R.I.P. The thread of death....celebrity or otherwise

[Blackhawk]

Awwww not Teri...not the knockers.

I...

She...

Nevermind.

[Hrothgar]

Seemed like a perfectly reasonable reference:

[hepcat]

One of the most beautiful and funniest women who ever lived. With her and Madeline Kahn in heaven, I know it’s gotta be a fun place.

[Max Peck]

One of the most beautiful and funniest women who ever lived. With her and Madeline Kahn in heaven, I know it’s gotta be a fun place.

You are speaking, no doubt, of Bea Arthur.

[hepcat]

I said woman, not goddess.

[Max Peck]

Fair point.

[Skinypupy]

Put. Ze candle. Back!

[LordMortis]

RIP Greg Hildebrandt

Best know for



But so much more of my formative years were imagined by him first.

[Blackhawk]

I didn't know he did that one. But anyone with much background in sci-fi and fantasy has seen the works of the Brothers Hildebrandt. Especially Tolkien fans.

[Daehawk]

Ive never heard of that name but I have loved his work all my life it seems.

[Blackhawk]

RIP Quincy Jones

One of the greats, both in front of and behind the glass.

[Isgrimnur]

Tony Todd

Tony Todd, an actor who played the killer in Candyman and its 2021 sequel and appeared in the Final Destination franchise and Platoon among more than 240 film and TV credits spanning 40 years, died November 6 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 69.

His reps confirmed the news to Deadline but did not provide a cause of death.

[Blackhawk]

I know him best as Kurn, Worf's brother from TNG. RIP.

[Brian]

Tony Todd is in two of the top three films I recommend as "Under the radar films that you really should see."

Those being Sushi Girl and The Man From Earth.

[Isgrimnur]

Bobby Allison, ‘Alabama Gang’ legend and Hall of Famer, dies at 86

Bobby Allison, founding member of NASCAR’s legendary “Alabama Gang,” the 1983 premier-series champion and winner of 85 races, died Saturday. He was 86 years old.

Allison gained fame and fortune during a racing career that lasted nearly three decades and earned the Florida native practically every racing accolade imaginable. But it was a career that also included more than its share of tragedy — Allison lost two sons in tragic incidents, and his own career ended after a nearly fatal on-track accident in 1988.

A member of NASCAR’s second Hall of Fame class in 2011, Allison currently holds fourth place on NASCAR’s all-time win list for its premier series. He was recognized for an 85th victory on Oct. 23, 2024, with NASCAR officials deeming him the winner of a disputed race in 1971 at Bowman Gray Stadium.

His 718 career starts are 14th in series history and his 336 top-five finishes are second only to fellow Hall of Famer Richard Petty.

[Daehawk]

Tony Todd was in a hell'a lot more than just Candyman and Star Trek. That man was in literally dozens and dozens of movies Ive watched over the 80s and 90s and tv shows too like Hercules and Xena. I can hear his distinctive voice if I just listen now.

And Bobby Allison was racing legend when I was a teen in the 80s. Most likely I also watched him in the 70s...though my memories of 70s nascar aren't that clear to me now days. I used to have the slot tracks and dad would buy me the cars like in the races on tv...stuff like Allison's cars or Petty's Superbird.

RIP to yet more of my life entertainers.

[mori]

Bobby Allison was a real motorsports legend. Loosing two sons so tragically had to have tormented him and the rest of the family. Davey Allison was supremely talented and would of carried on the name through the 90's only to be cut short in a helicopter crash. I loved Bobby's Miller High Life cars of the 80s. They just looked fast and cool. When I did online racing I always had a paint scheme inspired by those cars.

[Max Peck]

You've Got Mail

On Tuesday, Elwood Edwards, the voice behind the online service America Online's iconic "You've got mail" greeting, died at age 74, one day before his 75th birthday, according to Cleveland's WKYC Studios, where he worked for many years. The greeting became a cultural touchstone in the 1990s and early 2000s in the early Internet era; it was heard by hundreds of millions of users when they logged in to the service and new email was waiting for them.

