Ramsey Lewis was an American pianist and occasional composer working in the smooth jazz idiom. Lewis recorded over 80 albums, most of them featuring cover songs. He is known for such recordings as “The ‘In’ Crowd” (1965), “Wade in the Water” (1966), “Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)” (1968), “Sun Goddess” (1974) and “Les Fleurs” (1983).
RIP Diane Noomin (1947 – 2022)
Diane Noomin was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as feminism, female masturbation, body image, and miscarriages.
Here she is in a Video West Zippy the Pinhead episode broadcast in 1980 starring Jim Turner as Zippy and Diane Noomin as DiDi Glitz.
Noomin was married to Bill Griffith, the man who created the character of Zippy.
RIP Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022)
Queen Elizabeth II was a British monarch known in pop culture for being the subject of the Sex Pistols song “God Save the Queen” (1977).
RIP Just Jaeckin (1940 – 2022)
Just Jaeckin was a French film director known for his soft porn films during what is known as the golden age of porn in the 1970s.
He directed Emmanuelle (1974), Story of O (1975) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981).
His film adaptation of Lady Chatterley was produced by Cannon, the story of which is told in Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014).
He can be seen in that documentary from 17:10 for a minute or two.
The story of Cannon is interesting, the docu well made.
RIP Peter Straub (1943 – 2022)
Peter Straub was an American novelist best known for horror and supernatural fiction novels such Julia (1975), Ghost Story (1979) and The Talisman (1984), which he co-wrote with Stephen King.
RIP Mark Shreeve (1957 – 2022)
Mark Shreeve was a British songwriter best-known for co-writing “Touch Me (I Want Your Body)” (1986) interpreted by Samantha Fox. It was a worldwide hit.
Unrelated, except by title, is Touch Me (All Night Long) (1984), written by Patrick Adams two years earlier, not a worldwide hit.
RIP Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – 2022)
Gorbachev died. Normally I don’t do anything about politicians. But Gorbachev was important as one of the last great communist leaders. Yet I can’t find a clip showing the man in question. I do have one where Ronald “we don’t need no rerun” Reagan exhorts Gorbachev to urgently tear down the Berlin wall.
Stating that out loud seems rather bold, but the Soviet Union was probably already on its last legs at the time, a corpse on the verge of death, and Reagan was just kicking in some open doors.
RIP Helen Grayco (1924 – 2022)
Helen Grayco was an American singer and actress famous for appearances with her husband Spike Jones.
She is known for interpreting “Lilly’s Lament” (1956) and appearing in A Night at the Opera (1935).
RIP Creed Taylor (1929 – 2022)
Creed Taylor was an American record producer and trumpeter known for two things. First, for bringing bossa nova to the United States and secondly, for his work in smooth jazz.
Prompted by Taylor’s death, I’ve been listening to “Bloop Bleep” (1965) by Gary McFarland and, to a lesser extent, to “Nautilus” (1974) by Bob James.
Taylor released Shock Music In Hi-Fi (1958) and Panic – Son Of Shock (1960) as The Creed Taylor Orchestra.
RIP Wolfgang Petersen (1941 – 2022)
Wolfgang Petersen is a German film director known for films such as Das Boot (1981) and Troy (2004).
I want to remember him for The NeverEnding Story (1984), a fantasy film based on the German novel of the same name by Michael Ende.
The book describes the fantasy world of Fantasia slowly being devoured by a malevolent force called “The Nothing“.