Al Alberts, beloved Philadelphia broadcaster, singer and composer, has passed away. [more inside]
posted by sjuhawk31 on Nov 27, 2009 - 15 comments

Black Friday is almost upon us and in less then a month it'll be Christmastime, and you're still wondering if you'll get your jetpack, hoverboard, or time machine? Well you're in luck, because you can get started with a new old DeLorean! It's the return of the DeLorean The DeLorean DMC-12 was the creation of John DeLorean:
John DeLorean never cared to fit the mold of a typical Detroit auto executive. He was a young, free-spirited maverick that revolutionized the auto industry as the major force behind America’s first muscle car– the Pontiac GTO.... As the young DeLorean’s star rose, he supposedly walked away from his $650,000 salary at GM and decided to go it on his own.

Although nowadays his car may be considered a modern marvel unfortunately his motor company was a huge failure. Delorean died in March of 2005 (prev) but not before he started plans for a new car. Also, you may need to ask some questions and keep up on all the news after you buy your 24k Gold DeLorean. [more inside]
posted by P.o.B. on Nov 25, 2009 - 37 comments

Armin Gessert, the creator of the classic Giana Sisters game and more recently a remake on Nintendo DS no less, passed away (German) on Sunday Nov 9, 2009. Giana has quite the fan following, and has been ported to pc, 32k among others. Also, previously 1. [more inside]
posted by lundman on Nov 10, 2009 - 15 comments

Gerhardt 'Jerry' Fuchs, drummer for the bands Maserati (video) and The Juan MacLean died last night of injuries sustained while trying to jump of a disabled elevator in Brooklyn following an event for The Uniform Project (previously).
posted by setanor on Nov 8, 2009 - 30 comments

From the middle of the middle of me, to the middle of the middle of you, RIP Brother Blue, master storyteller, deep soul extraordinaire. [more inside]
posted by alms on Nov 6, 2009 - 20 comments

Taylor Mitchell, 19, was a promising Canadian folk singer. Her life was cut short by a rare coyote attack. Her music can be heard on her Myspace page. Mitchell on Facebook. From her bio: Taylor has just released her debut full length recording "For Your Consideration"- a collection of mostly original songs that showcases a range of styles, from folk to country-rock to pop, and reflects the diversity of her talent.
posted by cjorgensen on Oct 29, 2009 - 105 comments

Influential landscape architect Lawrence Halprin has died at the age of 93. "He was the single most influential landscape architect of the postwar years," said Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation. "He redefined the profession's role in cities." Noted projects include The Sea Ranch a 5,000-acre residential development on the coast of Sonoma county in northern California; Ghirardelli Square, the first major adaptive re-use project in the United States, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C; and a new trail from which to experience Yosemite Falls. [more inside]
posted by otherwordlyglow on Oct 27, 2009 - 10 comments

Soupy Sales has died. Mark Evanier explained his appeal years ago, adding a bit more today. An entire live Soupy Sales Show from 1965 on YouTube: part 1, part 2, part 3.In his honor, throw a pie or two (filled with shaving cream, of course, let's not waste food). [} [} [} [more inside]
posted by wendell on Oct 22, 2009 - 72 comments

Sir Ludovic Kennedy has died at the age of 89. Kennedy was a journalist, broadcaster and long standing campaigner against miscarriages of justice and the death penalty and for euthanasia. [more inside]
posted by Electric Dragon on Oct 20, 2009 - 14 comments

Elizabeth Clare Prophet died last Thursday at age 70, from Alzheimer's. In the 1970s, she helped found and led a New Age doomsday cult, the Church Universal and Triumphant, and predicted (in the 80s) a nuclear strike inside the United States that led all her followers to do the compound/weapons stockpiling thing in Montana. Also of interest is the Smithsonian/Folkways recordings of her cult, Sounds of American Doomsday Cults, Vol. 14 which contains many fascinating and insane chanting tracks, most notably the Great Divine Rector's Call, which was sampled to hilarious effect by Negativland and Mylo. [more inside]
posted by fungible on Oct 18, 2009 - 34 comments

Captain Lou Albano, legendary wrestler and entertainer, died today at the age of 76. He and Cyndi Lauper raised $4 million for Multiple Scleriosis causes, while at the same time ushering in the age of Rock and Wrestling. He was also Mario ... C'mon, let's do the Mario! Also, he was the only one on TV with a rubber band in his beard. Long Live the Captain!
posted by not_on_display on Oct 14, 2009 - 59 comments

"The quest to undercut fashion’s standards of perfection, and to find beauty in the disdained, overlooked or overripe, runs throughout Mr. Penn’s career. In an otherwise pristine still life of food, he included a house fly, and in a 1959 close-up, he placed a beetle in a model’s ear." So long, Irving Penn.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Oct 7, 2009 - 20 comments

Laura Mae Gross, founder and owner of Babe's and Ricky's Inn in Leimert Park (a gem of an artistic community in Los Angeles), died this past Saturday. [more inside]
posted by pazazygeek on Oct 6, 2009 - 2 comments

