Who Died Today?

[Balloon guy 158]

Jane

Dang, the chimp outlived em both...

[jeff_536 3]

Alexis, the crazy glitter girl who auditioned multiple times for American Idol and was famous for giving Simon the finger.

[TheWynn 0]

Former boxing champion Vernon Forrest killed in an apparent robbery in Atlanta. Forrest Article

[Jadaki 0]

Director John Hughes just died of a heart attack.

[AmScray 355]

^ ^Massive, massive loss.I mean, yeah, he's pretty much been out of it for a long time, but that guy was a genius of epic proportions. Whenever you see someone in the film industry with absolutely no connection to Judaism given the degree of creative autonomy he was, you know you have someone special on your hands.

[speedz99 145]

Massive, massive loss.I mean, yeah, he's pretty much been out of it for a long time, but that guy was a genius of epic proportions. Whenever you see someone in the film industry with absolutely no connection to Judaism given the degree of creative autonomy he was, you know you have someone special on your hands.

Sounds like somebody was angsty in the 80s.

[LadyGrey 6]

John Hughes made a ton of great films, I didn't even know that he was behind a lot of them until I read his Wiki page just now. My personal favourite Hughes work:Doesn't hurt that I love John Candy too.

[AmScray 355]

Sounds like somebody was angsty in the 80s.

I was pre-pubescent in the 80's. The guy was responsible for fantastic films. I mean, most directors/producers/writers would give their kosher left nut to be associated with one film the caliber of his "lower 50%".

[fryer98 30]

RIP Les Paul.

[mr_druid 0]

RIP Les Paul.

You beat me to it. I live near Waukesha (where he lived most of his life), I wonder if they are going to do a memorial show.Tom.

[chrozzo 19]

You beat me to it.Tom.

by 4.5 hours!what!? did he play an instrument or something?

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

by 4.5 hours!what!? did he play an instrument or something?

He pioneered the solid body electric guitar and a number of recording innovations that are still the standard today.BB King called him "the founding father of modern music" and I agree.I was fortunate enough to see him play in New York and got to meet him briefly after the show. He had an energy and love for life that he wanted to share with anyone who would allow it. I own and play a Gibson Les Paul.

[aucu 3]

