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Oh, don't worry. This is the year-end Morbidity and Mortality Report, but there's still beer (next to a tree)- the one beer to have when you REALLY want to get wrecked;)
(Gordon Lightfoot is still touring at 82. He played here this fall within a few nights of the anniversary of the Wreck, and he's due back at Kleinhans in June. Hopefully he won't be on this list at the end of 2020.)
I scrolled through some of the media lists of the famed and fortunate who left this mortal coil in 2019. None reached the past shocks of Princess or Prince, although there's at least one Queen and possibly a President who could go at any moment. These are the names that struck me as meaningful for one reason or another, ending with some more extended comments about a few from just the past few days and weeks:
Peter Mayhew/Rip Torn: paired here for their long-playing roles in sci-fi epics, Mayhew as Chewbacca in the Star Wars universe through The Force Awakens, Torn as Z(ed) in the first two MIB films. Both franchises came back to the screen in 2019 after these actors had passed; best as I can recall, neither got an onscreen tribute before or after the films, although in the latest one, the new-actor-inside Chewie did take care of some unfinished business from Mayhew's days (spoiler).
Toni Morrison: We just missed seeing her on the Kleinhans stage, as she spoke at the Babel series the year before we subscribed and single tickets for it were long gone. Still the only African American woman to win the Nobel in literature, which should make some voters in Stockholm feel pretty ignobel.
Doris Day: With her passing, only two singers, one actress and a criminal remain alive among the dozens actually name-checked in "We Didn't Start the Fire." We could even redo the song out of just 2019 dead people-
♫Peter Mayhew, Doris Day, Toni Morrison,....
I.M. Pei. ♫ Best remembered by me for his towering Johnson Art Museum on the Cornell skyline, but his architecture round the world lives on to memorialize him.
Others from music included Hal Blaine, drummer of the famed sessionmen and women of the Wrecking Crew; Ginger Baker, on the sticks of Cream; Dr. John, who brought the spirit of New Orleans to a world much in need of it; Andre Previn, who wrote and performed generations of classical pieces; and Peter Tork, leaving us with one less Monkee:(
We've seen a fair number of recently-passed actors in things we've been watching. Among them, Stephen Moore, who showed up in the first two Doc Martin films as the local vicar but who we remember best as the original voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android; and not an actor as such, but Karl Lagerfield played himself and a major part of the plot in Francis Veber's The Valet, one of several of his films we came to know this year.
Statesmen and less-than-stately ones who left us: France's Jacques Chirac, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. America, if you're listening, there's still almost 13 hours to get on this list!
And I'll end (yes, I see what I did there) with the three most recent to move me:
Carroll Spinney. For close to half a century, the same man played, in the same episodes, both the sweetest and grumpiest characters you will ever meet. I was just ahead of the Sesame Street debut in 1969- we nine year olds were way too cool for that- but a generation later with Emily watching, we came to know the songs, the artistry and even the occasional letter and number;) But Carroll was a constant, even as Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson and Kevin Clash all left the Street under very different circumstances.
Don Imus. When I was 12 years old, there was nobody funnier- and he was on the RADIO, man, so I got to hear him every day. I had both of his relatively clean comedy albums, mostly repeats or reboots of bits he did on the air, spoofing everything from preachers to presidents. We both left New York around the same time, but he came back to another almost four decades as shock jock, political king-maker and breaker, and, in the end, just a tired, grumpy racist old man. I tried to listen to his last live-stream, but he got bored and walked out before the time was up. His fame and talent left him years ago; 2019 was just the time his body caught up. Quack quack.
Neil Innes. Nothing more I can say but what I said on Facebook within minutes of learning of his passing this weekend:
He worked with Beatles. He WAS a Rutle, in addition to massive involvement with formal Python efforts. He even has an Oasis song credit. And now he's gone at 75. This piece is one he did on the music side of the original Secret Policeman's Ball recording with Pete Townshend, Tom Robinson and "Not That" John Williams.
Heaven just got a whole lot sillier.
Ron is dead:( #75IF
----
As for life and death closer to home, we're older but have largely been luckier. We're both getting turning our odometers (beats not doing so), and the aches and pains are coming faster and more furious, but we've been able to keep problems in check. Eleanor has finally gotten a handicapped permit for her car, and I'm paying attention to a lot more possible Bad Things whenever they occur. As our past few weeks have led to a cancer diagnosis for our beloved kitty, we're blessed to know that she doesn't know, and is just as playful and adorable as ever.
No weddings this year, but fewer funerals than in some. A longtime client passed just after Labor Day, and I was close to some of her family members, as well. Then we learned, just a couple of weeks ago, of the death in early October of one of our neighbors from when we moved here, who was a constant in our life until she moved to assisted living in 2012. She leaves two battling daughters, four grandchildren, and a love of animals that now lives on in the home next door to her.
