First there is the funny. This, I feel is the quote of the year; or at least the month!
Finally back at the office we’re finishing up one of the reports in my office. Now, I’m right on the street side. Every damned semi that drive by sounds like it’s coming THROUGH my window. One time, it was particularly loud and my guy jumps.
Him – Damn….that’s annoying as hell.
Me – yeah…figures. Only I would be given an office with a vibrator.
It was at that point I announced it was time for everyone to go home. I had completely lost my ability to think or speak clearly….
Then there is the completely serious and quite sad, of Tammi. It is the story of how Tammi lost her Dad. I read this originally in 2005, when Tammi first posted it. I nearly lost it then and I still get misty-eyed when I read it. Tammi’s a tough lady; she’s been through royal hell. She has my respect.
It just shows you how someone, who has been through hell and back, can have a good sense of humor. I God Bless her for that. 🙂
As you all know, I am a child of the late early 1970’s and grew up in the 1980’s. So, this one is kind of personal.
John Hughes, who captured the zeitgeist of 1980s teen life as writer-director of “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles” and produced and scripted family hits such as “Home Alone,” died Thursday of a heart attack in Manhattan while taking a walk. He was 59.
After an impressive string of hits — “Home Alone” is one of the top-grossing live-action comedies of all time — Hughes, who never won a major show business award, stopped directing in 1991 and virtually retired from filmmaking a few years later, working on his farm in northern Illinois.
The filmmaker, whom critic Roger Ebert once called “the philosopher of adolescence,” was a major influence on filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow, who told the L.A. Times last year, “Basically, my stuff is just John Hughes films with four-letter words.”
“I feel like a part of my childhood has died. Nobody made me laugh harder or more often than John Hughes,” said Apatow in a statement.
Bruce Berman, who was VP of production at Universal and president of production at Warners when Hughes made several films with those studios, told Daily Variety, “He was one of the most challenging relationships an exec could have, but one of the most fun, most talented and gifted.” Berman said that although Hughes was one of the fastest writers in the biz — “He could write a draft over a weekend — he didn’t like to be rewritten.”
Born in Michigan, Hughes used his high school town of suburban Northbrook, Ill., as a location for many of his films. He got his start as an advertising copywriter in Chicago and started selling jokes to performers such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. Hired by National Lampoon magazine after submitting his short story “Vacation ’58,” he wrote his first screenplay, “Class Reunion,” while on staff at the magazine, and it became his first produced script in 1982. His next, “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” based on his short story, became his first big hit and spawned several sequels.
Hughes’ first film as a director was 1984’s “Sixteen Candles,” starring Anthony Michael Hall, John Cusack and Molly Ringwald. The teen romance introduced several of the actors who would make up Hughes’ “stock company” of thesps, several of whom became known as the Brat Pack.
In 1985, “The Breakfast Club” became the era’s iconic and influential high school film. It starred Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Hall and Judd Nelson as teens who must learn to get along when thrown together during Saturday detention.
Hughes wrote and exec produced Ringwald starrer “Pretty in Pink,” which felt of a piece with his directing projects, then directed “Weird Science,” starring Hall, and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” starring Matthew Broderick. He also wrote “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “She’s Having a Baby,” heartfelt adolescent stories that both bore his stamp.
He branched out with 1987’s more grown-up “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” starring Steve Martin and John Candy, then directed just two more films, “Uncle Buck” and “Curly Sue,” his eighth and final film as helmer.
His films were the basically the soundtrack of my life. At some port or another; I have most likely seen them all. Not much when they first came out mind you. At that time, I was still totally wrapped up into the whole Pentecostal Christan thing. Something that I sometimes feel stole my childhood from me. My parents are not to blame; I am. I was never forced to do anything at all. I wanted to be where I was and what I was involved in. Because I thought it was right. Looking back however, I tend to believe that what I went through was nothing more than glorified brain washing.
Hughes films captured the 1980’s, in all its splendor. The whole innocence of being a kid in that era. It was a magical time to grow up; a Republican was in the White House. The Republican Party was a force to be reckoned with, Liberals tried and failed to change the course of the Country. Reagan brought optimism back to America and it trickled out of the White House and on the silver screen. Hughes channeled that whole era into film, for people like me to relive, time and time again.
I hope the man knew God, May he rest in peace.
Update: A very good Blog posting from fan of Hughs.
