Friday Reads, Especially Obituaries

Obituary:  Leathery-faced retired radio talk show "host" Don Imus, noted for his outrageous remarks, has died.  He had been admitted to a hospital on Christmas Eve.  He was 79 years old.

He had retired in March 2018.

But Imus faced a barrage of criticism and lost some of his national platform in 2007 after he made racially disparaging comments about members of Rutgers University's women's basketball team, calling them 'nappy-headed hos.' He later met with members of the team and apologized in person.

Not too smart even if rich.
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Another male cheater gets a "female athlete award" by screwing women out of their rightful place.  Of course, consider the source.

The three lesbian women who missed out on this award despite competing at national & international levels were beaten by a trans-identifying male who competes at college level & who announced transition just a few years ago.
I dare you to try justify this. pic.twitter.com/aB2iteajvP

— Ani ⚢ XX (@aniobrien) December 27, 2019

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Oh, this is sad indeed.

A huge redwood tree fell and killed a man visiting Muir Woods National Monument Park in California on Christmas Eve, authorities said Thursday.

Subhradeep Dutta, 28, of Edina, Minnesota, died while walking on a marked dirt trail with two other people in the park north of San Francisco famous for its towering trees, according to the Marin County coroner's office and a spokesman for the park.

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A couple more obits to note today:

Noted rockabilly musician Sleepy LaBeef, 84, died yesterday.  He was an imposing figure, standing at least six feet, five inches tall.

LaBeef was born on July 25, 1931 in Smackover, Arkansas, as the youngest of 10 children born to farmers, and got his nickname as the result of a lazy eye, some said, or simply looking “half-awake.” He moved to Houston in his adolescence and became a regular on radio shows like “The Houston Jamboree” and “The Louisiana Hayride.” On his initial singles, he was credited as Sleepy LaBeff (or, in the case of “Tore Up,” Tommy LaBeff), but he became “LaBeef” starting with his 1965 releases. In his early years, he shared bills with stars like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Fats Domino. His own favorites, though, he told Sheree Homer in her book “Dig That Beat!,” were George Jones, Bill Monroe and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

LaBeef had heart bypass surgery in 2003, which slowed his schedule only slightly.

“Success is nice,” he told Homer, “but if you have it in your heart, then you don’t get into [this] to make a bunch of money. You do it because you love the music. That love keeps me going, and I thank the Lord for the strength to do it. I never had a No. 1 record, but I am glad to be performing.

His real name was Thomas Paulsley LaBeff.



Another obit to note is the death of Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson, who produced the various specials over the decades. He died on Christmas Day in San Francisco at the age of
86:

He died of congestive heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his son said.

Mendelson, originally from San Francisco, was known for his work in "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the first animated special featuring "Peanuts" characters. The producer wrote the lyrics to the special's song "Christmas Time is Here."

"We are very sad to lose our wonderful father, but Lee would have said it was serendipitous to pass on Christmas when the song he wrote with Vince Guaraldi is being heard everywhere and the program he created with Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez is being celebrated around the world," Jason Mendelson told CNN.

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I hope the plaintiffs will prevail in their lawsuit.
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Yet another obituary of note:  Actress Sue Lyon, 73, known for her role in the 1960s film Lolita, has died.  She died yesterday of undisclosed causes.  She had been ill for a quite some time.

Born in 1946 in Davenport, Iowa, Lyon was a model with two acting credits to her name when she beat out a reported 800 other actors for the part of Dolores Haze in Kubrick's Lolita, a project that was controversial from the start. Seven years old at the time of its film adaptation's release, Lolita divided critics over its depiction of a pedophile's relationship with a 12-year-old girl. After its initial publication in 1955 in France, officials in the U.K. and France banned sales of the book, which was finally published in the U.S. in 1958. In the face of naysayers, Lolita nevertheless became a bestseller and cultural sensation.

Though Nabokov was originally hired to write Lolita's screenplay, the famously finicky Kubrick rewrote much of the script which, in its final edition, portrayed Dolores Haze as a 15-year-old instead of a 12-year-old to comply with Motion Picture Production Code mandates. The movie was filmed secretly in London due to its difficult subject matter and though Lyon was 14 at the time that the film was shot, Lolita was infamously marketed with a picture of Lyon lounging in a bikini, wearing red-shaped sunglasses and licking a lollipop.

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