Spring Has Died … So Have These Celebrities

I started off the year deciding I was back to blogging. I didn’t keep up too well. I am not going to promise to do better because, if you know me at all, you know that I am nothing close to consistent. The only thing consistent is that celebrities will die every month. MOT months, I will document this for those of you that are as disturbed as I am. Like I will this month. Sure, you could go to Wikipedia and look it up but … then you have to read about all kinds of prelates and Canadian immunologists. I keep track daily of deaths and give you just the folks I feel are celebrities. You know this already so … today you get a twofer! I missed last month and by the time I got around to it … yeah. Here we go.

February

Dennis Edwards – 74 – Singer The Temptations – Feb. 1

John Mahoney – 77 – Actor Frasier, Say Anything, Striking Distance – Feb. 4

Mickey Jones – 76 – Drummer/Actor Home Improvement, V, Justified – Feb. 7

Reg E. Cathey – 59 – Actor The Wire, House of Cards, Oz – Feb. 9

Craig MacGregor – 68 – Bassist for Foghat – Feb. 9

Wally Moon – 87 – Baseball Player; St. Louis, LA Dodgers – Feb. 9

Vic Damone – 89 – Singer – Feb. 11

Marty Allen – 95 – Actor/comedian – Feb. 12

Louise Latham – 95 – Actress Marnie – Feb. 12

Daryle Singletary – 46 – Country singer – Feb. 12

Victor Milan – 63 – Author Wild Cards, Battle Tech – Feb. 13

Billy Graham – 99 – God’s mouthpiece – Feb. 21

Nanette Fabray – 97 – Actress/Singer – Feb. 22

 

March

David Ogden Stiers – 75 – Actor Mash – March 3

Sir Roger Bannister – 88 – Athlete; first person to run a sub-4 min mile – March 3

Paul Magriel – 71 – 1978 World Backgammon Champion – March 5

Sudan – 45 – Last male northern white Rhino – March 19

Frank Avruch – 89 – Bozo the Clown (Boston)

Charles Lazarus – 94 – Founder of Toys R Us – March 22

Wayne Huizenga – 80 – Former owner of Blockbuster, Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers – March 22

Saunders Davies – 80 – British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Bangor – March 30

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The Grammys: My Unqualified Assesment

So, I didn’t watch the Grammy’s last night because … Blackhawks. That and I really don’t have any idea of who most of the people up for awards even are or what any of the music is. (These days, my musical repertoire includes the themes for Paw Patrol, Shimmer & Shine and the like)  I figure I can watch anything that was really good (performance wise) on line today or tomorrow, once I hear what is good and what isn’t. This is so I can avoid the brain tumor and bleeding eyes and ears I received a few years ago watching some abomination that Nicki Minaj put forth.

As I look through the list of winners, I realize that I STILL have no clue what is really going on in the music world. I know a few names of artists and songs. For example, I know of Uptown Funk because my kids sing it all the time. I know of Bruno Mars because of the before mentioned song that made me spit take when I heard my children sing it for the first time (also the first time I heard it).

I know of Taylor Swift, although I wish I didn’t, and I am aware of her album 1989 due to the endless commercials that Xfinity had telling me to experience it. I declined.

I am familiar with Skrillex because it is fun to say although I admit, I couldn’t tell you anything he/she/it does.

I also see that Justin Bieber wasn’t REALLY killed in Zoolander 2. Marking THAT movie off my list now.

I know Buddy Guy, Ricky Martin, Louis CK and Jimmy Carter (I can really bust a move to some of his earlier work).

I can’t remember if I have heard any Glen Campbell (too soon?) and um … that’s about it.

Out of the many people/songs I don’t know by name or instant recognition, Alabama Shakes is something I thought you got from Southern Comfort withdrawal, pimping a butterfly just doesn’t make sense and I may have to search out Snarky Puppy just because I like the name.