I realize that none of the words, that I can type on this blog can ease the pain that Jim is feeling right about now. So, I will just skip usual flower speech and just remind everyone, that life is too short; and that maybe everyone should go call Mom and Dad, and tell them how much you love them. If she’s close, go give her a hug.
When you’re done; Go on over and say a few kind words to Jim.
Politics is one thing, but real life is another. Sometimes, when getting caught up in the daily Blogosphere, we forget about that.
I was just over at Freedom’s Phoenix, some sad news to report:
Steve Yannone (no relation – close friend) steveyannone at aol.com (reports):
Will provide more details when family comes to town. Close friends can contact Steve for more details. It is believed that he died from an epileptic seizure that he regularly suffered from. Sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We’ll have more details as they become available.
Many of us have known Mark since the mid 90’s as a very principled and active libertarian. He was expected to be heavily engaged in the coming election cycle again. He will be missed.
Ernie
Mark’s Blog is here; Mark also run on the Libertarian ticket, that website is here.
Author and radio host Alan Stang, a longstanding champion for conservativism and outspoken opponent of communism in the U.S., died yesterday. He was 80 years old.
Stang began his career in communications as an editor for Prentice-Hall before moving on to radio at NBC in New York City. The award-winning journalist also worked as one of Mike Wallace’s first writers before Wallace became a fixture of “60 Minutes” and went toe-to-toe in the ratings against Larry King, when the two hosted competing radio shows in Los Angeles. Stang boasted that despite broadcasting on a station of significantly less power, his program drew twice as many listeners as King’s.
Most recently, Stang hosted “The Sting of Stang” show on the Republic Broadcasting Network.
“My dad spent his whole life fighting for this country,” Stang’s son Jay told WND. “He saw something to fight for, just like every one of us. He never gave up, even when he had to fight for his own life instead. His treasure was truly in heaven. He loved Jesus Christ with all his heart, and he loved his family. He was able to hold his first two grandchildren in his arms and look them in the eye. He is happy now and has no more pain or sorrow. He is with his savior.”
I will admit it, I did not always agree with this man. In fact, there were times, when I would read his stuff and I would cringe at some of the things he said. But, then I’d smile and think to myself; he reminds me; of myself. Stang’s writings were a mixture of Conservatism, Conspiracy Theory and Christianity. Some of it, I enjoyed, and some; I just read.
May Brother Allan rest in the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus be with his fine family.
Rest in Peace Allen; Me, Chuck Baldwin, Freedom’s Phoenix and everyone who stands for Freedom….. We will take it from here.
Walter Cronkite, who pioneered and then mastered the role of television news anchorman with such plain-spoken grace that he was called the most trusted man in America, died Friday, his family said. He was 92.
From 1962 to 1981, Mr. Cronkite was a nightly presence in American homes and always a reassuring one, guiding viewers through national triumphs and tragedies alike, from moonwalks to war, in an era when network news was central to many people’s lives.
He became something of a national institution, with an unflappable delivery, a distinctively avuncular voice and a daily benediction: “And that’s the way it is.” He was Uncle Walter to many: respected, liked and listened to. With his trimmed mustache and calm manner, he even bore a resemblance to another trusted American fixture, another Walter — Walt Disney.
Along with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC, Mr. Cronkite was among the first celebrity anchormen. In 1995, 14 years after he retired from the “CBS Evening News,” a TV Guide poll ranked him No. 1 in seven of eight categories for measuring television journalists. (He professed incomprehension that Maria Shriver beat him out in the eighth category, attractiveness.) He was so widely known that in Sweden anchormen were once called Cronkiters.
Yet he was a reluctant star. He was genuinely perplexed when people rushed to see him rather than the politicians he was covering, and even more astonished by the repeated suggestions that he run for office himself. He saw himself as an old-fashioned newsman — his title was managing editor of the “CBS Evening News” — and so did his audience.
My Parents raised me with this sort of a philosophy; if you do not have anything good to say about the dead, say nothing at all.
On a personal note, Mr. Cronkite was a Amateur Radio operator. He held the Novice class license. QRZ.COM has a entry up and Hams from around the world; including yours truly, are remembering him.
As a political blogger, I do not celebrate his politics. As someone who has always admired the news business, I admired him. He hearkens back to era, when there was still an ounce of integrity in journalism itself. Some may disagree with that, but I do not care. It is my opinion and that’s that.
