, lennox lewis, klitchko & tucker. his own boxing record was 94 wins & 3 losses. he trained fighters to a record 34 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie in title fights. steward is a member both of the international and world boxing hall of fames.
jo dunne (43, october 26) fuzzbox guitarist (aka we’ve got a fuzzbox & we’re gonna use it!); an 80s birmingham area indie band of songs like "xx sex" "rules and regulations" "international rescue" "pink sunshine"
natina reed (32, october 26) rapper with blaque (808, can’t get it back, bring it all to me); cousin of farrah franklin (destiny’s child); had a son with kurupt; natina died two days before her 33rd birthday after being hit by a car. neither the driver nor natina were paying attention as she tried crossing the street while talking on her cell phone.
terry callier (67, october 27) jazz vocals, guitar 60s, 70s (“ordinary joe” “you goin’ miss your candyman”); massive attack “live with me”
russell means (72, october 22) oglala sioux activist; pine ridge reservation, supporter of international indigenous communities; appeared in “last of the mohicans,” “natural born killers,” & “pocohantas.” wrote “where white men fear to tread.” as a member of AIM, staged controversial protests at mayflower II in boston, mount rushmore & wounded knee; not well known but means was the running mate for larry flint in a bizarre presidential run in 1984; in 1988 race he ran for libertarian nomination finishing second to ron paul with 31% support. means died of esophageal cancer.
mitch lucker (28, november 1) singer for suicide silence; died after a motorcycle crash on halloween night; apparently he was under the influence and his wife couldn’t stop him from getting on his motorcycle.
kirk reeves (56, november 4) porltand street musician, mainly trumpet under the hawthorne bridge
cleve duncan (77, november 7) doo wop singer for the penguins (vocal group hall of fame); “earth angel”; duncan died while casting vote for presidential election
major harris (65, november 9) philadelphia soul singer; member of the delfonics; “love won’t let me wait”
john napier (november 11) drummer for ethyl meatplow, e coli, buccinator
martin fay (76, november 14) fiddle; a founder of the chieftains
billy scott (70, november 17) r&b singer “i got the fever”
austin peralta (22, november 21) jazz pianist, mostly in japan; his two albums have featured ron carter & buster williams respectively on bass; son of z-boy skater stacy peralta
art ginsberg (82, november 21) chef “ooh, it’s so good!”
larry hagman (81, november 23) j.r. on dallas
hector "macho" camacho (50, november 24) boxer; died from brain damage sustained following a car jacking
chris stamp (70, november 24) music producer; the who, jimi hendrix
mickey baker (87, november 27) blues guitarist; half of mickey & silvia (sylvia robinson died in 2011)
jovan belcher & cassandra perkins (december 1) kansas city chiefs linebacker & his girlfriend in murder suicide
rick majerus (64, december 1) basketball coach for marquette; ball st; utah; saint louis
dave brubeck (91, december 5) jazz legend passed away the day before his 92nd birthday. most well known for “take five” brubeck brought in a higher tempo jazz, which brought criticism among swing fans, but later became the hot thing. brubeck, like many musicians, took a stand against racism by refusing to play in segregated clubs. brubeck, unlike others, took a stand with an considerable amount to lose. the square framed glasses white bread boy in the 50’s wasn’t necessarily expected to make noise. but his gambles paid off and his generation ushered in a newer age of acceptance thinking.
sarah kirsch (42, december 5) guitarist – pinhead gunpowder; torches to rome; fuel
huw lloyd langdon (68, december 6) original guitarist for hawkwind
ed cassidy (89, december 6) rock drummer for spirit; jazz drummer with rising sons (w/taj mahal & ry cooder)
irene hughes (92, december 7) psychic
jerry brown (25, december 8) dallas cowboys player killed in car crash by drunk teammate
norman joseph woodland (91, december 9) drexel university alum; inventor of barcode
clackamas town center (december 11)
stephen forsyth
cindy yuille
the shooter also committed suicide, but no one should give a shit what his name is
ravi shankar (92, december 11) world music legend; introduced sitar to the western world; trained george harrison on sitar in the 60s
eddie “guitar” burns (84, december 12) legendary detroit bluesman; wrote "bottle up & go" "notoriety woman"
willie ackerman (73, december 13) drummer for willie nelson, loretta lynn, louis armstrong, “hee haw”, marty robbins and all kinds of others
jack hanlon (96, december 13) oldest living member of original “our gang”; last surviving actor of the genereal (with buster keaton); retired from acting 80 years ago
sandy hook elementary school, connecticut (december 15)
allsion wyatt
benjamin wheeler
avielle richman
jessica rekos
caroline previdi
jack pinto
emilie parker
grace mcdonnell
james mattioli
jesse lewis
chase kowalski
catherine hubbard
madeleine hsu
dylan hockley
ana marquez-green
josephine gay
olivia engel
daniel barden
charlotte bacon
rachel davino
dawn hochsprung
anne murphy
lauren rousseau
victoria soto
jimmy mccracklin (91, december 20) post ww2 so cal jump blues legend; wrote "the walk" and "stsomp"
spencer cox (44, december 20) prominent a.i.d.s. researcher & activist
lee dorman (70, december 21) bassist during the significant era of iron butterfly; also bassist for captain beyond with larry “rhino” rhinehart after they had been in iron butterfly together. rhino passed away early this year.
harry carey, jr. (91, december 27) character actor; a pretty versatile actor who could pull off stunts. guys like this are the ones that make john wayne look good. which only begs the question, why was john wayne so damn famous & harry carey just a bit player that no one really knew?
mike auldridge (74, december 29) master of the dobro; pioneer of acid grass and founder of seldom scene
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