The story of Edwards' famous recording began in 1989 when Steve Case, CEO of Quantum Computer Services (which later became America Online—or AOL for short), wanted to add a human voice to the company's Quantum Link online service. Karen Edwards, who worked as a customer service representative, heard Case discussing the plan and suggested her husband Elwood, a professional broadcaster.

Edwards recorded the famous phrase (and several others) into a cassette recorder in his living room in 1989 and was paid $200 for the service. His voice recordings of "Welcome," "You've got mail," "File's done," and "Goodbye" went on to reach millions of users during AOL's rise to dominance in the 1990s online landscape.

The mail alert phrase was perhaps most notable and popular in the dial-up online era, when users would call local AOL phone numbers with a modem to access the nationwide online network. At the time, AOL was also one of America's largest Internet service providers.

In 1995, Wired Magazine's AOL forum asked Edwards to record 10 humorous sound files using his iconic voice. The results, which include classics such as "You want fries with that," "You've got credit card debt," and "Stop touching me!" still live on in the depths of The Internet Archive. He also ran a side business recording custom sound files for AOL users.

[Sudy]

I use it as the email notification sound on my phone. RIP.

[Daehawk]

Used to hear it all the time. I used AOL a little bit back in the day. I can STILL hear his voice saying those lines. I can only imagine those last lines in that posting and hearing it in his voice. RIP sir. and thnx.

[McNutt]

Former U.S. gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi

Dead at 82.

[Daehawk]

His name is all you ever saw in the 80s during the Olympics. Big name. RIP

[Pyperkub]

Former U.S. gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi

Dead at 82.

Hard to know what to think. I am so happy that Olympic Gymnastics isn't all 12 year olds anymore, and he was apparently very Bob Knight-esque (at best) in his approach to training those pre-teen girls, even if he had no knowledge (as he claimed) of the Nasser (and others?) sexual abuse.

[McNutt]

I listened to a podcast that was not too flattering on him. It was much worse on his wife, who was very abusive on the girls.

[Kraken]

My remaining BIL isn't likely to remain much longer.

Last week he had back surgery to relieve severe long-term pain. The surgery went into overtime but was declared successful. After an appropriate recovery time he was transferred to rehab. He really hated the rehab place, and on Saturday night something still unknown happened (stroke was mentioned as one possibility). He started hallucinating and fell out of bed multiple times, which they chalked up to his painkiller (Dilaudid). But it was the weekend, so whaddaya gonna do? Yesterday they sent him back to the hospital, which pronounced him septic and moved him to the ER. Today they put him in a coma. His kidneys started to give up. Tonight he's on a ventilator.

We don't know where he picked up the infection that's killing him -- almost surely at the hospital -- or why the rehab place ignored his dramatic decline for two days. I mean, we all know that Florida's healthcare system is awful ("God's waiting room"), but this is beyond awful.

IDK how long they can prolong a medical death -- maybe a week, maybe less. They kept my other BIL going for almost a month. It looks like Wife is going to have to make an emergency trip down there ASAP, but we just got the ventilator news at 1:30 a.m. so no decisions are being made tonight. Maybe he'll be gone by morning. Who knows?

John is 66 and our last surviving sibling. When he's gone, neither of us has any immediate family left. All three of our siblings were (are) younger than us.

TBH, John's an asshole. He flies into uncontrollable rages. Calling his rehab nurse a stupid cunt might have factored into this outcome. (I'm just speculating based on third-hand reports.) He's a good man at heart but he has an erratic, abrasive personality that can rage out of control for days at a time. He's not likeable. He needs psychiatric help, and has for as long as I've known him. Which is about 45 years.

Maybe this is the wrong thread because he's not dead yet. I don't have much hope for a Hallmark ending, but there's a timeline out there where he recovers physically, finally gets the psychiatric help he's always needed and achieves a happy old age. I doubt that this is that timeline.

[Daehawk]

ya the medical profession these days does make a lot of foul ups and life ending stupid decisions it seems. I still blame the hospital for my wife's death from what I overheard the nurse tell the doctor. But I couldn't do anything about it.