Here’s the memorable footage of him, announcing the death of President John F. Kennedy:
Robert S. McNamara, the former secretary of defense whose record as a leading executive of industry and a chieftain of foreign financial aid was all but erased from public memory by his reputation as the primary architect of U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam, died early this morning at age 93.
Diana McNamara said her husband died at his home in Northwest Washington. She did not give a cause of death.
McNamara was secretary of defense during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In that capacity he directed a U.S. military buildup in Southeast Asia during the critical early years of a Vietnamese conflict that escalated into one of the most divisive and bitter wars in U.S. history. When the war was over, 58,000 Americans were dead and the national social fabric had been torn asunder.
Before taking office as secretary of defense in 1961, McNamara was president of Ford Motor Co. For 13 years after he left the Pentagon in 1968, he was president of the World Bank. He was a brilliant student, a compulsive worker and a skillful planner and organizer, whose manifest talents carried him from modest circumstances in California to the highest levels of the Washington power structure. He was said to have built a record of achievement and dedication in business, government and public service that few of his generation could match.
After his retirement from the bank in 1981, he maintained an exhausting schedule as director or consultant to scores of public and private organizations and was a virtual one-man think tank on nuclear arms issues.
But more than 40 years after the fact, he was remembered almost exclusively for his orchestration of U.S. prosecution of the war in Vietnam, a failed effort by the world’s greatest superpower to prevent a communist takeover of a weak and corrupt ally. For his role in the war, McNamara was vilified by harsh and unforgiving critics, and his entire record was unalterably clouded. For the rest of his life, he would be haunted by the Vietnam ghosts.
No matter one’s opinion of the war. It is no doubt that this man carried the burden of that war with him. He later admitted that he was wrong. But by then, it was too late. He wrote a memoir, that only enraged his critics the more.
I was raised in the tradition that one does not speak evil of the dead. Just bury ‘em and remember the good about them. Mr. McNamara. rest in peace sir. May you find it in death.
His Book:
Update: Taki’s Magazine has an excellent entry on this subject.
A little angel has left the sundry bounds of this world to take her rightful place among the angels. Hanna Garman has lost her battle with cancer. Her Father posted this message on Hanna’s CaringBridge:
Tonight at 5:45 Hannah went home to be with Jesus. She was surrounded by family & passed peacefully. Right now I’m pretty exhausted. It’s been a long day. Please pray for the family & me over this tough time. Darin
Some sad news, that I put off blogging about until now. I was not going to even blog about it. Namely because I did not know a thing about the man. So, I won’t pretend that I do.
Here’s a round up of comments about the passing of Jack Kemp:
“Jack Kemp was a leader – whether it was in a football huddle, a national political campaign or a policy discussion about the Austrian school of economics.
“I first met Jack nearly 40 years ago, during his freshman year in Congress. When he introduced The Jobs Creation Act – a major legislative advance of supply-side economics – I knew I had found an ally. That ally soon became my friend
“Jack was a ‘bleeding-heart conservative.’ He wanted to make it possible for every American to succeed and eagerly worked with people of all races, colors and creeds toward that end.
“Across-the-board tax cuts and ‘enterprise zones’ for blighted neighborhoods are now common economic prescriptions – especially during these hard times. But to make these ideas respectable, Jack had to fight for them constantly during his years in Congress, as Housing and Urban Development secretary, as chairman of a national tax reform commission, and during his presidential and vice presidential campaigns.
“He won those fights, and millions benefited. The tax cuts that Jack helped engineer in the 1980s gave Americans unprecedented prosperity for decades. His commission also boldly proposed a national flat tax. Those policies also helped spread freedom around the world.
“I remember standing with him in Moscow’s Red Square in 1990. The Cold War was starting to thaw, but few even suspected that the Soviet Union’s days were numbered. Jack knew. As we stood on the square, in view of the Kremlin, he pointed out an astonishing sign: The line for the new McDonald’s restaurant was longer than the line for Lenin’s tomb.
