Hal Blaine was an American drummer.
Some of the more notable records he played on include the Ronettes’ single “Be My Baby” (1963) and the Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds (1966).
Of his solo work, Psychedelic Percussion (1967) [above] is of note.
Tag Archives: RIP
RIP Keith Flint (1969 – 2019)
Keith Flint was an English vocalist and dancer associated with the electronic dance act The Prodigy.
He contributed to “Out of Space” (1992) which sampled the classic reggae track “Chase the Devil” (1976) by Max Romeo, which was produced by Lee Scratch Perry.
That track featured the Afrofuturist lines “I’m gonna send him to outa space, to find another race.”
RIP Bruno Ganz (1941 – 2019)
Bruno Ganz was was an internationally renowned Swiss actor.
He collaborated with filmmakers Werner Herzog (Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979), Éric Rohmer (The Marquise of O, 1976), Francis Ford Coppola (Youth Without Youth, 2007), Wim Wenders (The American Friend, 1977 and Wings of Desire, 1987) and Jonathan Demme (The Manchurian Candidate, 2004).
Ganz was internationally lauded for portraying Adolf Hitler in the film Downfall (2004).
For the occasion, I watched Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)of which the German version is online. Ganz plays Jonathan Harker, Count Dracula is played by a heavily breathing, almost panting Klaus Kinski.
Pay special attention to the beauty of Isabelle Adjani; the opening sequence of the Mummies of Guanajuato; the film score by Krautrock outfit Popol Vuh and Richard Wagner’s prelude to Das Rheingold, Charles Gounod’s “Sanctus” from Messe solennelle à Sainte Cécile and traditional Georgian folk song Tsintskaro; and the frantic mad scenes by Roland Topor.
The film is wonderful. It’s an hommage to the 1922 version by F. W. Murnau.
Here is the original film.
RIP Dick Miller (1928 – 2019)
The Little Shop of Horrors
Dick Miller was an American actor (Gremlins, The Little Shop of Horrors, Death Race 2000) known for his films with Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corman, including James Cameron and Joe Dante.
He was, in the words of Cult Movie Stars (1991) a “scene-stealer in low-budget horror films”.
Above is the enormously amusing film The Little Shop of Horrors (1960, above) in which Miller plays a carnation-eating (“I’m crazy about kosher flowers”) regular customer of the florist in which the film is set.
Minute 34:48 has Jack Nicholson come in as a masochistic client to the dentist. That scene was later done by [1] with Steve Martin as the dentist and Bill Murray as the client.
I’ve seen quite some films with mister Miller, all entertaining, unassuming and unpretentious.
RIP Marcus Belgrave (1936 – 2015)
Marcus Belgrave (1936 – 2015) was a jazz trumpet player from Detroit, born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He recorded with a variety of famous musicians, bandleaders, and record labels since the 1950s.
His “space jazz” composition “Space Odyssey”, originally released on Gemini II (1974) was included on the anthology Universal Sounds of America (1995) and was reprised on The Detroit Experiment (2003, above).
“Space Odyssey” is on the Caribou 1000 but I have not included it on the Jahsonic 1000.
RIP Peter Gay (1923 – 2015)
RIP Peter Gay, 91, American psychohistorian.
Peter Gay (June 20, 1923 – May 12, 2015) is the author of more than twenty-five books, including The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, a multi-volume award winner; Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968), a bestseller; and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988).
Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968) – Peter Gay [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism (1995) – Peter Gay [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
RIP Chris Burden (1946-2015)
Chris Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance, sculpture, and installation art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE5u3ThYyl4
Video: Shoot (1971), in which Burden was shot by a rifle in his left arm by an assistant from a distance of about five meters, an early example of body art.
His later work is less harsh.
RIP Albert Maysles (1926 – 2015)
Albert Maysles was an American documentary filmmaker best-known for the documentaries Gimme Shelter (1970) Grey Gardens (1975).
He is best known for the direct cinema/cinéma vérité – documentaries he made with his brother.
You can watch Gimme Shelter[1] and Grey Gardens[2] in their totalities on YouTube. And Salesman[3] too (practically).
If your new to the Maysles, I’d start with Grey Gardens, the story of an eccentric mother and daugther.
RIP Lasse Braun (1936 – 2015)
RIP Lasse Braun (1936 – 2015).
He was one of the last living protagonists of the ‘porno chic‘ era. The only two survivors now are Radley Metzger (1929) and Tinto Brass (1933).
Here are two clips from Youtube (of all places)
An animated short film, a collaboration of Siné and Braun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LKS2O7W5v8
And this rarity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwUHjlbiYew
Body Love, a film by Braun starring Catherine Ringer, with music by Klaus Schulze.
I previously paid attention to Lasse Braun here[1].
RIP Anita Ekberg (1931 – 2015)
Anita was more than Sylvia of the Trevi Fountain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_99e25pmd5c
She was also Sister Gertrude, the Killer Nun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muWJxdOBqbI
Here are the deaths in 2014 and the ones who have died in 2015.
On the subject of death: I’m still recovering from the Charlie Hebdo murders. I feel that the world will never be the same again, much more than I felt that about 9/11.