Book illustrator Leo Dillon, who in partnership with his wife Diane Dillon, illustrated and did the covers for many of your favourite childrens' books,
has passed away on May 26th.
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posted by MartinWisse
on May 29, 2012 -
18 comments
He's responsible for the deliciously relaxed and understated guitar work you remember from
Rainy Night in Georgia and the driving chukka chukka whipsnap that propelled Aretha Franklin's
Rock Steady, as well as her version of
Spanish Harlem. And he's lent his masterful musical sense to many, many other tunes from artists as diverse as Ringo Starr, Archie Shepp, Joe Cocker, Miles Davis and Paul Simon. Guitarist
Cornell Dupree has died at
age 68. Primarily a studio musician, Dupree was more often heard than seen, but you can catch some glimpses of his Southern-fried six-string artistry on this live version of King Curtis'
Memphis Soul Stew.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 9, 2012 -
23 comments
Young
Edd Gould always enjoyed drawing comics of himself and his friends. Growing up in the internet age, his
doodles evolved into Flash animations of increasing complexity, and in time Edd and pals
Tom Ridgewell and Matt Hargreaves teamed up to produce an
"Eddsworld" series of online webtoons and
comics.
At first crude and halting, the group's
"eddisodes" progressed from
surreal shorts and
one-shots into full-fledged productions that pushed the boundaries of amateur web animation, with
expressive characters,
full soundtracks, complex effects, and a fast-paced, off-kilter sense of humor:
MovieMakers -
Spares -
WTFuture -
Rock Bottom -
Hammer & Fail (
2).
At its height, the college co-op was producing shorts for
Mitchell & Webb and the
UN Climate Change Conference,
fielding offers from Paramount and Cartoon Network, and racking up
millions of hits on YouTube.
Work slowed, however, when Gould was
diagnosed with leukemia -- a relatively survivable form, though, and Gould carried on
working gamely through his hospital stays. So it came as a shock last week when Matt and Tom
announced that Edd had passed away, prompting an
outpouring of
grief and
gratitude from
all the
fans he'd
entertained and
inspired in his short 23 years.
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 2, 2012 -
5 comments
Earlier this year, Steve Martin penned a loving tribute to Earl Scruggs,
published in New Yorker. "Some nights he had the stars of North Carolina shooting from his fingertips. Before him, no one had ever played the banjo like he did. After him, everyone played the banjo like he did, or at least tried." A few minutes ago, Steve Martin offered a rare somber tweet: "Earl Scruggs, the most important banjo player who ever lived,
has passed on." One could do worse than spend some time
watching and listening to Earl Scruggs perform.
posted by spock
on Mar 28, 2012 -
103 comments
Imagine one person in America directed Star Wars, the original Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes, Alien and Blade Runner -- basically, all the big sci-fi hits except Star Trek. In Japan, that man existed, and his name was
Noburo Ishiguro. He directed
Super Dimension Fortress Macross (which became the first part of
Robotech),
Space Battleship Yamato (called
Star Blazers in the U.S.), the classics
Super Dimension Century Orguss and
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and more. Basically, he had his hand in almost all the major sci-fi anime of the '70s and early '80s except Gundam...
While many of his works were subjected to
questionable translation practices (such as changing any mention of sake to "
with water from a favourite spring on Earth" in Yamato) when they were adapted for Western audiences in the 1980s, the popularity of his works helped lay the foundation for anime fandom as we know it today.
On Wednesday, Studio Nue co-founder Haruka Takachiho
reported that Noboru Ishiguro passed away at age 73.
(Via Topless Robot & Anime News Network)
posted by radwolf76
on Mar 22, 2012 -
62 comments
Role Playing Game pioneer Mohammed Al Rahman Barker
died last week (PDF). Inspired through playing
dungeons and Dragons, M. A. R. Barker created what is possibly the world's second RPG,
Empire of the Petal Throne, set in the world of Tekumel, a world he would continue to keep building for the rest of his life.
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posted by MartinWisse
on Mar 19, 2012 -
28 comments
Marie Colvin, an American journalist working for
The Sunday Times of London, and French photographer, Rémi Ochlik
were killed this morning in the city of Homs, Syria. The two Western journalists were among 20 people killed in a makeshift media center, raising suspicions that Syrian security forces targeted their location by tracing satellite signals. Their deaths follow 19 days of shelling that activists say killed hundreds of trapped civilians in one of the deadliest campaigns in nearly a year of violent repression by the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
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posted by 2bucksplus
on Feb 22, 2012 -
104 comments
The great pianist-arranger-composer
Clare Fischer has died. Besides being a mean pianist who even Herbie Hancock called a huge influence, very few could claim the achievements of this man, who worked with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, the Hi-Los and other jazzmen to Prince, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Paul McCartney, Prince, and so many more.
posted by Seekerofsplendor
on Jan 28, 2012 -
9 comments
Speaking of Dub (the real kind), just over one year ago the music world lost one of its
pioneers in the realm of dub and roots. Vivian "
Yabby You" Jackson produced some of the most hard driving reggae ever released. RIP.
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posted by Jibuzaemon
on Jan 21, 2012 -
9 comments
Chances are that sometime, somewhere, out of the corner of one ear, at least, you've heard the iconic (yet all-but-forgotten) "Willie and the Hand Jive". Set to a Bo Diddley beat, it was an infectious little number that made quite a splash back in its day. Here's a fun
live version of the bouncy tune, complete with the three largest dancing girls you're ever likely to see, and here's the
original 1958 recording. The composer of the tune, the son of Greek immigrants who decided that the world of black music was where he wanted to be, was one
Johnny Otis, who has just
died at the grand old age of 90. Shortly after its release, "Willie and the Hand Jive" was covered by early rock icons like
Bo Diddley and, across the pond in England,
Cliff Richard. But apart from his most famous tune, Johnny did a LOT of recording and performing throughout his lengthy career, so there's...
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 19, 2012 -
42 comments
The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government.
- Justice Anthony Kennedy
John Geddes Lawrence, the defendant in
the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared sodomy laws unconstitutional across the country, died on Nov. 20, according to
an obituary posted by R.S. Farmer Funeral Home in Silsbee, Texas. He was 68.
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posted by rtha
on Dec 28, 2011 -
33 comments