“Many people will remember Jack as a great football player – and rightly so. But he was also a great player in the world of ideas, with a mind as strong as his arm. I will miss his strength and friendship greatly.” —Edwin Feulner -President -Heritage Foundation
***
For those of us who came of age politically after Reagan was President, Jack Kemp was, if not Reagan, then the next best thing. He was arguably the most consequential and electric conservative between Reagan and Newt. Had Kemp run for President in 1996, I would have been his first volunteer (I missed ’88). Of course, Kemp’s contributions to the cause of freedom long predated that time, having helped Reagan break the grip of an oppressive marginal tax regime. —Patrick Ruffini – Founder – The Next Right
***
The “Kemp-Roth” tax cuts were at the cornerstone of Ronald Reagan’s early legacy as president and his brand of fiscal conservatism and innovative ideas to spur the entrepreneurial spirit were a huge part of the Republican Party of my formative period. By 1996, when he ran with Bob Dole, has was becoming an outlier in the party because of his relative moderation on social issues like affirmative action (thus the “bleeding-heart” descriptor). – James Joyner – Outside the Beltway
***
As the nation struggles with the trillion-dollar deficits and promises from Democrats to increase the role of government—the very government that got us into this hole in the first place—the ramparts of the free market will not be manned by Jack Kemp. –No Sheeples Here!
***
Jack Kemp, in my mind, was the premier Republican on race relations in American politics. No one spoke to the power of markets and opportunity to empower black Americans as he did. His agenda as HUD Secretary in the first Bush administration would still be light years ahead if its time if applied today. We need more conservatives like him. What a wonderful man, and a great loss to the nation. – Donald Douglas — American Power
***
“A successor to Ronald Reagan who himself has not had a successor. When his cancer was announced earlier this year, Jeff Lord wrote movingly about him and the greatness he had in him. I remember him from several live moments. Once at an American Spectator gala dinner right after the fall of Communism. “Wlady, did you think Vaclav Havel would be president of Czechoslovakia?” he asked from the podium. We always forget what a champion of freedom he was not just at home. Bob Tyrrell had introduced Jack as a perfect specimen of “sound body, sound mind.” Was he ever. I remember him on the floor of the San Diego convention in 1996. He was the announced vice-presidential nominee, basking in adulation and adoring fans. But he shut everyone up around him at that moment, his eyes rapt in attention directed at the podium, where Rep. J.C. Watts was delivering that evening’s keynote. You didn’t mess with Jack when he was in charge. Everyone quickly got quiet and paid attention to Watts too. Jack’s football position was quarterback — but in fact his position was leader. Even at the small Saturday Evening Club dinner he once attended as our guest, where he felt called upon to tell other guests when to come to the table and where to sit. He couldn’t help himself. Wherever man still wants to breathe freely, his memory will remain cherished. Jack Kemp in all his splendid energy will be terribly missed.” — Wlady Pleszczynski – The American Spectator
Kemp had the courage to move beyond the usual issues for conservatives, choosing to work on poverty and housing issues, and challenging his fellow conservatives to make conservatism work across the board. It’s one of the reasons why Kemp will be missed. — Ed Morrissey – HotAir
****
Didn’t agree with him on many core issues, but he was a GOP institution with a wonderful family. – Michelle Malkin
***
At a time when conservatives are trying to find their way ideologically and rhetorically, they would do well to emulate this most happy and principled warrior. He will be greatly missed. — Jennifer Rubin – Commentary Magazine’s Contentions
***
Kemp and those around him liked to explain his political outlook in part by reference to his encounters with racial segregation while a professional football player. Kemp found it stomach-turning that his black teammates were denied whites’ accommodations in the South simply on account of their race. In this, as in much else about him, there is a great deal to admire. It helps to account for the fact that in the 1980s, many were happy to consider ourselves Kemp supporters—and thought him far the best candidate for president in 1988. —Kevin R. C. Gutzman – Taki’s Magazine
So, there you have it. The round up of voices on the man. May He Rest in Peace and My Prayers to the family.
Update: Right on Schedule, The far lefty loons are attacking this man with fury. See here and here. I guess they had to sleep it off first. But, there you go…. The tolerance and civility of the Democrat Party. You see now, why I’ll never vote for another Liberal Democrat? Amazing. 🙄
VIENNA, Va. — David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, was found dead in his Hunter Mill Estates home Wednesday morning in what police say was an apparent suicide.Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings tells WTOP police responded to the Kellermann home after family members dialed 911 at 4:48 a.m.
Sources tell WTOP Kellermann hanged himself.
“We were called from inside the house to come investigate an apparent suicide,” Jennings says.
“We’re not going to give you details of the condition of the body, except to say it was an apparent suicide.”
A medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Police on the scene tell WTOP Kellermann’s body was found on the home’s lower level.
