Wednesday, February 29, 2012

RIP Davy Jones


His publicist, Helen Kensick, said the singer died in Indiantown, Fla., where he lived.
With an infectious smile and easy humor, the diminutive Briton played the Paul McCartney role in the Beatles-inspired quartet, which also included Peter Tosh, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith.
Jones sang lead on some of the group's biggest hits, including Last Train to Clarksville and I'm a Believer.
Jones, who like his bandmates had continued to perform, had dates scheduled for March.
Formed in 1966 by Hollywood producers Bob Rafelsonand Bert Schneider, The Monkess quickly stormed radio and TV airwaves with a string of chart-topping songs that went on to sell an estimated 65 million copies worldwide.
"There were certain indelible images we had of The Monkees, and that was Mike's cap, Micky's goofy looks and Davy's cuteness," says Phil Gallo, senior correspondent at Billboard. "Of all of them, Davy's character was the softest. He was the nice guy, the crowd pleaser."
Gallo recalls being a kid in the 1960s, "collecting Batman cards, then graduating to Monkees cards, way before I got into baseball cards. They were the very first boy band, when you think about it."
Jones was born Dec. 30, 1945, in Manchester, England. His long hair and British accent helped him achieve heartthrob status in the United States.
According to The Monkees website, Monkees.com, he left the band in late 1970. In the summer of 1971, he recorded a solo hit Rainy Jane and made a series of appearances on American variety and television shows, including Love American Style and The Brady Bunch.
By the mid-1980s, Jones teamed up Tork, Dolenz and promoter David Fishof for a reunion tour. Their popularity prompted MTV to re-air The Monkees series, introducing the group to a new audience.
In 1989, the group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the late 1990s, the group filmed a special called Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees.
Jones is survived by his wife Jessica and four daughters from previous marriages
.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

RIP Tom Brady's Mentor


Brady: Martinez’s legacy will live on forever

T. Brady T. Martinez
Tom Brady’s longtime mentor Tom Martinezpassed away Tuesday at the age of 66. Brady, who continued to get counseled by Martinez through the 2011 season, released a statement Wednesday through his Facebook page:
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my coach, mentor and friend. Coach Martinez’s invaluable assistance and support will never be forgotten and will always have a lasting impact on my life. The time we spent together remain some of my fondest memories. His legacy of commitment, toughness and determination will live on forever,” Brady said.
Martinez died of a heart attack suffered during a dialysis session. A feature on the pregame show of the Super Bowl detailed how close Brady and Martinez were to this day. Martinez worked extensively with Brady during the lockout and called after every game this season to provide feedback.
Martinez is best known for his work with Brady, but he was also a coach at the College of San Mateo in California. Martinez’s teams won 32 championships in football, softball, and women’s basketball.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

RIP owner of the Golden Pineapple


So of course this doesn't actually have any bearing on the Death Pool (by the way, no one had Whitney Houston), but I thought it was nice that someone owned a place called the Golden Pineapple. 



Owner of The Golden Pineapple Passes Away

Barbra Yakimchick Zimnoch, a long-time Great Falls resident and business owner, passed away on Feb. 7. For 31 years she owned and operated The Golden Pineapple in the Great Falls Village Center. Prior to that, she owned a gift shop at Lake Anne in Reston.
photo
Barbra Yakimchick Zimnoch
Zimnoch is survived by her four children, Rosemary Maione, Theresa Zimnoch, Kara Fleshner and Gary Zimnoch and three grandchildren, Lindsay Bree Gonzaba, Nicholas Anthony Gonzaba and Gundrun Grace Fleshner. She leaves behind a husband, Gabriel S. Zimnoch, whom she married in 1963.
The Golden Pineapple was known as much for Barbara’s personality as it was for the store’s offerings. She created an atmosphere in the store where people could come by to stay a while and talk. She was a social woman who forged lifelong friendships with many of her customers. "It was always a laugh of some sort and the story of the day when I stopped in," customer and friend Jackie Esch said. "She knew the community so well and she was there for everyone. She will be remembered for her warmth, kindness and generosity," Esch said.
Her children remember a woman who deeply loved Great Falls and especially enjoyed children. "My mom always loved sitting on the porch at Halloween passing out candy to the thousands of kids. She watched so many grow up and loved when they visited. My mom knew the town and its people," said her daughter Theresa.
Settling in Great Falls was a joy to Zimnoch, who had traveled the world as a child. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii during the tumultuous times of Pearl Harbor. When she came to the mainland United States she lived in Kentucky, Texas, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee and Rhode Island before Virginia. But once she took up residence in Great Falls she did so with gusto. She became quite involved with the town not just through her business but was active in several civic organizations and the Republican Women’s Committee in Great Falls.
Though a life-long Republican, she had an affinity for one Democrat, John F. Kennedy. They both attended Holy Trinity Church back when he was in Congress. She had a beautiful singing voice and was a part of the choir. After service one day she found his hymn book with his name and address written in it. She went to his house to return it and Kennedy thanked her and told her he remembered her and thought she had an angelic voice.
Zimnoch was a multifaceted woman who did everything from knit to ride horses. Social graces were important to Zimnoch who, though not raised in the South, felt that manners and a well tended garden were prime attributes for a woman.
Many homes throughout Great Falls are decorated with pieces bought at The Golden Pineapple. The store’s Christmas and Easter selections were legendary. Holiday decorating was one of Zimnoch's favorite pastimes.
Zimnoch loved to laugh and shared her laughter with others. She loved the symphony, mystery novels, Clay Aiken, crime shows and the Redskins. A private celebration of her life will be held later this year by her family.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