I know there is a lot more to the Grammy’s than the awards but, I don’t get most of it. I will probably look up Lady Gaga’s performance so that I can pretend I am relevant since she apparently is.

Outside of that, I will continue to over-indulge in Schoolhouse Rock which my children are now addicted to. It was fun listening to it once an hour … once a week. Not so much everyday for 40 minutes straight.

 

I still have a picture of my dog as my main image. I still need a better image up there. Any suggestions?

Celebrity Deaths In April – I Don’t Have A Catchy Title

Well, February, I mean April has finally passed, as well as a number of celebrities this month. The Blackhawks are on so I really can’t think of much else to say. Sorry … but it is playoff hockey.

 

Lucy Hood – 56 – President of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – April 2

Arthur Smith – 93 – Songwriter of Dueling Banjos – April 3

John Pinette – 50 – Comedian – April 5

Mickey Rooney – 93 – His 5^th wife Barbara was murrrrrrdered – April 6

Peaches Geldof – 25 – Daughter of Bob Geldof – April 7

The Ultimate Warrior – 54 – Professional wrestler – April 8

Shane Gibson – 35 – Guitarist Korn – April 15

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lee Marshall – 60ish – Voice of Tony the Tiger – April 26

DJ E-Z Rock – 46 – Musician – April 27

Bob Hoskins – 71 – Actor Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Hook – April 29

 

Like I said, Blackhawks are on. I am a little distracted but they are winning 1 – 0 at the end of the first. Sorry if I missed anyone.

 

GO HAWKS!

HOLY COW! THEY WON!

I would like to congratulate all my friends in the band Modern Day Romeos on their awesome win in the 2014 WGN Radio Cubs Song contest. The obliterated the competition and won in a landslide. My deepest thanks to any of you that voted for them and my deepest condolences to any of you that voted for the other guys. Although, they were all very worthy entries. Yeah, I am biased. Again, if you would like to hear the winning song, go ahead and click below. And be sure to catch them perform it LIVE on opening day at Wrigley Field. CONGRATS AGAIN GUYS!

Modern Day Romeos – Hey Hey!

Listen to the announcement (and Jimmy) here. It is about 35 minutes in.

Hey Hey! Holy Mackerel! VOTE!

For those of you that don’t know, I live in northern Illinois. That means that I am a fan of the Chicago Cubs. I am also a fan of a local band named Modern Day Romeos. One of my best friends is the lead singer for the band. He is also my daughter’s Godfather. The last few years, the Chicago Cubs, in conjunction with WGN Radio, (they are the station that broadcasts the Cubs games) have had a contest for bands to submit entries to be the theme song for the team that year. It gets played on the radio, they get to perform it at opening day, it is a pretty big deal. MDR has submitted a song. It is a good song. Out of hundreds of songs submitted, they made the top three. Now, people need to vote for their song.

You can vote every day (voting is open until March 14^th). You can vote from multiple devices the same day. Just vote! Please. It would be pretty cool to get some national and international votes as well. I know there are people reading this from exotic places … like New Jersey. Remember, they are Modern Day Romeos and their song is “Hey Hey!”

Here is the link to vote:

WGN Cubs Song Contest Voting

If you actually want to hear the song, that link is right here:

Hey Hey – Modern Day Romeos

Thank you from me, the Romeos and all of their friends that want to ride their coat tails to fame and fortune. If you vote, and they win, I will see if I can get you some sort of special thing. Maybe an autograph that you can sell on eBay one day. Leave a comment when you vote so I know who to get stuff to!

P.S. I wouldn’t be opposed to anyone re-blogging or talking about this in their own blogs. I know, cheap begging but I am not above that to help out my friends.

Dead Celebs – Simple As That

It’s time for me to get off my butt and update you on the deaths of people who are apparently more important than the 1,000s of soldiers killed or children murdered on our streets every day. Wow, that was uncharacteristically political and socially conscious of me. I need to stop that. Seems like it was a shorter list this month. Once again, it was a month full of unexpected passings. Let’s review … shall we?