[LordMortis]

Sorry to hear it. Infections from medical environments terrify me. They always want me to stick around after too many damned surgeries in the last couple of years, and I'm always out the door the second they give me an option. My worst illnesses have always come after extended exposure to medical facilities. Coincidence? My body too busy healing from treatment to ward off infection? No idea. But when I'm not there I'm not getting major sickness that requires further medical intervention to fight off what ails me. Not even old coworkers refusing to stay home when they catch their kids germs have been anything like what I pick up from being in hospitals. I simply can't shake what I pick up there and then I hear stories of things so much worse than the misery I've endured, like a staph infection going to a friend's spine.

[The Meal]

Sorry to hear about your BIL, Kraken. I'm with LM regarding fears of sepsis. We lost a friend after an apparent successful heart surgery last year. The sepsis presented itself about 3 days after the declared success, and Rich hung on for another week of decline before he passed. Rich and I spontaneously road tripped for the great solar eclipse of 2017 and really bonded on that trip (especially during the 12 hour return trip/traffic jam home). We had great plans for 2024, but when he wasn't available for the reprise, I really couldn't muster the enthusiasm.

Best wishes to you and all associated family. The "we're good!"... "oh, we're not good" aspect of medical infections is absolutely horrifying. MHS has survived two of these sepsis experiences and I hope to everything good that we never have to go through a third.

[Unagi]

My wife's father died of sepsis complications from a standard knee surgugy turned septic. Fucking -sucked-. the battle was a nightmare.

[Kraken]

ya the medical profession these days does make a lot of foul ups and life ending stupid decisions it seems. I still blame the hospital for my wife's death from what I overheard the nurse tell the doctor. But I couldn't do anything about it.

The ER thoroughly documented John's condition, including physical injuries and a possible concussion from falling, when he was admitted. If nothing else, the rehab should have restrained him or at the very least put rails on his bed. They found him crawling on the floor Monday morning, trying to pack his things to leave. Yes he was delusional, but his instinct to GTF out of there was right. If he dies, we will do something about it.

But if the cause of death is hospital-caused infection, there isn't much recourse.

[Kraken]

It looks like my BIL might survive after all. They don't know what's wrong with his brain, but his body is slowly mending.

In thread-relevant news: R.I.P. Alice Brock (of Alice's Restaurant fame). Kind of sad that she died so close to Thanksgiving, but she had 83 good years.

Arlo Guthrie still lives around here and I've eaten at Alice's Restaurant (although after she had already moved on). It really was around the back, just a half a mile from the railroad tracks, and there's still a restaurant in that space. Alice was part of local lore even though she lived most of her life in Provincetown.

"This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her," Guthrie wrote. "Alice and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. We joked around and had a couple of good laughs even though we knew we'd never have another chance to talk together."

Guthrie wrote that she died in Provincetown, Massachusetts, her residence for some 40 years, and referred to her being in failing health. He did not say what was the cause of death.

Born Alice May Pelkey in New York City, Brock was a lifelong rebel who was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, among other organizations. In the early 1960s, she dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College, moved to Greenwich Village and married Ray Brock, a woodworker who encouraged her to leave New York and resettle in Massachusetts.

Guthrie, son of the celebrated folk musician Woody Guthrie, first met Brock around 1962 when he was attending the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts and she was the librarian. They became friends and stayed in touch after he left school, when he would stay with her and her husband at the converted Stockbridge church that became the Brocks' main residence.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1965, a simple chore led to Guthrie's arrest, his eventual avoidance of military service during the Vietnam War and a song that has endured as a protest classic and holiday favorite. Guthrie and his friend Richard Robbins were helping the Brocks throw out trash, but ended up tossing it down a hill because they couldn't find an open dumpster. Police charged them with illegal dumping, briefly jailed them and fined them $50, a seemingly minor offense with major repercussions.

That Stockbridge church is now the Guthrie Center.