Mercedes Sosa, a beloved Argentinian folk singer, passed away today. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has ordered an official period of mourning. [more inside]
posted by lunit on Oct 4, 2009 - 13 comments

Marek Edelman dies aged 90. A leader of the Jewish Fighting Organisation in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Dr. Edelman survived to later fight in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and in the post-war years was a key figure in preserving the memory of his fallen comrades-in-arms.
posted by Abiezer on Oct 3, 2009 - 24 comments

Though many have long suspected that the title of John Lennon's Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds was a barely-concealed reference to the drug he was so fond of, Lennon himself always maintained otherwise, as in this interview with Dick Cavett, explaining that the inspiration for the fanciful name was from his son Julian, who'd brought him a drawing of his nursery school friend. That friend, one Lucy O'Donnell, just passed away.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Sep 29, 2009 - 29 comments

The "Last of the Ottomans". Ertuğrul Osman, the grandson of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, passed away. [more inside]
posted by Burhanistan on Sep 26, 2009 - 27 comments

Bernie Fuchs, one of the all-time greats of American illustration, has passed away. [more inside]
posted by Bron on Sep 22, 2009 - 15 comments

Mary Travers died today, at 72, of leukemia. According to the NY Times, she provided the sex appeal to Peter, Paul and Mary, which in turn provided mainstream production values for a number of Dylan songs. However, many remember her contributions to (the creepily titled but awesome) kids' record Peter Paul and Mommy. Peter and Paul have written tributes to her.
posted by chesty_a_arthur on Sep 16, 2009 - 129 comments

Beth Rickey, instrumental in thwarting the rise of neo-Nazi David Duke in Louisiana politics, died this weekend at the age of 53 in a Santa Fe motel.
posted by Horace Rumpole on Sep 15, 2009 - 34 comments

Crystal Lee Sutton was fired for trying to organise a union. The incident was made into the 1979 film Norma Rae. Last week she died at the age of 68.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Sep 14, 2009 - 23 comments

Jim Carroll has died. Avant-garde writer, punk rocker, doped-up downtown scenester, never-made-it schoolyard hoop-dreamer. He couldn't have expected to live to see a master's thesis in English at San Diego State written about his journal/novel The Basketball Diaries, or to be interviewed by Jon Stewart about being played by Leo DiCaprio in the movie of his (early) life. [more inside]
posted by escabeche on Sep 13, 2009 - 124 comments

Adam Goldstein, AKA DJ AM, found dead in Manhattan. Celebrity DJ survived a plane crash last year and may have died of a drug overdose.
posted by ShadePlant on Aug 28, 2009 - 67 comments

Dominick Dunne died yesterday at the age of 83. was well known for his chronicling of the follies and crimes of the rich. You can read some of his pieces from Vanity Fair here.
posted by reenum on Aug 27, 2009 - 26 comments

Ellie Greenwich, one of the foremost songwriters of the rock and roll era, has died at the age of 69. [more inside]
posted by ricochet biscuit on Aug 26, 2009 - 37 comments

Edward M. Kennedy, Senator from Massachusetts, has died at age 77. After a rocky youth (including scandals of cheating and reckless driving), Kennedy followed his brothers into politics, making health care his cause, and eventually went on to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Anticipating his own death, he had been trying to create a quick transition for his replacement as a vote on health care reform rapidly approached.
posted by ocherdraco on Aug 25, 2009 - 659 comments

Don Hewitt has passed away
posted by jsavimbi on Aug 19, 2009 - 34 comments

"Let me win, but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt." Eunice Kennedy Shriver has left a lasting legacy. In the 1962, Mrs. Shriver started a summer day camp in her back yard which would become Special Olympics only eight years later. The first official Special Olympics games brought together 1,000 athletes from 26 US states and Canada. Special Olmpics has grown to more than 3 million athletes with local organizations in each US state and national organizations from 181 countries. [more inside]
posted by onhazier on Aug 11, 2009 - 51 comments

Billy Lee Riley, legendary rockabilly performer and Sun Studios recording artist died on August 2, 2009. His two biggest hits were Flying Saucers Rock and Roll and Red Hot. Billy never achieved the fame of his Sun Records contemporaries Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley. He later went to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician, recording with artists such as the Beach Boys and Dean Martin. His career enjoyed a resurgence beginning in the mid-1990s. He released the Grammy nominated album Hot Damn! in 1997. [more inside]
posted by marxchivist on Aug 8, 2009 - 10 comments

Writer, director, producer John Hughes has passed away. Responsible for hilarious Vacations, quirky boyfriends, Ferris' Day Off, a young boy being left Home Alone and the Shermer IL multiverse. If you liked films in the 80s, you liked John Hughes.
posted by crossoverman on Aug 6, 2009 - 234 comments

Football legend Sir Bobby Robson dies, following a long battle with cancer. Further tributes via the Guardian. Donate to his foundation via here.
posted by Webbster on Jul 31, 2009 - 25 comments

There's an old saying favoured by combat engineers, motorcyclists and technicians everywhere: If it moves and it shouldn't, gaffer-tape it. If it doesn't move and it should, WD-40 it. This week, John Barry, the guy who invented WD-40 on his 40th try (hence the name; Water Displacement, formula 40) met his demise.
posted by SharQ on Jul 25, 2009 - 54 comments