So to all of you, I raise a glass. Or a beer truck. Whatever.
(Gordon Lightfoot is still touring at 82. He played here this fall within a few nights of the anniversary of the Wreck, and he's due back at Kleinhans in June. Hopefully he won't be on this list at the end of 2020.)
I scrolled through some of the media lists of the famed and fortunate who left this mortal coil in 2019. None reached the past shocks of Princess or Prince, although there's at least one Queen and possibly a President who could go at any moment. These are the names that struck me as meaningful for one reason or another, ending with some more extended comments about a few from just the past few days and weeks:
Peter Mayhew/Rip Torn: paired here for their long-playing roles in sci-fi epics, Mayhew as Chewbacca in the Star Wars universe through The Force Awakens, Torn as Z(ed) in the first two MIB films. Both franchises came back to the screen in 2019 after these actors had passed; best as I can recall, neither got an onscreen tribute before or after the films, although in the latest one, the new-actor-inside Chewie did take care of some unfinished business from Mayhew's days (spoiler).
Toni Morrison: We just missed seeing her on the Kleinhans stage, as she spoke at the Babel series the year before we subscribed and single tickets for it were long gone. Still the only African American woman to win the Nobel in literature, which should make some voters in Stockholm feel pretty ignobel.
Doris Day: With her passing, only two singers, one actress and a criminal remain alive among the dozens actually name-checked in "We Didn't Start the Fire." We could even redo the song out of just 2019 dead people-
♫Peter Mayhew, Doris Day, Toni Morrison,....
I.M. Pei. ♫ Best remembered by me for his towering Johnson Art Museum on the Cornell skyline, but his architecture round the world lives on to memorialize him.
Others from music included Hal Blaine, drummer of the famed sessionmen and women of the Wrecking Crew; Ginger Baker, on the sticks of Cream; Dr. John, who brought the spirit of New Orleans to a world much in need of it; Andre Previn, who wrote and performed generations of classical pieces; and Peter Tork, leaving us with one less Monkee:(
We've seen a fair number of recently-passed actors in things we've been watching. Among them, Stephen Moore, who showed up in the first two Doc Martin films as the local vicar but who we remember best as the original voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android; and not an actor as such, but Karl Lagerfield played himself and a major part of the plot in Francis Veber's The Valet, one of several of his films we came to know this year.
Statesmen and less-than-stately ones who left us: France's Jacques Chirac, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. America, if you're listening, there's still almost 13 hours to get on this list!
And I'll end (yes, I see what I did there) with the three most recent to move me:
Carroll Spinney. For close to half a century, the same man played, in the same episodes, both the sweetest and grumpiest characters you will ever meet. I was just ahead of the Sesame Street debut in 1969- we nine year olds were way too cool for that- but a generation later with Emily watching, we came to know the songs, the artistry and even the occasional letter and number;) But Carroll was a constant, even as Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson and Kevin Clash all left the Street under very different circumstances.
Don Imus. When I was 12 years old, there was nobody funnier- and he was on the RADIO, man, so I got to hear him every day. I had both of his relatively clean comedy albums, mostly repeats or reboots of bits he did on the air, spoofing everything from preachers to presidents. We both left New York around the same time, but he came back to another almost four decades as shock jock, political king-maker and breaker, and, in the end, just a tired, grumpy racist old man. I tried to listen to his last live-stream, but he got bored and walked out before the time was up. His fame and talent left him years ago; 2019 was just the time his body caught up. Quack quack.
Neil Innes. Nothing more I can say but what I said on Facebook within minutes of learning of his passing this weekend:
He worked with Beatles. He WAS a Rutle, in addition to massive involvement with formal Python efforts. He even has an Oasis song credit. And now he's gone at 75. This piece is one he did on the music side of the original Secret Policeman's Ball recording with Pete Townshend, Tom Robinson and "Not That" John Williams.
Heaven just got a whole lot sillier.
Ron is dead:( #75IF
----
As for life and death closer to home, we're older but have largely been luckier. We're both getting turning our odometers (beats not doing so), and the aches and pains are coming faster and more furious, but we've been able to keep problems in check. Eleanor has finally gotten a handicapped permit for her car, and I'm paying attention to a lot more possible Bad Things whenever they occur. As our past few weeks have led to a cancer diagnosis for our beloved kitty, we're blessed to know that she doesn't know, and is just as playful and adorable as ever.
No weddings this year, but fewer funerals than in some. A longtime client passed just after Labor Day, and I was close to some of her family members, as well. Then we learned, just a couple of weeks ago, of the death in early October of one of our neighbors from when we moved here, who was a constant in our life until she moved to assisted living in 2012. She leaves two battling daughters, four grandchildren, and a love of animals that now lives on in the home next door to her.
So to all of you, I raise a glass. Or a beer truck. Whatever.