Posts Tagged ‘entertainment’
Trini Lopez, R. I. P.
Lopez had a long and successful career, singing in both English and Spanish. Filmmaker P. David Ebersole, who just finished shooting a documentary on Lopez with Todd Hughes, confirmed that Lopez died from complications of COVID-19 at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California. Yes, I’m old enough to remember the man and his music, and he will be missed.
If you are a child of the 1960’s, you will remember his versions of “Lemon Tree” and “If I Had a Hammer”. You might also recall him as one of the actors in film classic “The Dirty Dozen” . Unlike other entertainers of Mexican heritage, he resisted entreaties to change his name to avoid limiting his career. Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra were both mentors, so his talents were certainly respected.
John Saxon, R. I. P.
John Saxon was a tough-guy actor from Brooklyn who used his Italian ancestry and rather exotic good looks to play a variety of ethnicities in his long career. He recently died of pneumonia at his Tennessee home. His career covered every genre from horror to Westerns. Thinking back, I saw him in about one of each type, and he handled all of them quite well.
Charlie Daniels, R.I.P.
You need not be an ardent fan of country music to know that Charlie Daniels was an instrumentalist, singer and songwriter who enjoyed over 40 years as a multifaceted entertainer. As a session musician he played for a wide range of talents, including Bob Dylan. He was a fierce advocate for servicemen and women, and one of country music’s most outspoken conservative voices. He would certainly have earned his position as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame without recording “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” but with it he had to be a shoo-in.
This is the last piece Charlie Daniels published before his death. How fitting that it shows his patriotism and love for America. There must be some extraordinarily beautiful music in Heaven these days…
UPDATE: And here is a thoughtful commentary by Terence Jeffrey, who knew him well and admired him greatly.
UPDATE: And here is another, which displays his last two tweets, and a series of his album covers.
“Cops” cancelled…
The long-running reality show “Cops” has been canceled after 31 years. The show had been targeted for what some critics considered to be racially insensitive programming. A 1994 study reported viewers were more inclined to link black and brown people to crime than white people. That perspective probably hasn’t been improved by the number of rioters and looters we have seen for weeks with darker skin tones. The Left has long lied about crime statistics, and progressives have basically ruined every big city in the nation by refusing to charge people with low-level crimes. They used to call it “broken windows policing’ when Rudy Giuliani ran New York. Progressive leaders literally bow to the thugs of Black Lives Matter and Antifa and are then apparently astonished that they see this as permission to riot and loot and assault. The poet William Blake was correct when he wrote, “The bleating of the kid excites the tiger.”
The show was reworked to include cops and perpetrators from various racial and ethnic groups. I have watched it myself from time to time and generally been mostly amazed by the sheer stupidity of the miscreants and the patience of law enforcement. I would not make a good cop, which dovetails nicely with my view that while I am a terrific aunt, I would have been a lousy parent. Good parents are 24/7, no days off. Good aunts lend a truck to the nephew whose own truck blew an engine, and keep for a week the two large, rambunctious dogs for her niece. I have no problem with that, but the feral cat we feed nightly isn’t particularly pleased with the arrangement, though she accepts that the barrier she can see though seems to be sufficient to keep the dogs inside.
Cancelling a show because you have been told it’s racist, divisive, etc. is an act of cowardice. Trying to stave off criticism by cancelling seldom brings the balm producers believe it will. An enjoyable piece of entertainment has been thrown out in fear.
Fred Willard, R.I.P.
Willard’s considerable talent as an improve style comedian kept him working and relevant for half a century in movie roles as well as stand-up. His unique specialty was small parts with scene-stealing performances. I thought his ability to play a dim-wit was sheer genius.
Kenny Rogers, R.I.P.
Country music star Kenny Rogers has died at age 81. It’s a shame ill health forced cancellation of the last shows of his 2018 farewell tour. He was a guy who began with absolutely nothing but a voice and steely determination. That earned him not only hit records, but also Grammy and CMA Awards and worldwide recognition. He developed his hit song “The Gambler” into a series of television movies. And who can forget his duet with Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream”, which he didn’t especially like until Parton came into the studio. She gave an emotional tribute upon hearing the news.
I always liked his voice, which was soft and easy with an underlying layer of gravel — you hear the latter on “the chorus of Ruby”. There was no “Texas twang” but there was just a gentle touch of the South. He was also quite an accomplished photographer. Rogers was a multi-talented man who worked hard doing what he was good at, had a rather messy personal life — five wives and five children, I believe — and probably achieved more than he had ever dreamed possible.
Kirk Douglas, R.I.P.
The last living icon of the Golden Age of movies has died, aged 103. The actor portrayed heroes and heels with equal passion and flair. He received many awards, both for his career as an actor, and for his humanitarian works.
Don Imus, R.I.P.
Don Imus made fame and fortune with his mouth, and that same mouth cost him much of it. He had little filter between what he thought and what he said. It made for interesting radio listening, but sometimes disaster. I was an occasional listener and found him entertaining, but can’t claim to have been a faithful fan. He was very intelligent, and by all accounts a loyal friend, but he clearly enjoyed courting controversy. He was a shock jock before Howard Stern was a twinkle in this father’s eye. Most of all, he was sort of crazy and a complete originalist.
Oscar week…
I didn’t waste more than three seconds contemplating the dwindling in importance Oscars, but I found this piece on Jimmy the Raven quite interesting and well-worth a couple of minutes to read it. I will henceforth refer to the hollywood snots, not as bird-brained, which is an insult to a very intelligent avian actor, but as just plain stupid and unaware.
As it turned out, sore losers were featured, along with category winners. Even the critics were displeased. Would it have seemed better with a host? Aren’t you glad you watched something else last night?