I have sitting here for the past 15 minutes trying to figure out, just what to type about a situation like this. I realize that there are times when I have written some stuff on here, that could be construed as conspiracy and also as hate towards the Democrats; and true I do dislike the Democratic Party’s wholehearted embrace of European socialism in America. However, this situation is nothing more than a personal tragedy.
Like Michelle Malkin, I believe that anyone that would use this tragedy is an excuse to draw a sickening parallel between this and the Vince Foster tragic suicide, and then sit and babble about a rather stupid conspiracy theory; is a heartless and soulless individual. I know, I have been snarky and joked on here about that subject myself. But when it comes to matter such as this, rushing to a conspiracy theory on something such as this; makes everyone that has any sort of Conservative belief system, look like total buffoons. I commend Michelle Malkin for having the wherewithal to stand up and speak out against that sort of nonsense. It’s too bad that the people assisting Malkin run her other Blog; HotAir, were not so inclined to make the same judgement. Some of the comments there, quite frankly, made me want to vomit.
As always when tragedies like this strike, my Prayers go to the families of this man. My God be with them. 🙁
Actor and longtime political activist Ron Silver died this morning, succumbing to a long battle with cancer, friends of the liberal Democrat-turned-GOP stalwart told The Post.
“Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him this morning,” said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped create.
“He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years and his family is making arrangements for a private service.”
Friends of Silver first told Post columnist Cindy Adams of the native New Yorker’s death.
The steely-eyed, blunt-talking Silver, 62, enjoyed a long career on the stage, TV and in movies, and most recently hosted a public affairs talk show on Sirius satellite radio.
I post this because I believe that it is interesting. Alex Jones has always struck me as a kook. Someone amongst the “Tin Foil Hat” crowd. However, it is something interesting to watch.
Enjoy…
What do you think? Do you think that there is any truth to this?
ABC Radio Network spokesman Louis Adams said Harvey died Saturday at his winter home in Phoenix, Ariz., surrounded by family. No cause of death was immediately available.
Harvey, who was born and raised in Tulsa, Okla., was married to the late Lynne Cooper of St. Louis who died less than a year ago. They had one son, Paul Jr.
He was a news commentator and talk-show pioneer whose staccato style made him one of
Paul Harvey - Broadcasting Icon
the country’s most familiar voices. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2005.
Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of “The Rest of the Story,” Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his “News and Comment” for ABC Radio Networks.
In a statement, ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson calls Harvey “one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation’s history.”
He began his radio career in 1933 in Tulsa, while he was still in high school, his Web site said.
Paul Harvey News consisted of more than 1,200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces Network stations that broadcast around the world and 300 newspapers, his biography reported.
A virus that weakened his vocal cord forced him off the air in 2001. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday.
My Grandfather, on my Mom’s side used to listen to Paul Harvey, when she was a little girl. What a loss, a legend in broadcasting is now gone. Harvey was a Conservative, it showed in his broadcasts. Here are two clips of Harvey in his prime from 1963, right before Kennedy was assassinated:
Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.
Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer.
Kitt, a self-proclaimed “sex kitten” famous for her catlike purr, was one of America’s most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.
Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.
[…]
Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.
“You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed,” she told the group of about 50 women. “They rebel in the street. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”
For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.
You do not speak evil of the dead. Just that simple. If this woman is to be remembered for anything at all. It is for having the guts to stand up in the White House and denouce an unconsitutional war. Which is what Vietnam was. I give her props for that. Plainly put, the broad had balls.
May she rest in peace, a true class act, all the way.
Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and first president of The Heritage Foundation, died this morning around 1 a.m. He was 66 years old. Weyrich was a good friend to many of us at Heritage, a true leader and a man of unbending principle. He won Heritage’s prestigious Clare Boothe Luce Award in 2005.
I think, if you’re a Christian, This would be a good time to say a prayer for his family.
I will not lie about it. I did not know the man, or anything about him. But from what I read he was quite the leader. Conservatism, is a bit dimmer today. 🙁
So, I am giving you, the other side of the story, from the horses mouth; without commentary from me.
I did not ask that you agree, I simply ask that you listen and hear this man out. Now I am almost sure, that the Blogs, that I have linked to, will remove my trackback, like the Neo-Con Fascists that they are. I mean, it is all about controlling the message with those guys. 🙄
Here we go:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Media Q & A:
Media Q & A Part 2:
Media Q & A Part 3:
There you have it. The other side of the story. You decide.