 

Charles Foley – 82 – Co-creator of Twister – July 1

Paul Jenkins – 74 – Actor Waltons, Dynasty – July 1

Dan Van Patten – 60 – Drummer Berlin – July 2

Douglas Engelbart – 88 – Inventor of the mouse – July 2

Michael Mastromarino – 49 – illegal body parts harvester – July 7

Amar Bose – 83 – Founder of Bose – July 12

Cory Monteith – 31 – Actor on Glee – July 13

Mel Smith – 60 – The albino in The Princess Bride – July 19

Helen Thomas – 92 – Journalist, White House Press Corp – July 20

Dennis Farina – 69 – Actor – July 22

Frank Castillo – 44 – Ex-Cubs pitcher – July 28

Eileen Brennan – 80 – Actress – July 28

 

They Are More Powerful Now

I waited until today to do my celebrity death update so I could use that line for the title. For those of you too young to understand any Star Wars references or why I am putting that today … then I find your lack of trivia disturbing. Anyhoo, I also just had a pretty stressful couple of weeks (which I will explain in a later post) so I just didn’t feel like getting on the computer and typing this much until today.  It can be argued that this month there were an inordinate number of trifectas as there were a couple of groupings. My clairvoyance didn’t let me see this coming. I really need to revisit my sad devotion to an ancient religion.  Speaking of trifectas, it seems there were an awful lot of thoroughbreds that kicked this month as well. I am not going to list them all.

 

Roger Ebert – 70 – Film Critic – April 4

Margaret Thatcher – 87 – Former British Prime Minister – April 8

Annette Funicello – 70 – Mouseketeer – April 8

Richard Brooker – 58 – Jason Voorhees in Part 3 – April 8

Dick Sutliff – 77 – Journalist on WGN – April 9

Jimmy Dawkins – Blues musician – April 10

Jonathan Winters – 87 – Comedian – April 11

Frank Bank – 71 – “Lumpy” on Leave it to Beaver – April 13

Richard LeParmentier – 66 – Force choked in Star Wars and a cop in Who Framed Roger Rabbit– April 15

Pat Summerall – 82 – Football broadcaster – April 16

Allan Arbus – 95 – Actor M*A*S*H – April 19

Dani Crivelli – ? – Drummer with Krokus – April 21

Chrissy Amphlett – 53 – Singer Divinyls – April 21

Richie Havens – 72 – Folk Singer – April 22

George Jones – 81 – Country singer – April 26

 

Celebrity Deaths In December – The End Of The World Came For Them

It is a new year but we can’t forget those that passed on the last month of last year. I will be getting my predictions up for next year, tomorrow at some point. I want to use up as many posting days as I can. I want it to look a little better this year than last. I kind of slacked off, much like the following celebs who slacked off in the living department in December. I figured since I was doing this list today, I would start watching The Walking Dead that I got as a Christmas gift. Haven’t watched it since it came on but … pretty good 2 episodes in. Anyhoo, here are some dead not walking so much.

 

Reinhold Weege – 62 – Television Writer; Barney Miller & Created Night Court – Dec. 1

Dave Brubeck – 91 – Jazz great – Dec. 5

William House – 89 – Developer of the cochlear implant – Dec. 7

Irene Hughes – 92 – Famous psychic – Dec. 7

Norman Joseph Woodland – 91 – Co-Creator of the bar code – Dec. 9

Jenni Rivera – 43 – Popular Mexican Singer – Dec. 9

Ravi Shankar – 92 – Indian musician – Dec. 11

Jack Klugman – 90 – Quincy – Dec. 24

Charles Durning – 89 – Actor – Dec. 24

Ray Collins – 73 – Singer: Mothers of invention – Dec. 24

Frank Calabrese Sr. 75 – Hitman – Dec. 25

Fontella Bass – 72 – American Singer – Dec. 26

Norman Schwarzkopf – 78 – Commander during Desert Storm – Dec. 27

 

I’m Late And So Are They

I’ll keep it simple. Two kids the ages they are is a lot of work. Working again, with taking kids to daycare, makes for a long day. Let’s just get right to this shall we?