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/inde...end-dead-at-94/Tributes for guitar legend Les Paul; dead at 94By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY (AP) – 1 hour agoNEW YORK — Musicians worldwide are paying tribute to Les Paul, the music icon whose solid-body electric guitar paved the way for rock 'n' roll.The guitar virtuoso who died Thursday at age 94 performed with some of early pop's biggest names and produced a slew of hits, many with wife Mary Ford. But it was his inventive streak that made him universally revered by guitar gods as their original ancestor and earned his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the most important forces in popular music."He actually taught himself to play guitar in order to demonstrate his electronic theories," said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. "All of us owe an unimaginable debt to his work and his talent."Paul died in suburban White Plains of complications from pneumonia. He was remembered as a tireless tinkerer whose quest for a particular sound led him to create the first solid-body electric guitar. His invention became the standard instrument for legends like Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page."The name Les Paul is iconic and is known by aspiring and virtuoso guitar players worldwide," said Kiss front man Paul Stanley. "That guitar is the cornerstone of a lot of great music that has been made in the last 50 years."Paul also developed technology that would become hallmarks of rock and pop recordings, from multitrack recording that allowed for multiple layers of "overdubs" to guitar reverb and other sound effects."He was a futurist, and unlike some futurists who write about it and predict things, he was a guy who actually did things," said Henry Juskiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, which mass produced Paul's original invention.Private services are being planned for New York and Waukesha, Wis., Paul's home town, according to an obituary posted by the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, where until recently Paul had played every week. Public memorial tributes also are being planned.A musician since childhood, Paul experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a 4-by-4 piece of wood strung with steel strings. He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a traditional guitar shape.The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s.Leo Fender's Broadcaster was the first mass-produced solid body electric on the market in the late 1940s.Gibson solicited Paul to create a prototype for a guitar and began making the Les Paul guitar in 1952. The Who's Townshend, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.Born Lester William Polfuss on June 9, 1915, he began his career as a musician, billing himself as Red Hot Red or Rhubarb Red. He toured with the popular Chicago band Rube Tronson and His Texas Cowboys and led the house band on WJJD radio in Chicago.In the mid-1930s he joined Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and soon moved to New York to form the Les Paul Trio, with Jim Atkins and bassist Ernie Newton.His first records were released in 1944 on Decca Records. Later, with Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records for hits including "Vaya Con Dios" and "How High the Moon," which both hit No. 1.He had met Ford, then known as Colleen Summers, in the 1940s while working as a studio musician in Los Angeles. For seven years in the 1950s, Paul and Ford broadcast a TV show from their home in Mahwah, N.J. (Ford died in 1977, 15 years after they divorced).In 1948, Paul and Ford were seriously injured in a car crash. Among other injuries, Paul's right elbow was crushed and doctors set it at an angle so he could continue to play guitar, Robb Lawrence, a former concert tech for Paul, says in the 2008 book "The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy."Paul had made his first attempt at audio amplification at age 13. Unhappy with the amount of volume produced by his acoustic guitar, he tried placing a telephone receiver under the strings. Although this worked to some extent, only two strings were amplified and the volume level was still too low.By placing a phonograph needle in the guitar, all six strings were amplified, which proved to be much louder. Paul was playing a working prototype of the electric guitar in 1929.His work on recording techniques began in the years after World War II, when Bing Crosby gave him a tape recorder. Drawing on his earlier experimentation with his homemade recording machine, Paul added an additional playback head to the recorder. The result was a delayed effect that became known as tape echo.Tape echo gave the recording a more "live" feel and enabled the user to simulate different playing environments.Paul's next idea was to stack together eight mono tape machines and send their outputs to one piece of tape, stacking the recording heads on top of one another. The resulting machine served as the forerunner to today's multitrack recorders. Many of his songs with Ford used overdubbing techniques that Paul had helped develop.Paul's use of multitrack recording was unique. Before he did it, most recordings were made on a single tape. By recording each element separately, from the vocals to instrumentation on different tracks, they could be mixed and layered, adding to the richness in sound.In 1954, Paul commissioned the first eight-track tape recorder, later known as "Sel-Sync," in which a recording head could simultaneously record a new track and play back previous ones.In the late 1960s, Paul retired from music to concentrate on his inventions. His interest in country music was rekindled in the mid-'70s, and he teamed with Chet Atkins for two albums. The duo won a Grammy for best country instrumental performance of 1976 for their "Chester and Lester" album.In 2005, he released the Grammy-winning "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played," his first album of new material since those 1970s recordings and his first official rock CD. Among those playing with him: Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Richie Sambora."They're not only my friends, but they're great players," Paul told The Associated Press. "I never stop being amazed by all the different ways of playing the guitar and making it deliver a message."Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005.Associated Press writer Luke Sheridan contributed to this report.Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

...The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s.Leo Fender's Broadcaster was the first mass-produced solid body electric on the market in the late 1940s.Gibson solicited Paul to create a prototype for a guitar and began making the Les Paul guitar in 1952. The Who's Townshend, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string...

Steve Howe's Signature Guitar is a Gibson ES-175. And Di Meola while sometimes played a Les Paul, his Signature Guitar is a PRS and he plays the ES-175 a ton as well.