May God help this Country if we ever forget what happened on that dreadful and awful day. Let us always reflect on it and remember how the madness of Communism can lead to this. The Liberals should learn from this, but sadly they have embraced that terrible madness, in the form of Modern Day Liberalism, that is basically Communism-lite.
After the attack, A Brave President Addressed the Congress and The Nation:
That Speech, “The Day of Infamy” Speech:
War was declared:
and unlike today… We didn’t have spineless Liberals who do not love America. We had REAL Democrats who saw the Challenge and fought like blood hell and Won.
May the Spirit that was born at Pearl Harbor on this fateful day; never, ever fade away and die. Remember ’41 Always.
I figured she would…. anyhow, Because everyone and their uncle’s brother is talking about it. I guess I’ll follow the herd here. (Walk like a buffalo…..80’s humor, sorry… 😛 )
Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state, making her the public face around the world for the administration of the man who beat her for the Democratic presidential nomination, two confidants said Friday.
Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation. Mr. Obama’s office told reporters Thursday that the nomination is “on track” but Clinton associates only confirmed Friday afternoon that she has decided.
“She’s ready,” said the confidant. Mrs. Clinton was reassured after talking again with Mr. Obama because their first meeting in Chicago last week “was so general,” the confidant said. The purpose of the follow-up talk, he added, was not to extract particular concessions but “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together.
A second Clinton associate confirmed that her camp believes they have a done deal. Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement will be made until after Thanksgiving. But they said they were convinced that the nascent alliance was now ready to be sealed.
Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman, Philippe Reines, issued a statement Friday afternoon cautioning that the nomination is not final. “We’re still in discussions, which are very much on track,” he said. “Any reports beyond that are premature.”
I am, without apology or any sort of repentance, a diehard Jimi Hendrix fan. I just received word from my mom, that the last of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience has died.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s and the group’s last surviving member, was found dead in his hotel room early Wednesday. He was 61.
Mitchell was a powerful force on the Hendrix band’s 1967 debut album “Are You Experienced?” as well as the trio’s albums “Electric Ladyland” and “Axis: Bold As Love.” He had an explosive drumming style that can be heard in hard-charging songs such as “Fire” and “Manic Depression.”
The Englishman had been drumming for the Experience Hendrix Tour, which performed Friday in Portland. It was the last stop on the West Coast part of the tour.
Hendrix died in 1970. Bass player Noel Redding died in 2003.
An employee at Portland’s Benson Hotel called police after discovering Mitchell’s body.
Erin Patrick, a deputy medical examiner, said Mitchell apparently died of natural causes. An autopsy was planned.
“He was a wonderful man, a brilliant musician and a true friend,” said Janie Hendrix, chief executive of the Experience Hendrix Tour and Jimi Hendrix’ stepsister. “His role in shaping the sound of the Jimi Hendrix Experience cannot be underestimated.”
Bob Merlis, a spokesman for the tour, said Mitchell had stayed in Portland for a four-day vacation and planned to leave Wednesday.
“It was a devastating surprise,” Merlis said. “Nobody drummed like he did.”
He said he saw Mitchell perform two weeks ago in Los Angeles, and the drummer appeared to be healthy and upbeat.
Merlis said the tour was designed to bring together veteran musicians who had known Hendrix — like Mitchell — and younger artists, such as Grammy-nominated winner Jonny Lang, who have been influenced by him.
Blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who is 31 and was part of the tour, said Mitchell was to the drums what Hendrix was to the guitar.
“Today many of us have lost a dear friend, and the world has lost a rock n’ roll hero,” he said.
Mitchell was a one-of-a-kind drummer whose “jazz-tinged” style was influenced by Max Roach and Elvin Jones, Merlis said. The work was a vital part of both the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the 1960s and the Experience Hendrix Tour that ended last week, he said.
“If Jimi Hendrix were still alive,” Merlis said, “he would have acknowledged that.”
During his career Mitchell played with the best in the business — not just Hendrix, but also Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Keith Richards, Jack Bruce, Jeff Beck, Muddy Waters and others.
Mitchell performed with Hendrix and Redding at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, the U.S. debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He also was member of a later version of the band that performed the closing set of the Woodstock Festival in August 1969 — where Hendrix played a psychedelic version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the band launched into “Purple Haze.”