RIP Zelda Kaplan

  • Socialite Keels Over in the Middle of a Fashion Show in the Front Row







Zelda Kaplan, the hard-partying 95-year-old socialite who has been a fixture of the New York scene since the '60s, collapsed right in the middle of the Joanna Mastroianni fashion show at Lincoln Center yesterday, just as the second model walked past her. She was later pronounced dead. This is the first time a fashion show has literally been deadly boring.
Kaplan was removed by security (image below) and the show kept going on. She was seated next to nearly immortal gossip dowager Cindy Adams, and we're lucky that the grim reaper didn't decide to go two-for-one at fashion week. Kaplan was taken to the hospital but passed due to natural causes.
She was well-known for her distinctive African look (as well as her charitable ventures on the continent) as well as continuing to go to fashion shows and hit social events long after most people would have put on their comfortable shoes and stayed at home watching reruns of Matlockon the Hallmark Channel. Legend goes that Kaplan was a housewife in New Jersey when she got sick of the married life and moved to Manhattan so she could attend every club opening, art party, and fashion soiree that she could—and there must have been thousands over her long career. For Kaplan, it seems like there was no other way she was going to go then while out on the town.
[Top images via Getty, secondary image via AP]

Source: Gawker 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

OMG, RIP Whitney Houston

So late in reporting this news! (Maybe Mrs. H was on to something with the monthly posts....)

WHITNEY HOUSTON has died. Boom. Just like that, in a bathtub in Hollywood. Pills, probably, as reports are coming out that say that drowning wasn't a possibility due to lack of water in her lungs.

So that's pretty shitty. Stay off drugs, kids. Seriously.

But, in memory of the beautiful Whitney Houston, I offer you this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA2F4hzP5d4

Thursday, February 2, 2012

RIP...

Other recent deaths include singer David Peaston and sister of Aaron and Nick Carter, Leslie Carter, dead of an apparent drug overdose.

RIP Mike Kelley


Bloomberg

L.A. Police Investigate Sudden Death of Artist Mike Kelley

3
(Adds possible cause of death in second paragraph.)

(For more Bloomberg Muse, click on MUSE <GO>.)

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Mike Kelley, an artist whose work incorporated stuffed animal toys, sculpture, props and painting along with performance and music, was found dead Tuesday night in his South Pasadena, California home. He was 57.
Police in South Pasadena said that the death was an apparent suicide. Lieutenant Fred Corral, with the investigation division at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, said a toxicology report would take six to eight weeks to confirm the cause of death.
"He is one of the leading and most influential artists," said Helene Winer, partner in New York's Metro Pictures gallery, where Kelley had his first New York solo exhibition in 1982 and showed over the next two decades. Kelley, she added, "broke down the distinctions between different forms of art. He was very intense, had a lot of energy, was extremely serious and very productive."
News of Kelley's death spread quickly through the global contemporary art world.
"His suicide came as a complete shock to me," said artist John Miller, who met Kelley in 1978, when both were students at the California Institute of the Arts. "I haven't felt this way since 9/11. There is a sense of unreality. He is one of the most loyal friends I've ever had."
Miller said he spoke with Kelley on the telephone a week ago, and that Kelley had referred to problems he was having since his work began to bring him fame and money.

Awkward Success

"There was a whole complex of things at play," Miller said. "Coping with his own recognition and success was part of it. He didn't like situations when he stood out as a celebrity, even though he was a performer.
"He's always been a bit of a workaholic in terms of production," Miller said. "He kept raising the bar and it stopped being fun."
While an undergraduate art student at the University of Michigan, the Detroit native was a founding member of Destroy All Monsters, a music and performance art collective. Kelley's work appeared on the cover for Sonic Youth's 1992 album, "Dirty."
Kelley's works are included in some 30 public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. He had been invited to participate in the 2012 Whitney Biennial in New York. It will mark his seventh appearance in the high-profile show, the Whitney said.
His top price at auction is $2.7 million, for a room-size installation of stuffed creatures. It belonged to hedge fund manager Adam Sender, who put it up for sale at Phillips de Pury in November, 2006.

(Katya Kazakina is a reporter for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News.)



--Editors: Jeremy Gerard, Daniel Billy.
Source below:

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/02/bloomberg_articlesLYQKAL1A1I4H01-LYR2L.DTL#ixzz1lGdzmKo1