Death Notices

[red hander]

Actor Bernie Hamilton, aka Captain Dobie on Starsky and Hutch ... guess the DA won't be busting his balls anymore

[red hander]

Ron Asheton of The Stooges ... a guitarist who influenced a whole generation of kids to pick up an axe... his music will live on

[Declan]

Pop singer Dave Dee dies aged 65
Dave Dee
Dave Dee had eight top 10 hits with Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.  British pop star Dave Dee has died at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer.The singer continued playing gigs with his band - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich - until near to the end of his life, record plugger Sean Cooney said."He didn't let it get him down. He was defying it," Mr Cooney added.The group had eight top 10 hits, including a UK number one single in 1968 with The Legend of Xanadu, in which Dee famously cracked a whip.They first entered the UK chart in December 1965 with You Make it Move, which peaked at number 26.Subsequent singles included Hold Tight!, Bend It! and Save Me.Two of their albums charted - their eponymous debut, in 1966, followed a year later by If Music Be the Food of Love... Prepare for Indigestion.The group had been performing dates in the UK and Germany and were due to play another eight concerts before the end of April. Dee, whose real name was David Harman, came from Wiltshire and was originally a police officer.

[Doogie Browser]

David Vine the voice of Ski Sunday and snooker for years RIP aged 73

[DrinkingHarp]

Ricardo Montalban dies at 88
By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour and 6 minutes ago

Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's "Fantasy Island," died Wednesday morning at his home, a city councilman said. He was 88.

Montalban's death was announced at a meeting of the city council by president Eric Garcetti, who represents the district where the actor lived. Garcetti did not give a cause of death.

"The Ricardo Montalban Theatre in my Council District -- where the next generations of performers participate in plays, musicals, and concerts -- stands as a fitting tribute to this consummate performer," Garcetti said later in a written statement.

Montalban had been a star in Mexican movies when MGM brought him to Hollywood in 1946. He was cast in the leading role opposite Esther Williams in "Fiesta." He also starred with the swimming beauty in "On an Island with You" and "Neptune's Daughter."

A later generation knew Montalban as the faintly mysterious, white-suited Mr. Roarke, who presided over an island resort where visitors were able to fulfill their lifelong dreams. "Fantasy Island" received high ratings for most of its 1978-1984 span on ABC television and still appears in reruns.

In a 1978 interview, he analyzed the series' success:

"What is appealing is the idea of attaining the unattainable and learning from it. Once you obtain a fantasy it becomes a reality, and that reality is not as exciting as your fantasy. Through the fantasies you learn to appreciate your own realities."

[red hander]

William Zantzinger ... wealthy farmer jailed for the fatal beating of a black barmaid whose story was recounted by Bob Dylan in The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll


William Zantzinger, who died on January 3 aged 69, was the scion of a rich tobacco farming family in Maryland whose drunken, racist assault of a black waitress at a society ball in 1963 ended in her death. He would have subsequently sunk unmourned from view had the attack not come to the attention of a young folk singer, 22-year-old Bob Dylan. As it was he became a notorious and widely-loathed icon of bigotry just as America's civil rights movement came to the boil.

"William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll/With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger," Dylan sang in The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.

Dylan deliberately misspelled Zantzinger's name in the lyrics, perhaps concerned that he might face legal action. Indeed Zantzinger, in a bitter tirade about the song three decades after it was released, claimed that it was "a total lie". "I should have sued him [Dylan] and put him in jail," he said.

The song, considered one of Dylan's finest, tells the story of the night of February 9 1963, when Zantzinger, who had been drinking heavily, arrived at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore to attend a white tie ball.

Reports from the time said that in addition to his top hat and tails, he was sporting a toy cane, which he initially used to imitate Fred Astaire. But as the evening progressed and he grew steadily drunker, Zantzinger became increasingly abusive. He either fell on, or pushed his wife to the floor before hitting several of the hotel's staff with the cane. He then demanded a drink from Hattie Carroll, and when she was a little slow in getting it, he responded by repeatedly hitting her with the cane and swearing at her, his invective laced with racist epithets.

Seeking refuge in the kitchen, Hattie Carroll told colleagues she felt "deathly ill" and an ambulance was called. She died hours later, aged 51. Zantzinger was charged with murder.

"Hell," he said as the trial got underway, "you wouldn't want to go to school with Negroes any more than you would with French people."

In court however, three judges ruled that Hattie Carroll had died from a stroke possibly brought on by the stress of the attack, and sentenced Zantzinger to six months' jail for manslaughter.

It was a report on the sentencing that reached Dylan, sparking his outrage that a rich white man had received only six months for apparently beating a black woman to death.

Though the story was undoubtedly more nuanced than that, it came at a febrile time. Zantzinger's sentencing on August 28 1963 occurred on the same day that Martin Luther King Junior, addressing a crowd from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, just 40 miles from Baltimore, uttered the famous words: "I have a dream".