The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1992. According to the Hall of Fame, Mitchell was born July 9, 1947, in Ealing, England.
Terry Stewart, chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, said Mitchell transformed his instrument from a “strictly percussive element to a lead instrument.”
“His interplay with Jimi Hendrix’s guitar on songs like ‘Fire’ is truly amazing,” Stewart said Wednesday. “Mitch Mitchell had a massive influence on rock ‘n’ roll drumming and took it to new heights.”
Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell held their first rehearsal in October 1966, according to the Hall of Fame’s Web site.
In an interview last month with the Boston Herald, Mitchell said he met Hendrix “in this sleazy little club.”
“We did some Chuck Berry and took it from there,” Mitchell told the newspaper. “I suppose it worked.”
Mitch Mitchell, the innovative drummer who anchored the Jimi Hendrix Experience, has died at the age of 62. Mitchell passed away on November 12 in Portland, Oregon of natural causes. The London native had completed an 18 city American tour as a featured performer with Experience Hendrix, a series concert series celebrating the legacy of Jimi Hendrix featuring an all-star line-up of artists including his one-time Hendrix bandmate and dear friend Billy Cox. Other performers on the tour included Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, Robby Krieger of the Doors, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam as well as members of Los Lobos and others. Portland was the tour’s last stop and Mitchell had been staying in town for some vacation time before his planned return to England.
Janie Hendrix, CEO of Experience Hendrix, LLC commented, “We’re all devastated to hear of Mitch’s passing. He was a wonderful man, a brilliant musician and a true friend. His role in shaping the sound of the Jimi Hendrix Experience cannot be underestimated. Over the course of the recent tour, he seemed delighted with the interchange with the other musicians and the audiences. There is no question that he was doing what he loved.”
Mitchell began working with Experience Hendrix, the family owned company established by James “Al” Hendrix shortly after its inception. He had been featured in many of the documentaries and programs issued by the company over the years.
Before signing on as the drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mitchell had built a reputation through his work with The Pretty Things, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames and had been one of the top session drummers of the time starting at the age of 14. His drumming technique was an amalgam of rock and jazz styles as he was heavily influenced by the likes of Elvin Jones and Max Roach. He joined the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966 and performed with Hendrix and bassist Noel Redding at their US debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967. He was also, most notably, part of the later version of the Jimi Hendrix Experience that included Billy Cox who performed the closing set of the Woodstock Festival on August 18, 1969. Following the death of Jimi Hendrix in 1970, Mitchell worked with producer Eddie Kramer in completing work on both The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge albums.
Prior to his music career, Mitchell was a noted child actor who starred in the TV series Jennings At School as well as numerous feature films. After falling in love with American jazz, blues and rock ‘n’ roll, he abandoned acting and devoted the rest of his life to music.
Mitchell was part of a super group known as “The Dirty Mac” that appeared in the 1968 TV special The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus joining with John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. He later recorded and performed with bands including Ramatam as well as with Terry Reid, Cream’s Jack Bruce, Jeff Beck, Junior Brown and others. Mitchell is survived by his mother, his wife of 24 years, a daughter and two grand children.
Some videos in honor of Mitch:
An interview from the Movie “A Film About Jimi Hendrix” from 1973″:
There was an amazing ability of Mitch’s and that was to be able to follow Jimi Hendrix. Believe me when I tell you, that was no easy task; especially after the experience broke up and he did his new thing. Where Buddy Miles was more rough and tumble or the “Cement Mixer” type of a drummer, Mitch was elegant, a more formally trained drummer that seemed to always know what Jimi wanted.
So, they’re all gone now, Jimi, Noel, Mitch and Buddy… Only one left is Billy Cox. God be with him. All we have left is the music and the memories. I can speak for myself, Jimi’s Music, which included Mitch’s and Buddy’s and Noel’s Music; touched my life greatly. They broke doors down, took music to whole new level. They just don’t build them like that anymore.
Life is too damned short, and right now Dean Barnett’s family and friends are going through hell. I hope they are able to cope, and I am going to call my parents and tell them I love them and then hug my cat. I suggest you do the same thing with the ones you love. This whole racket is just way too short, and at times is a cruel hoax. Forty-one is just way too damned young.
At times, Life is a hoax and throws us a curve like this. If you read this John, thanks for the decency. I think everyone should be little more like this. It could only help our current political divisions. After all Politics is not our actual real lives. I mean, it is one thing to bitch and rant on a Blog about the politics of the day, but real life is another.
