i am so sad about bernie mac. he was so young. comparatively...

I have a friend though, that for some reason thinks it was a hoax. apparently, he and isaac hayes were working on a movie together, and since they have now both passed, hes under the impression that they will show back up during their respective funerals.

this of course, may just be a healthy does of denial. or delusion. whichever lets him sleep at night i suppose.

oh, and since im a newbie, aznd even though im sure it has been visited, the world over, george carlin = *tears*

word, ruddy .

Awww, RIP LeRoi

Love to Del Martin. She was a great formother, revolutionary, and Daughter of Bilitis.

"In a world," a trip to the cinema will no longer be the same: "that announcer guy" Don LaFontaine has died.

David Foster Wallace was found dead of suicide.

Wow. Just . . . wow.

holy shit. how did i not hear about this? has it just not been as publicized b/c he's a writer?

I don't know- it happened Friday night, but I didn't hear about it until last night when it was on Yahoo news. It was never on the Chicago Tribune's page, though.

I've never read any of his stuff, but LeBoy has. Pretty shocking and sad- he was only 46. Sorta like John Kennedy Toole.

rip pink floyd's richard wright

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! He was such an elegant person. I was holding out for another reunion, but I suppose that can never happen now. *sniff, sniff*

Shine on, Richard. (*sob*)

Oh my God, I just heard...Paul Newman passed away from cancer. Such an amazing man, in talent & in spirit.

Yes he did, here's an article.

Aww, I loved him in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

this may sound strange, but i'm sad about the passing of wamu, or washington mutual. i'm not much for banks, but wamu was really wonderful. they not only gave 50 mil to charity, they paid their employees for time spent voulenteering. what bank does that? perhaps it's cos i live in washington state, and i got a good look at what they did, but it kinda sucks that what did them in was their customers freaking out. they had a thing on the radio talking about how a low income charity approached them for money. they asked for 10,000. wamu countered with an offer of 20,000. that's just wonderful.

yeah they did silly stuff, like putting on the biggest fireworks show in the puget sound on the 4th of july, but they seemed to really mean they loved america, and trying to make it a better place. and with all the bs in the finacial markets, that is something extremely rare, something to be missed, and certainly something to be mourned.

My fond memory of WaMu is that a few years ago, a local branch here had a contest to win a day at a Cubs game in their skybox for you and 10 friends. A friend of LeBoy's entered and won. We all got to go- they provided gift bags and a party bus to get down there. There was all-you-could-eat hot dogs, burgers, other sandwiches, side dishes, snacks, drinks (including booze), the dessert cart came around and we could pick anything we wanted. And there was the whole baseball game. Even though the Cubs lost, it was still a good time and I thought WaMu was pretty cool for a bank ever since then.

Plus, anyone could use their ATM's for free. How great is that?!

Still more sad about Paul Newman than WaMu, though.

I'm really going to miss Paul Newman. he seemed like such a genuine, caring individual. Not to mention that he's one of my favorite actors, mainly for his role in Hud.

oh don't get me wrong about wa mu, polly... i'm still in denial about paul newman. cool hand luke is still one of my all time favorite movies, and the movie where my love of film really started to catch fire.

i'm just not ready to talk about.

I'm sad too that he died, even if I heard he had terminal cancer. He seemed like a great guy, and I grew up with Newman's Own products, not knowing that he and Paul Newman the actor were the same person. Last month, my mom had called me and told me to watch The Long, Hot Summer, which is just a tribute to how freakin' beautiful and sexy he was.

Aw, damn. Paul Newman. Now there went a man who could eat fifty eggs.

i'm sad about paul newman. he had the most amazing eyes. amazing.

Aw man. Paul Newman's eyes. Wow. Are there any movie networks doing tributes?

I'm weirdly sad about Wamu as well. I just started banking with them. They seemed like a really cool company.

Paul Newman was not only drop dead gorgeous and utterly and publicly devoted to his wife, but he was also a consistent and systematic charity worker. I do feel the months leading to his death were (at least here) refreshingly undocumented/reported, allowing him and Joanne relative peace and dignity.

RIP Paul Newman.

Yep, he was a great one. So sad. I just heard.

I'm feeling really sad about this too. I got quite teary when I found out yesterday. All round good guy, and so, so beautiful!

What is the sound of one pimp hand slapping?

Rudy Ray Moore AKA Dolemite has died. All hail the Disco Godfather!

Mr Blackwell of the profound fashion bitchy-ness has also shuffled off this mortal coil.

I am going to buy a bottle of Newman's Own Caesar dressing. What a man. He will continue to give back to charity even after he's gone since the profits from all Newman's Own foods has always gone to charity...

*sniff* Studs Terkel died.

It's so weird because just like, 2 days ago, I was thinking about him and how (and I know how weird this is) old he was and that he probably won't be around long. I'm sure they'll have some big public memorial here in Chicago for him.

Very sad.

i was thinking the same thing, polly, like a week or so ago. it seemed so random....

i loved studs (there's a boobytrapped phrase for you!). i'm one of those people who always wondered not what the people in power thought when history was being happening, but about normal people thought about it, about what conditions were like on the ground. there was no body better than studs for that kind of information. he'll always be one of my favorite people/writers/reporters. he's one of those people like georga brown's film reviews or even more like nat hentoff, who, when i would find their liner notes on some old blues, jazz or comedy album, was not just a quality seal, or an endorsement telling me this record was important, or special, but it was this fantastic little easter egg: a letter from someone i loved and admired, and now missed.

rest in peace, studs, you are the best of what humanity has to offer.