[BDPoolie 0]

John QuadeJohn Quade, a veteran character actor who specialized in playing heavies and appeared in several Clint Eastwood movies, including "Every Which Way But Loose" and its sequel "Any Which Way You Can," has died. He was 71.Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in Rosamond, near Lancaster, said his wife, Gwen Saunders. In a more than two-decade career in films and television that began in the late 1960s, Quade played character roles in numerous TV series and in films such as "Papillon," "The Sting" and Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales." He also played Sheriff Biggs in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots.""Everybody remembers him for 'Every Which Way But Loose' and 'Any Which Way You Can,' " Quade's wife said Wednesday. "He played Chola, the leader of the motorcycle gang. It was more of a comic relief of the movie; they were a bumbling motorcycle gang."Although Quade's name might not be familiar to many moviegoers, his face was. In fact, he had a face made for playing heavies."He was one of the nicest men you'd ever want to know, but he looked mean and nasty," his wife said. "He looked like he could do murder and mayhem at any moment, but he was a big teddy bear -- the kind that he just loved little kids, but they were always afraid of him."His face definitely stands out in a crowd. He had to be careful he didn't overshadow scenes just by the way he looked. The first film he did with Clint Eastwood, Clint hired him for his face and told him afterward that he felt like he got a bonus because John could act."Born John William Saunders III on April 1, 1938, in Kansas City, Kan., Quade arrived in California in 1964. "He got involved in missile and aerospace for awhile," said his wife. "He built parts that are still on the moon."One day, she said, "He was sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of guys and this man noticed him and said, 'Have you thought about acting?'"It had to be his face; it wasn't anything else."Quade was appearing in a play in Hollywood in 1968 when a casting director saw him and cast him in his first TV show, an episode of "Bonanza."In addition to his wife of 38 years, he is survived by six children, John Saunders IV, Joseph Saunders, Steven Saunders, Heather Clark, Katherine Adame and Rebecca Saunders; his mother, Norma; two brothers, Merlin and Robert; two sisters, Joyce Copeland and Norma Jean Anderson; and 10 grandchildren.

[ajs510 122]

He played Knife in The B.R.A.T Patrol. Recognized him instantly.

[El Guapo 8]

He played Knife in The B.R.A.T Patrol. Recognized him instantly.

The B.R.A.T Patrol - My favorite movie as a child. I tried to buy it, but it does not exist anywhere. Had to watch it on like 7 consecutive you tube videos.

[nutzbuster 7]

oh man...wow. that sucks.how long before we lose one of the greatest ones ever? (Eastwood)

[Suited_Up 2]

oh man...wow. that sucks.how long before we lose one of the greatest ones ever? (Eastwood)

Over under 7 years?

[ajs510 122]

The B.R.A.T Patrol - My favorite movie as a child. I tried to buy it, but it does not exist anywhere. Had to watch it on like 7 consecutive you tube videos.

Youtube is the last place I saw it as well, definitely a childhood favorite. I always wanted to know what they put in that swimming pool...lol.

[dna4ever 2]

Television pioneer and longtime CBS executive Don Hewitt, the creator of "60 Minutes," has died, CBSNews.com reports. He was 86. The winner of eight Emmy and two Peabody awards, Hewitt began working for CBS News as an associate director in 1948. He was executive producer of "60 Minutes" when it premiered on CBS on September 24, 1968.

[Suited_Up 2]

Ted Kennedy just died!

[rcgs59 15]