Junior Seau – 43 – Football player – May 2

Adam Yauch – 47 – Beastie Boy – May 4

Bob Stewart – 91 – Game show producer Password, Price is Right – May 4

George Lindsey – 83 – Goober on Andy Griffith – May 6

Maurice Sendak – 83 – Author Where the Wild Things Are – May 8

Vidal Sassoon – 84 – Hairstylist – May 9

Carroll Shelby – 89 – Car designer – May 10

Sam Porcello – 76 – Inventor of the filling for Oreos – May 12

Donald “Duck” Dunn – 70 – Bassist Blues Bros., Booker T & the MGs – May 13

My Unemployment – 2 months – New Job! – May 14

Mitchell Guist – 48 – Swamp person – May 15

Mary Richardson Kennedy – 52 – Wife of RFK Jr. – May 16

Donna Summer – 63 – Disco Queen – May 17

Peter Jones – 49 – Drummer Crowded House­ – May 18

Robin Gibb – 62 – Bee Gee – May 20

Eugene Polley – 96 – Inventor of the wireless TV remote – May 20

Janet Carroll – 71 – Actress Married With Children – May 22

Randy Eugene – 31 – Miami Zombie – May 26

Dee Caruso 83 – TV Writer Get Smart, The Monkees – May 27

Orlando Woolridge – 52 – Chicago Bull – May 31

Voices I DON’T Want In My Brain

A lot of things that I have on tap to write about in the next few days. I haven’t been regular in a long time, for my blog writing I mean. Many reasons for this but regardless, I am going to try to get back to it. Before I digress to much on the topic, most of you know I have been home for the last month due to poor employment choices by others than myself. This has been great because the day after I was fired, my wife had our baby boy Alex. (I know, boring back story but once in a while there is a new reader or two)

It has been nice being home with the wife and family as it hasn’t made me stir crazy not working. The bad part is that during the day, I have to watch all the shows that Mrs. Voices DVRs that she doesn’t normally make me watch at night. Right now, I am suffering through Smash. I am allowing this because I am sitting here writing this post instead of watching it. Anywho, that isn’t what I am here for.

The show before Smash that I had to watch was, The Voice. Now, I have never been a fan of any of these reality singing, so called “talent” shows. I think the majority of them are fake, bloated, advertising whores that have no interest in the competitors well being at all. I also have a lot of other feelings about them too. On this one in particular though, I feel that most of the competitors are hacks. The “judges” seem to pick singers to “save” that are the worst. Of course, I don’t see how the judges have any room to talk or judge talent. Adam Levine … I just don’t even know what to say about him. I just don’t like him. He rubs me the wrong way and he should just admit that he likes those that aren’t women. CeeLo … he his a Weeble with arms who thinks that he is Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Christina Arugala … apparently was so upset about being the same size as CeeLo that she starved herself between seasons, got a boob job and bought a new ass from the Kardashian collection at Kmart. She doesn’t wear anything that doesn’t show off her grand Tetons. Blake Shelton … what can I say about him. He is the biggest problem with this show.

I am way getting away from my original intent. There was one singer on this show that annoyed the hell out of me. She didn’t just sing with a southern accent, she missed pronounced words. “River” became “Roiver”, “time” became “toim” etc. etc. I HATE that. I would rather hear “aks” than here one of these redneck, ex-toddler in tiara, one name, no talent, not even good enough to get on “The Soup” hick speak for 30 seconds. I just lost the 3 redneck readers I had but that is the way it goes.

That is my vent for the day. Hopefully I will find a job soon and I will be able to go back to watching the bliss of COPS on demand while the Mrs. is watching these abhorrences.