I mean, it is tough at times, we full time Bloggers, like John and I, we wrap ourselves into this so deeply. It does help sometimes to pull back from the laptop and take a inventory of what’s around you and take time to smell the roses.
There are many things that I could write about this man. Most of it has already been written by writers who get paid a hell of a lot more money than me. Paul Newman; The name itself evokes images of a rebel. It also conjures up other images; Quality, integrity, Living what you believe, having the guts to stand up for what you believe in and just being a man.
Paul Newman was the real deal, he lived what he believed. He established a camp for children who are on their last dime in life. He knew the pain, he lost one of his own kids to a drug overdose in 1978. This was Newman’s way of making making someone else’s life a little brighter in a time of terrible suffering. Newman answered the call to War in the 1940’s. In short, he was, in fact, a part of the greatest generation ever. I do not believe that it would be an embellishment of truth to say that Newman was, in fact, an FDR Democrat.
I do not claim to be a movie fanatic or someone who watches lots of movies. But the name Paul Newman has always been a part of the actors of whom I highly respect. Unlike some of the people that reside in this thing we call the Blogosphere, I do not go around wearing my damn politics on my sleeve and I do have more respect than some as well. Yes, Paul Newman was, in fact, a Democrat. He was of the old school Democratic Party, before it became enjoined at the hip to Communist Socialism. From that old school came another great actor, who would go on to be one of our greatest Presidents, Ronald Reagan.
Put your gun down Butch and rest a while. God knows, you’ve earned it.
May he rest in peace and my God be with his family.
LONDON (AP) — Richard Wright, a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died Monday. He was 65.
Pink Floyd’s spokesman, Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member’s family did not want to give more details about his death.
Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965.
The group’s jazz-infused rock and drug-laced multimedia ”happenings” made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene, and their 1967 album, ”The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” was a hit.
In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Barrett, was seen as the group’s dominant musical force. The London-born musician and son of a biochemist wrote songs and played the keyboard.
”Rick’s keyboards were an integral park of the Pink Floyd sound,” said Joe Boyd, a prominent record producer who worked with Pink Floyd early in its career.
This indeed is very sad news. I’ve listened to Pink Floyd for years.
You know, I know that this Blog is mainly about politics. But this one is more personal to me. Whenever a writer, irregardless of his political stance, dies. I always feel horrible about it. Yes, it bothers me to see when another pen is silenced in this trade.
The La Times, The AP, and The New York Observer are all reporting that writer David Fostor Wallace has committed suicide. He died from hanging himself. His wife discovered him upon returning to her house. He was only 46 years old.
Quoting the New York Observer:
Infinite Jest author David Foster Wallace is dead of an apparent suicide, according to reports from the Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times and others.
According to AP:
Wallace’s wife found her husband had hanged himself when she returned home about 9:30 p.m. Friday, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont Police Department.
Wallace taught creative writing and English at nearby Pomona College.
Mr. Wallace, who received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 1997, just saw the release of McCain’s Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express David Foster Wallace, a book-length expansion of his 2000 campaign report about Republican presidential nominee John McCain. A film version of his book Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is in production with The Office‘s John Krasinski adapting and directing.
The La Times Says:
Gary Kates, the college’s dean, called Wallace’s death “an incredible loss.”
“He was a fabulous teacher,” Kates said Saturday. “He was hands-on with his students. He cared deeply about them. . . . He was a jewel on the faculty, and we deeply appreciated everything he gave to the college.”
In addition to his wife, Karen Green, and his parents, Wallace is survived by a sister.
A memorial service is planned at Pomona College.
My heart breaks for his family. I cannot being to fathom the loss that his wife, parents and siblings are feeling. My thoughts and prayers are with this man’s family during this horrible time of loss. God Bless them.
Like I said, Politics is one thing, but a human life is another. It’s something that we do not value anymore. May this man truly rest in the peace that he was searching for.
believed that he died from an epileptic seizure that he regularly suffered from. Sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We’ll have more details as they become available.
Wallace’s first writers before Wallace became a fixture of “60 Minutes” and went toe-to-toe in the ratings against Larry King, when the two hosted competing radio shows in Los Angeles. Stang boasted that despite broadcasting on a station of significantly less power, his program drew twice as many listeners as King’s.