Dylan insisted that Zantzinger had been protected by his family's local standing and political connections. "With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him/And high office relations in the politics of Maryland,/Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders," he sang.

Indeed, the timing of Zantzinger's trial was managed so that he could complete the tobacco harvest and his light sentence, which he served at a county jail, seemed designed to ensure he was protected from the wrath of the mostly black inmates in state prisons.

William Devereux Zantzinger was born on February 7 1939, the son of a real estate developer and farmer. He grew up in the farm's white-colonnaded mansion and graduated from school in 1957. After that he spent most of his time until the fateful night in 1963 working the family's tobacco plantations.

After his release from jail he found that his sentence had little impact on his reputation with his immediate friends. He was a member of a local country club and gave generously to his church.

Beyond his circle however, Dylan's song was helping to ensure Zantzinger became a figure of hate. Written just months after the case and incorporated into the singer's 1964 album, The Times They Are a-Changin', the song put Zantzinger's name on the map nationwide and ultimately across the world. Dylan sang it on television and at concerts, continuing to perform it as recently as last year.

Nor was the Hattie Carroll case the last of Zantzinger's racially-charged legal travails. In the 1990s he was convicted of claiming rents from black tenants for tumbledown homes, not connected to water or sewerage pipes. In fact the dwellings had been confiscated from him in lieu of back taxes. He was fined and sentenced to 18 months but only spent a few days in jail.

The case seemed to seal Zantzinger's reputation as a racist, but he long protested that Dylan's song had misrepresented him, a verdict with which Dylan's biographer Clinton Heylin agrees.

"That the song itself is a masterpiece of drama and wordplay does not excuse Dylan's distortions, and, 36 years on, he continues to misrepresent poor William Zantzinger in concert," Heylin wrote.

William Zantzinger will have few defenders however, and the infamy in which he was cloaked by Dylan will certainly long outlive him. He is survived by his second wife, Suzanne, and three children from his first marriage.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

[Puckoon]

One of my favourite Dylan songs - although I prefer Christys version to Dylans.


William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering and his tongue it was snarling
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger
And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that ladder of law has no top and no bottom
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way witout warnin'
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fearsv
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYxuUgFsAM     Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7eAW3WNIFw   Christy

[SidelineKick]

One of my favourite Dylan songs - although I prefer Christys version to Dylans.

William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering and his tongue it was snarling
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger
And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that ladder of law has no top and no bottom
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way witout warnin'
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fearsv
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYxuUgFsAM     Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7eAW3WNIFw   Christy

Was listening to that today Puck, "Live in Dublin" CD, absolutely fantastic, love it.

[Tony Baloney]

Poor Tony. This could be in the how do you know you're getting old thread.

[ziggysego]

Another part of my childhood slipping away. RIP Tony

[Open yer eyes Man]

And who could forget Morph -



RIP Tony

[full back]

Artist and children's presenter Tony Hart has died, aged 83.

Hart, who lived in Surrey, had suffered from health problems for a number of years, including two strokes. His family said he died peacefully.

The affable presenter inspired children to paint and draw on shows like Vision On, Take Hart and Hartbeat for nearly 50 years before he retired in 2001.

[Double Cross]

Tony Harts funeral is pencilled in for this friday, details are a bit sketchy though. The hearse will be drawn by two black horses and several thousand children from all over the country...

[5 Sams]

A Chara,


We wish to announce the sad news that Mrs. Peggy Brennan, mother of  Nickey Brennan, Uachtarán, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael died suddenly at her home last night.   We wish to convey the sympathy of all members of the Association to the Uachtarán and the Brennan family on their sad loss.

Nickey's brother, Kieran is currently serving with the UN forces in Chad and at this stage the family is unsure of the funeral arrangements.   We will notify you of the  arrangements as soon as possible.

Go ndéana Dia trócaire uirthi.


Mise le meas,






Criostóir Ó Cuana                  Páraic Ó Dufaigh
Uachtarán-tofa                  Ard-Stiúrthóir

[Declan]

Novelist John Updike dead at 76

The US novelist John Updike has died. He was 76.

He died of lung cancer died in a hospice in Massachusetts this morning.

John Updike worked in a wide array of genres, including fiction, poetry, essay, and memoir.
Born in small-town Pennsylvania, he was educated at Harvard and later in the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford, England.

His work focussed on suburban America, and his 'Rabbit' series of novels told of the slow disappointment in life of an early sports star.

John Updike became most famous as a 'chronicler of suburban adultery' ("A subject which," he once wrote, "if I have not exhausted, has exhausted me").

Describing his characters as 'the American small town Protestant middle class,' he was widely recognized for his careful craftsmanship, his highly stylistic writing, and his prolific output.

His 22nd novel, Terrorist, was published in June 2006; his sixth collection of non-fiction appeared in autumn 2007.

He also published numerous collections of short stories and poetry.

His work attracted a significant amount of critical attention and he was considered one of the most prominent contemporary American novelists.