[Hrdina]

In thread-relevant news: R.I.P. Alice Brock (of Alice's Restaurant fame). Kind of sad that she died so close to Thanksgiving, but she had 83 good years.

Bummer, but agree on the timing.

Now get back on the Group W bench.

[Daehawk]

I dont know bout all that I dont think. But I grew up watching Alice the tv show and Mel's Diner with Flo

[Kraken]

I dont know bout all that I dont think. But I grew up watching Alice the tv show and Mel's Diner with Flo

Surely you have heard Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant." If not, be sure to play it on Thanksgiving. It's all true and Stockbridge is only like 20 miles away from me. Officer Obie died quite some time ago, after he and Arlo became semi-friends.

[McNutt]

Chuck Woolery dead at 83.

He was my favorite of all the game show hosts.

[Daehawk]

Chuck Woolery dead at 83.

He was my favorite of all the game show hosts.

Always liked him. He was a good host and had a personality that shined. RIP sir.

[Rumpy]

He even did a short stint as host of Wheel of Fortune before they had fully fleshed out the format and before Pat Sajak landed it.

[Jeff V]

In thread-relevant news: R.I.P. Alice Brock (of Alice's Restaurant fame). Kind of sad that she died so close to Thanksgiving, but she had 83 good years.

Arlo Guthrie still lives around here and I've eaten at Alice's Restaurant (although after she had already moved on). It really was around the back, just a half a mile from the railroad tracks, and there's still a restaurant in that space. Alice was part of local lore even though she lived most of her life in Provincetown.

"This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her," Guthrie wrote. "Alice and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. We joked around and had a couple of good laughs even though we knew we'd never have another chance to talk together."

Guthrie wrote that she died in Provincetown, Massachusetts, her residence for some 40 years, and referred to her being in failing health. He did not say what was the cause of death.

Born Alice May Pelkey in New York City, Brock was a lifelong rebel who was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, among other organizations. In the early 1960s, she dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College, moved to Greenwich Village and married Ray Brock, a woodworker who encouraged her to leave New York and resettle in Massachusetts.

Guthrie, son of the celebrated folk musician Woody Guthrie, first met Brock around 1962 when he was attending the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts and she was the librarian. They became friends and stayed in touch after he left school, when he would stay with her and her husband at the converted Stockbridge church that became the Brocks' main residence.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1965, a simple chore led to Guthrie's arrest, his eventual avoidance of military service during the Vietnam War and a song that has endured as a protest classic and holiday favorite. Guthrie and his friend Richard Robbins were helping the Brocks throw out trash, but ended up tossing it down a hill because they couldn't find an open dumpster. Police charged them with illegal dumping, briefly jailed them and fined them $50, a seemingly minor offense with major repercussions.

That Stockbridge church is now the Guthrie Center.

The radio station I mostly listen to, WXRT, traditionally plays Alice's Restaurant every year on Thanksgiving, twice during the day. I usually don't miss it, but I'll make doubly sure.

Good news about your BiL, may he make a full recovery.

In other news, I found out a few days ago that Peter Sinfield died at age 80. It's appropriate to post in a response to your post, as you had the album cover from Court of the Crimson King as your avatar for such a long time. Sinfield was an original member of King Crimson, mostly in a writing and production role. His friendship with the late Greg Lake led him to writing lyrics and producing a number of ELP albums, and, in deference to the upcoming holidays, wrote and produced Lake's "i Believe in Father Christmas," which is so much better than that Mariah Carey song (but not as good as the Kinks "Father Christmas", my all-time favorite holiday song). He also worked with Roxy Music among others, and put out a damn fine solo album as well.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Jim Abrahams, the A in ZAZ that created Airplane! and Naked Gun, among other comedies, died at 80 from natural causes. Airplane! may be my favorite comedy of all time, and certainly the most influential to my sense of humor. Obviously, Naked Gun was a favorite, and I also loved The Kentucky Fried Movie.

ETA how much I love Top Secret. On the rare occasion someone says they know a little [insert language here], I say he's right over there!

[Isgrimnur]