RIP Ted Kennedy(CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. He was 77.Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "Lion of the Senate," died Tuesday at 77."We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," a family statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice."President Obama learned about Kennedy's death at 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to a senior administration official. Obama later called Kennedy's widow to offer condolences.In a statement, Obama says: "An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time."Kennedy, nicknamed "Ted," was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that ended in defeat.But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Watch retrospective on Kennedy's storied career »"He was probably best known for the ability to work with Republicans," said Adam Clymer, Kennedy's biographer. "The Republican Party raised hundreds of millions of dollars with direct appeal to protect the country from Ted Kennedy, but there was never a piece of legislation that he ever got passed without a major Republican ally."Kennedy recently urged Massachusetts officials to change a law to allow for an immediate temporary replacement should a vacancy occur for one of his state's two Senate seats. Watch why Kennedy sought change in state law »Under a 2004 Massachusetts law, a special election must be held 145 to 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The winner of the election would serve the remainder of a senator's unexpired term.Kennedy asked Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders to "amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," according to the letter, dated July 2. Read Kennedy's letterDon't MissReaction to Sen. Edward Kennedy's deathAiling Kennedy wants replacement law changedRead Kennedy's letter (PDF)Kennedy suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home on Cape Cod. Shortly after, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor -- a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe.Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and chemotherapy.A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to many eyes. Kennedy died exactly one year to the day of that appearance."I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," Kennedy told fellow Democrats in a strong voice.Kennedy's early support for Obama was considered a boon for the candidate, then a first-term senator from Illinois locked in a tough primary battle against former first lady Hillary Clinton. Kennedy predicted Obama's victory and pledged to be in Washington in January when Obama assumed office -- and he was, though he was hospitalized briefly after suffering a seizure during a post-inaugural luncheon.Kennedy was one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He was elected to eight full terms to become the second most-senior senator after West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.He launched his political career in 1962, when he was elected to finish the unexpired Senate term of his brother, who became president in 1960. He won his first full term in 1964.He seemed to have a bright political future, and many Democratic eyes turned to him after the killings of his brothers. But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard. While Kennedy managed to escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.In a coroner's inquest, he denied having been drunk, and said he made "seven or eight" attempts to save Kopechne before exhaustion forced him to shore. Although he sought help from friends at the party, Kennedy did not report the accident to police until the following morning.Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. In a televised address to residents of his home state, Kennedy called his conduct in the hours following the accident "inexplicable" and called his failure to report the wreck immediately "indefensible."Despite the dent in his reputation and career, Kennedy remained in American politics and went on to win seven more terms in the Senate. Kennedy championed social causes and was the author of "In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care." He served as chairman of the Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and was the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees during periods when Republicans controlled the chamber.Obama named Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. A White House statement explained that the 2009 honorees "were chosen for their work as agents of change.""Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."Born in Boston on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, a prominent businessman and Democrat, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy served as ambassador to Britain before World War II and pushed his sons to strive for the presidency, a burden "Teddy" bore for much of his life as the only surviving Kennedy son.His oldest brother, Joe Jr., died in a plane crash during World War II when Kennedy was 12. John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and Robert was killed the night of the California primary in 1968.Ted Kennedy delivered Robert's eulogy, urging mourners to remember him as "a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it; who saw suffering and tried to heal it; who saw war and tried to stop it."The family was plagued with other tragedies as well. One sister, Kathleen, was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Another sister, Rosemary, was born mildly retarded, but was institutionalized after a botched lobotomy in 1941. She died in 1986 after more than 50 years in mental hospitals.Joseph Kennedy was incapacitated by a stroke in 1961 and died in November 1969, leaving the youngest son as head of the family. He was 37."I can't let go," Kennedy once told an aide. "If I let go, Ethel (Robert's widow) will let go, and my mother will let go, and all my sisters."Kennedy himself survived a 1964 plane crash that killed an aide, suffering a broken back in the accident. But he recovered to lead the seemingly ill-starred clan through a series of other tragedies: Robert Kennedy's son David died of a drug overdose in a Florida hotel in 1984; another of Robert's sons, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997; and John's son John Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.In addition, his son Edward Jr. lost a leg to cancer in the 1970s, and daughter Kara survived a bout with the disease in the early 2000s.Kennedy was forced to testify about a bar-hopping weekend that led to sexual battery charges against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was acquitted in 1991 of charges that he raped a woman he met while at a Florida nightclub with the senator and his son Patrick, now a Rhode Island congressman.Like brothers John and Robert, Edward Kennedy attended Harvard. He studied in the Netherlands before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, and worked in the district attorney's office in Boston before entering politics.Kennedy is survived by his second wife, Victoria Ann Reggie Kennedy, whom he married in 1992; his first wife, Joan Bennett; and five children -- Patrick, Kara and Edward Jr. from his first marriage, and Curran and Caroline Raclin from his second. E-mail to a friend | Mixx it | ShareAll About Edward M. Kennedy

[gatortom64 1]

So, did Chrozo win the dead pool?

[Mercury69 3]

I long for those innocent days where a simple crash and drowning of a secretary would ruin your chances for the Presidency.Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, where have you gone?