Leszek Kolakowski, a distinguished Polish philosopher who critiqued the Communist system and helped inspire the Solidarity movement, passed away last Friday in Oxford, UK. [more inside]
posted by orrnyereg on Jul 22, 2009 - 13 comments

Gordon Waller of British duo Peter and Gordon had died at 64 Gordon Waller, from the British duo Peter and Gordon has died of cardiac arrest in CT this past weekend. The songs I really like to listen to from them was the one Paul McCartney wrote "A World Without Love" and "True Love Ways". Sad to hear he's passed.
posted by garnetgirl on Jul 20, 2009 - 9 comments

Louis Crompton, the author of Homosexuality and Civilization and Byron and Greek Love, has died. [more inside]
posted by dickymilk on Jul 20, 2009 - 15 comments

Dash Snow, seminal artist, is dead of an overdose. [more inside]
posted by infinitefloatingbrains on Jul 15, 2009 - 149 comments

Rest in peace, Simon Vinkenoog [Dutch blog w/English option], poet, friend of artists like Karel Appel, translator of Beat Generation figures like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, psychedelic enthusiast and "weed ambassador" of Amsterdam, and author of such guides to hip living as How to Enjoy Reality. One of the European jazz-loving proto-hippies who made the '60s swing and mentored several generations of culture hackers, though he was never widely known in the US.
posted by digaman on Jul 14, 2009 - 15 comments

Free Solo climbing - climbing without a rope, partner or protection - is clearly the most dangerous form of rock climbing. When practiced at the highest level it demands peerless physical skill and stamina and unshakable nerves. Few climbers have ever taken soloing to the extremes that John Bachar did. [more inside]
posted by tim_in_oz on Jul 7, 2009 - 79 comments

One recent celebrity death that most likely fell under the U.S. radar was that of Terry Black, who in the early 1960s was Canada's answer to Fabian. Growing up listening to CKLW, I remember Terry Black for "Goin' Down (The Road to L.A.)", recorded with his wife, Laurel Ward. Black had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis just a year ago, and apparently died from complications of the disease. [more inside]
posted by Oriole Adams on Jul 1, 2009 - 15 comments

Karl Malden has died. The Oscar and Emmy winner who had many brilliant appearances as secondary characters and starred in his own hugely popular TV show was 97.
posted by Capt Jingo on Jul 1, 2009 - 76 comments

As if there haven't been enough celebrity deaths, now the sad news that the great impressionist - comedian Fred Travalena has passed away at his Encino, CA home at age 66. Examples of some of his work are here from a Merv Griffin Show, and a later one from a live performance.
posted by Seekerofsplendor on Jun 29, 2009 - 35 comments

Billy Mays dead at 50 But wait, there's no more! [more inside]
posted by majikstreet on Jun 28, 2009 - 176 comments

Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, has died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California. He was 50 years old. [more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing on Jun 25, 2009 - 853 comments

Farrah Fawcett died today of cancer at the age of 62. She was perhaps best known for her role in Charlie's Angels, and also for inspiring the lust of a whole generation of men with one photo.
posted by elder18 on Jun 25, 2009 - 127 comments

Everyman's announcer: Ed McMahon enjoyed a remarkable entertainment career. From pitching vegetable slicers to passerbyers on the Atlantic City boardwalk to delivering the original king of late night to a national audience every night for thirty years; Ed McMahon's voice is part of the American fabric. Sadly, Ed McMahon has passed away. [more inside]
posted by cavalier on Jun 23, 2009 - 76 comments

Thomas Berry passed away early on the morning of June 1st. He described himself as a cosmologist and "geologian," an Earth scholar. He was an advocate of deep ecology, and believed passionately in the power of the New Cosmology and the Great Story. Berry believed that "Our future destiny rests even more decisively on our capacity for intimacy in our human-Earth relations."
posted by diogenes on Jun 22, 2009 - 7 comments

If anyone could flame from beyond the grave, it is he. Erik Naggum was a young programmer and Usenet philosopher who exemplified the new breed of smug Lisp weenie. His hatred for Perl, C++ and XML fueled his Olympian rants. He was cruel, but smart; he was articulate, but he used arguments ad hominem; he left a trail of scorched earth, but he had devoted friends. I didn't know him, but I enjoyed his expression of free thought. He died young after years of torment; R.I.P. [more inside]
posted by e.e. coli on Jun 21, 2009 - 72 comments

According to the BBC, US fantasy author David Eddings has died at 77 due to natural causes. More coverage at the Guardian. (via bureau42)
posted by reptile on Jun 7, 2009 - 84 comments

You probably knew him as the evil drug kingpin, Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon. In Hong Kong he was an action movie legend. Sadly, the amazing Shek Kin, a true martial artist, is dead at 96.
posted by bwg on Jun 4, 2009 - 15 comments

Kwai Chang Caine, aka Grasshopper, aka David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room. Bummer.
posted by Shike on Jun 4, 2009 - 189 comments