In Memoriam
Total 1571 Posts
Mary Travers was 72. She was the female component of the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, known for their hits "Puff (The Magic Dragon)", the civil rights anthem "If I Had a Hammer" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind".
Patrick Swayze was 57. He was the actor best-known for his roles as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries, and as romantic leading men in the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost. Sure, he showed up in some great flicks, but it's this song I'll be revisiting tonight.
Jim Carroll was 60. He was a former drug addict turned prolific poet and writer of The Basketball Diaries.
Larry Gelbart was 81. He the award-winning writer whose sly, sardonic wit helped create such hits as Broadway's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," the films "Tootsie" and "Oh, God!" and television's "M*A*S*H". "M*A*S*H" is one of my first favourite
Sam Etcheverry was 79. He was the legendary quarterback who led the Montreal Alouettes to three Grey Cup appearances in the 1950s then later coached them to CFL title.
Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein was 36. He was a member of the rock band Crazy Town, known for their hit "Butterfly", and a recent collaborator with Travis Barker of Blink 182. Here's DJ AM and Barker doing a drum remix of the NFL on Fox theme for Super Bowl XLII.
Dominick Dunne was 83 He was the former Hollywood producer and best-selling author known for his Vanity Fair essays on the courtroom travails of the rich and famous.
Ted Kennedy was 77. He was the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics known as the “lion of the Senate” who 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
Political columnist Robert Novak, a diehard conservative, pugilistic debater and proud owner of the "Prince of Darkness" monikor, died today at the age of 78. That's a convenient excuse to share Frank Zappa's 1986 appearance on CNN's Crossfire, a show co-hosted by Novak. I first saw this clip a couple
Ted "Teeder" Kennedy was 83. He won five Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs during a Hall of Fame career in which he scored 231 goals and 329 assists for 560 points in 696 regular-season games, as well as 29 goals and 31 assists for 60 points in 78
Les Paul was 94. He helped revolutionize popular music with his innovations on the guitar and in the recording studio. He is credited with developing one of the first solid-body electric guitars, which went on sale in 1952 and contributed to the birth of rock.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver was 88. She was the sister of President Kennedy and a champion of the disabled who founded the Special Olympics.
Mike Seeger was 75. He was a leading figure in the 20th century resurgence of American traditional music and a noted field collector of rural southern music. You might know his brother Pete. Here's Mike Seeger performing "Walking Boss" in the Smithsonian Folkways Studio.
John Hughes was 59. He was the director of iconic coming-of-age movies "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." If you're around my age, you really did come of age watching his flicks. Seriously, he was the guy in the 1980s. Here are my favourite John Hughes
Corazon Aquino was 76. She was the former Philippines president who swept away a dictator with a "people power" revolt and then sustained democracy by fighting off seven coup attempts in six years.
Mark Leduc was 47. He was the Canadian boxer who earned a silver medal in the 139-lb light welterweight class at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and was one of the few athletes in his sport to come out as a homosexual.
Frank McCourt was 78. He's the Pulitzer Prize-winning author best known as the author of Angela's Ashes.
Walter Cronkite was 92. He covered the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam war and Watergate. He was an icon in broadcast journalism "and that's the way it is".
Arturo "Thunder" Gatti was 37. He was a former junior welterweight boxing champion from Montreal.
I'm not sure how to write this one, so I'm just going to tell you what I know. As a long time fan of CFNY / Edge 102, I was sad to learn recently that Martin Streek had been fired after over 20 years of service. As of this writing, that
Steve "Air" McNair was 36. He quarterbacked the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens to success in the National Football League, winning the NFL MVP award in 2003 and starting Super Bowl XXXIV. I really liked Air McNair's game. He, of course, was the Titans QB during the Music City Miracle
Karl Malden was 97. He starred in the 1970s TV series "The Streets of San Francisco", won an Oscar playing his Broadway-originated role as Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire," and made famous the American Express catchphrase "Don't leave home without it."
Billy Mays was 50. He was the burly, bearded television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean. When I read that Billy Mays had passed away, I asked myself a simple question. Who's Billy Mays? I hit up YouTube and didn't recognize his
I loved the Thriller album. We had that on vinyl and cassette, and I eventually had to get a second cassette because it got played so often. Thriller was one of my first favourite albums. To this day I'll put on "Billie Jean" or "Human Nature", the two tracks from
Farrah Fawcett was 62. Her luxurious tresses and blinding smile helped redefine sex appeal in the 1970s as one of TV’s "Charlie’s Angels." Let's face it, in 50 years we'll have forgotten she was one of Charlie's Angels and she'll only be remembered for her iconic “red swimsuit”
