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Muda69

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R.I.P. jazz trumpeter and Schoolhouse Rock! singer Jack Sheldon: https://www.avclub.com/r-i-p-jazz-trumpeter-and-schoolhouse-rock-singer-jack-1840773880

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Variety reports that Jack Sheldon, a master trumpeter, music director, and vocalist on some classic Schoolhouse Rock! segments, has died. He was 88.

Sheldon was an early purveyor of the West Coast bebop jazz movement, working with everyone from “Stan Kenton and Art Pepper to The Monkees” as a session and side player. He then became music director and sidekick on Merv Griffin’s talk show from 1966 to 1985. He also starred in the 1960s series Run, Buddy, Run and appeared in many episodes of Dragnet. But Sheldon’s greatest small screen fame undoubtedly came as a singer on the educational Schoolhouse Rock! series, where he voiced the titular piece of paper on “I’m Just A Bill” and the conductor on “Conjunction Junction.” (He also spoofed his “bill” appearance on The Simpsons and Family Guy.)

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How sad. I can still hear the music and recite the lyrics to both of those Schoolhouse Rock! segments.

 

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Neil Peart, Champion of Individualism: https://reason.com/2020/01/13/neil-peart-champion-of-individualism/

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Neil Peart, the longtime drummer for the Canadian band Rush, died last week of brain cancer, leaving behind a legacy as one of rock's most technically accomplished percussionists and perhaps its most articulate libertarian lyricist. The 67-year-old songwriter regularly championed individualism, choice, and freedom over soul-crushing conformity.

Early Rush songs are saturated with such messages. The song "Freewill," released on 1980's Permanent Waves album, puts self-determination at the root of the human experience: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

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Rush's 1976 album 2112, which Peart dedicated to the "genius of Ayn Rand," tells the story of a futuristic theocracy that outlaws individualism and creativity, including the electric guitar. Rand's novel The Fountainhead had a particularly heavy influence on Peart, who described the affinity he felt for the book's protagonist in a 1997 interview with Scott Bullock for Liberty magazine:

Howard Roark stood as a role model for me—as exactly the way I already was living. Even at that tender age [18] I already felt that. And it was intuitive or instinctive or inbred stubbornness or whatever; but I had already made those choices and suffered for them.

As Bullock notes, the driving force here wasn't Rand's full-throated endorsement of commerce; it was her defense of individual will and artistic integrity against corrupting conformity, whether the pressure to conform comes from the government or from soulless corporate executives.

As time went on Peart, distanced himself from Rand and some of her more radical policy notions. The Liberty profile mentions that Peart supports a government safety net. By 2015, he was telling Rolling Stone: "For a person of my sensibility, you're only left with the Democratic Party….The whole health-care thing—denying mercy to suffering people? What? This is Christian?" Rush even sent libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) a cease-and-desist letter in 2010 to get the then-candidate to stop using its songs at rallies and in videos, although the band's lawyers insisted that this was a solely a copyright issue.

So went Peart's ideological journey. Meanwhile, the music he made will continue to have a life of its own, inspiring people with its defense of individual freedom for decades to come.

Truly a Canadian icon.  He will be missed.

 

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Now Residing In The Blessed Realm: Chris Tolkien (1924-2020): https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/now-residing-in-the-blessed-realm-christopher-tolkien-1924-2020/

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On Wednesday, January 15, 2020, the holy host of the Valar (all 14 members of that august body) welcomed and praised Christopher Tolkien as he gently passed from this Middle-earth toward the Blessed Realm, with a quick stop in Tol Eressëa. It was yet one more grievous loss to us in early 2020, and one more celebrated in the Halls of Manwë. Christopher Tolkien had led an exemplary life, one of immense piety. He’d dedicated himself to his father in mythology, to his country in wartime, and to his civilization in crisis.

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The first task of Christopher—after 1973, of course—was completing The Silmarillion. “I’ve had his whole opus spread out in front of me, letters, papers, essays—more than he ever had, because of the confusion his papers were in,” Christopher explained. J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythology had begun just prior to the First World War, but had found inspiration and animation in the war itself, as he struggled to remember the permanence of goodness and beauty apart from the brutality. Rarely rewriting on the same copy of a story, the father would almost always start over, thus leaving “layer upon layer” of manuscripts and ideas. He spent his final decade and a half of his life writing about the ideas that animated his stories, characters, and plots, more concerned with explaining than storytelling. “As his life went on, the mythology and poetry in my father’s work sank down behind the philosophy and the theology in it,” Christopher noted.

J.R.R. hired a young Canadian and future novelist, Guy Gavriel Kay, to assist him in the overwhelming task. “The initial idea had been to produce a scholarly text rather than a single narrative,” he remembered 15 years later. “Such a book would have been some 1300 pages long, and would have consisted of chapters which had as their main text the latest version of the passage concerned, followed by appendices giving variant readings from other, earlier versions, complete with an editorial apparatus of footnotes and comments on dates and inconsistencies, and so on.” 

Given Tolkien’s reputation as a supreme storyteller, Kay objected profoundly to this approach, arguing that the book must find its structure in a narrative or not at all. Christopher agreed, and the two proceeded chapter by chapter, with Kay always proposing solutions to the textual problems that inevitably arose. It took roughly a year to complete the first draft, and the two men had it done by February 1, 1975. Kay “and Christopher felt like medieval monks,” he recalled. “It was a labor of love for both of them, a time of rigorous mental discipline.” 

Initial reviews by and large savaged The Silmarillion, but sales and time have proven the book a classic, equal in importance and beauty to The Lord of the Rings.

