First Day of Fall Reads

 Good news for those of us over 65 or have other risks making it necessary to have the COVID booster shot.

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A couple of obits:

Independent filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, 89, has died:

Melvin Van Peebles, whose low-budget 1971 phenomenon, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” — an X-rated film about a Black revolutionary’s survival on the run — proved a milestone of independent and African American cinema, died Sept. 21 at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.

His family, the Criterion Collection and Janus Films announced the death in a statement but did not provide a cause.

Over a six-decade career, Mr. Van Peebles continually reinvented himself: as an Air Force officer, a San Francisco cable-car gripman (operator), a self-taught film auteur, a novelist in English and French, a Tony Award-nominated playwright and composer, an Emmy Award-winning TV writer, a spoken-word artist and, for a spell in the 1980s, the only Black floor trader on the American Stock Exchange.

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Singer Sarah Dash, 76, member of the group Labelle, has died.  She died Monday.

As the group Labelle, Dash, LaBelle, Hendryx gave the world one of the most iconic funk rock tunes of all time with their 1974 single "Lady Marmalade," off the group's best-selling album, Nightbirds.

The group later released the album Phoenix in 1975, and Chameleon in 1976, then decided to part ways after the band's 1977 tour. She then embarked on a solo career, and worked with Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones.

After reunited for numerous TV appearances and occasional performances, Labelle reunited in 2008 for a new album, Back to Now, their first recording together in over 30 years.

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Another cold case murder has been solved thanks to genetic genealogy.

The suspect, however, died six years ago.

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More witnesses have come forward giving their witnessing the loving relationship between domestic violence victim Brian Laundrie and his abuser, Gabby Petito.

Yes, I am being sarcastic:

Angelo said Petito was in tears and Laundrie was visibly angry, going into and out of the restaurant several times, continuing to show anger toward the staff around the hostess stand.

The couples' waitress was also visibly shaken by the incident, according to Angelo, who told CNN she did not see any violence or physical altercation between Petito and Laundrie.

A manager at The Merry Piglets told CNN that she did see "an incident" at the restaurant and called the FBI on Wednesday. The manager declined to give CNN her name or describe what happened and said the restaurant did not have surveillance video of the incident.