It's even more sad because apparently he was really looking forward to seeing Barack win the election. He was just so close. And if that didn't work out, at least he wouldn't have to suffer through McCain (cod forbid we do!)

I got this from my emailin' dad today. I dunno if it's apocryphal, but I like the charm of it.

Paul Newman's Charm
--
A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small New England town where Paul Newman and his family often visited. One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone. She hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village and went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor. There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman, sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee.

The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes. The actor nodded graciously and the star struck woman smiled demurely.
'Pull yourself together,' she chided herself, 'you're a happily married woman with three children. You're forty-five years old, not a teenager!'

The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other. Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in Paul Newman's direction. When she reached her car, she realized that she had a handful of change but her other hand was empty. 'Where's my ice cream cone, she thought to herself, 'did I leave it in the store?' Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the cone still in the clerk's hand or in a holder on the counter or something. No ice cream cone was in sight.

With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman. His face broke into his familiar, warm, friendly grin and he said to the woman: "You put it in your purse."
--

She's not a celebrity, but Barack Obama's grandmother died today, one day short of seeing her grandson become the first black president of the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_grandmother

Yma Sumac also died over the weekend. Until the piece on NPR I heard today, the only song I'd heard by her was from The Big Lebowski soundtrack. She was amazing.

Blair MacLean, the surviving half of the greatest canadian comedy duo ever, died last week. In later life he became a celebrated artist, working in the incredible medium of grain.

When I was 10 years old I met him after a show, where before signing my autograph book, he was the first adult to tell me to fuck off. He became my hero that day--I owe at least some of my radical free speech stance to him and his brother. Both Blair & Gary exchanged many a hearty "Fuck You" with me over the years that followed. MacLean and MacLean showed me that the foulest potty mouths usually front the warmest hearts.

If *any* of you BUSTies own the album "Locked up for Laughs" by MacLean and MacLean, I'm willing to buy it.

i missed that, polly... for a while i was OBSESSED with yma sumac. i have to of her records, and this weekend i was looking for a good pic of her for my mp3 player's wallpaper. i remember hearing the rumors that her name was really just spelled backwards: amy camus. never knew if it was true, but i could look at her album covers forever. i always think i should get them framed...

Michael Crichton has died.

Miriam Makeba, the iconic South African singer, symbol of the anti-Apartheid movement, died this weekend.

WTF?!? All these people died recently? Am I *that* out of touch with current events that I didn't even know that Paul Newman passed away until I read this thread? Sad.

The Bust Lounge. America's Finest News Source.

Now, to find out who won that election I've been hearing about.....just kidding.

Mitch Mitchell!! ... my favorite rock drummer...! (Hendrix's)

Girl Trouble, When I heard the radio obit for Yma Sumac there was not mention of the Amy C. hypothesis. Her original Peruvian name and career were identified. She was .... "how you say?"... delightful. I have a "best of" CD.

They made reference to some Hollywood movies, so I'm gonna go see if any are available.

I have at least one of those albums. MMMMmmmmmmmmm

peggy chun http:www.peggychun.com

miss you, peg.

Forrest J. Ackerman, the man behind the "Famous Monsters Of Filmland" & is credited with the coining of the term "scifi" has died. He had upwards of the hundreds of thousands of pieces of memoribilia. The Ackermansion is probably in the top five really cool places I've ever personally been & was one hell of a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I was too young to have purchased the magazine myself, but being a little ghoul, I knew about it from Fangoria & various vintage comic books. We'll miss you, Forry!

And Martha "Sunny" von Bulow finally died after being in a coma for twenty-eight years.

Ach. I just read this. This sucks majorly. I'm so sad and must go listen to The Ultimate Yma Sumac Collection to make me feel better. ...And the whole Amy Camus thing, GT, complete fabrication. When I first started getting into Yma, somebody told me that, too, and I believed it. She was actually from Peru, and her real name is Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo. She picked "Yma Sumac" as her stage name in homage to her mother's name, Ima Shumaq, which is native for "how beautiful."

In homage, here's the lady with the 8 octave range performing Chuncho.

Odetta. Passed last week. We love you, Odetta.

HOLY fuck! How did I miss that? She was 'sposed to perform at one of BO's inauguration shindigs.

That was seriously the worst thing I've ever heard....

For a gal w/ Laurie Anderson as her avatar, I might think twice about passing judgment on vocal performances.

Yahoo has a story that Bettie Page has died.

R.I.P Bettie Page

Heaven just became more beautiful...R.I.P. Bettie Page.

She was great. Cheeky and funny and sexy and playful. I first heard of her ten years ago through the E! True Hollywood Story, and she would only be interviewed in the dark, as she didn't want to disappoint her fans with her old self. But I saw a recent photo of her, and she was super cute, with the same eyes and smile as her old photos. She inspired a whole punk-rockabilly subculture (although the trend of getting her haircut to be "alternative" got tired), and seemed like a genuinely nice person.