Diligently and with never an expectation of profit, Christopher continued to edit his father’s unpublished works: Pictures; Unfinished Tales; The Monsters and the Critics (academic essays); History of Middle-earth (12 volumes); The Children of Húrin; The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún; The Fall of Arthur; Beowulf; Beren and Lúthien; and The Fall of Gondolin.

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Truly an icon among lovers of fantasy literature.  He carried on his father's legacy well.  He will be missed.

 

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Jim Lehrer of the ‘MacNeil-Lehrer Report’ dies at 85: https://apnews.com/f8aeb6fc3fc76ef11bca1d6368afb4f9

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Jim Lehrer, co-host and later host of the nightly PBS “NewsHour” that for decades offered a thoughtful take on current events, has died, PBS said Thursday. He was 85.

Lehrer died “peacefully in his sleep,” according to PBS. He had suffered a heart attack in 1983 and more recently, had undergone heart valve surgery in April 2008.

For Lehrer, and for his friend and longtime partner Robert MacNeil, broadcast journalism was a service, with public understanding of events and issues its primary goal. Lehrer was also a frequent moderator of presidential debates.

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He is survived by his wife, Kate; three daughters: Jamie, Lucy, and Amanda; and six grandchildren.

Truly an American icon among lovers of news.  He will be missed.

 

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8 hours ago, BARRYOSAMA said:

Lehrer was paid by your tax dollars.

Muda....you are a fraud.

I never said I would personally miss him.  Please learn reading comprehension, especially in a written medium like an internet message forum where concise statements matter.

The only fraud around here is you, Night Hawk.

 

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Just now, BARRYOSAMA said:

So you are not a lover of news.  

It all makes sense now.

Depends on what you label "news."  What do you label "news", Night Hawk?

Also I admit the term "love" in my statement was probably not the best choice of words.  Probably should have used something like "admire in a journalistic sense".

 

 

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James Lipton, longtime host of 'Inside the Actors Studio,' has died at 93: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/02/entertainment/james-lipton-obit/index.html

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James Lipton, whose serious interviews with high-profile stars "Inside the Actors Studio" for more than 20 years made him a well-known pop-culture figure, has died at the age of 93.

News of his death was confirmed by Ovation TV, which currently airs "Inside the Actors Studio" after a long run on Bravo.
Lipton founded the TV program in 1994, conducting one-on-one discussions with actors in front of audiences of students as a collaborative effort between the Actors Studio and the New School. He became dean of the Actors Studio Drama School, which offered degrees in acting.
 
The high-minded showcase of the acting craft attracted a who's who of Hollywood over the years, including Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams and Anthony Hopkins. The Los Angeles Times called him "the interviewer who could book pretty much everybody."
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Truly an American Icon.  He will be missed.

 

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Max von Sydow, star of 'The Exorcist,' 'Game of Thrones' and 'Star Wars,' dead at 90: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/max-von-sydow-exorcist-game-of-thrones-star-wars-dead-90

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Acclaimed actor from “The Exorcist” “Star Wars” and “Game of Thrones,” Max von Sydow, has died at age 90.

Representatives for the star confirmed to Fox News that the star died on Sunday, March 8, 2020, but did not comment on any official cause of death.

“It is with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max von Sydow,” a statement from his wife, Catherine, reads.

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Truly a Swedish icon. Mr. von Sydow will be missed.

 

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Singer, actor, ‘The Gambler’: Kenny Rogers dies at 81: https://apnews.com/34a33052994dd662c1a8b70751e03b30

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Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on record and on TV, died Friday night. He was 81.

He died at home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, representative Keith Hagan told The Associated Press. He was under hospice care and died of natural causes, Hagan said.

The Houston-born performer with the husky voice and silver beard sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammys and was the star of TV movies based on “The Gambler” and other songs, making him a superstar in the ’70s and ’80s. Rogers thrived for some 60 years before retired from touring in 2017 at age 79. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer.

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A sad day.  Truly an American icon, he will be missed.

 

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Dolphins Hall of Fame coach Don Shula dies at 90

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29132028/dolphins-hall-fame-coach-don-shula-dies-90

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Don Shula, the NFL's winningest coach who led the Miami Dolphins to the league's only undefeated season, died on Monday. He was 90.

The Dolphins issued a statement saying that Shula died "peacefully at his home."

"Don Shula was the patriarch of the Miami Dolphins for 50 years," the statement said. "He brought the winning edge to our franchise and put the Dolphins and the city of Miami in the national sports scene. Our deepest thoughts and prayers go out to Mary Anne along with his children Dave, Donna, Sharon, Anne and Mike."

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A sad day.  Truly an American Icon.  He will be missed.

 

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Fred Willard, 'Best in Show' and 'Modern Family' comedy star, has died

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/16/entertainment/fred-willard-dead-modern-family-best-in-show-trnd/index.html

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Fred Willard, the comedic actor known for his roles in movies including "Best in Show" and "This is Spinal Tap" and TV sitcoms "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Modern Family," has died.

The star died peacefully on Friday "at the fantastic age of 86 years old," his daughter, Hope Mulbarger, confirmed to CNN.
 
"He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end. We loved him so very much! We will miss him forever," Mulbarger said.
 
His death comes nearly two years after the passing of his wife of 50 years, Mary Willard, who died in 2018 when she was 71 years old.
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Truly an American Comedy Icon. He will be missed.

 

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Literally hated his politics, his blinders were constantly on attempting to tie everything to race, which impeded his judgement in many matters.  However - his commitment to his core beliefs was something to admire - his latest net worth estimate ($300,000) was evidence that he wasn't in congress for the money.......

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