Rolling Obituary Thread 2024

Peter Higgs, who has a subatomic particle named after him

well at least having a sub-atomic particle named after him should provide his loved ones with a quantum of solace

bdum and tish

Patti Astor, nyc no wave scene maker Fun gallery owner no wave cinema actress etc.

Hmm, didn't know all this about Ed Piskor.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/arts/ed-piskor-dies-comics-hip-hop-family-tree.html

Yeah more than a few of the encomia over the past few days are a bit...I don't want to say tone-deaf, but.

I mean obviously it's sad he apparently took his own life. But seems like a bad situation all around. (I did like his work! At least the selections I've read from the Hip-Hop Family Tree.)

I don't envy anyone having to write his obituary tbh. There's actual grieving friends and family, there's his victims, there's the fact that the suicide letter was an explicit attack on said victims.

Patti Astor, nyc no wave scene maker Fun gallery owner no wave cinema actress etc.

Geez, I was at a movie Monday night in which she's interviewed a few times: Make Me Famous, a documentary on Edward Brezinski.

Goddard College

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-10/progressive-vermont-college-to-close-after-facing-insolvency

gotta love this headline:

Phish Members’ Alma Mater in Vermont to Shut

Should just rebrand as a Phish museum or something and pull in cash.

RIP Trina Robbins: https://www.comicsbeat.com/feminist-cartoonist-historian-and-activist-trina-robbins-has-died/

RIP Trina. A titan

^^^

OJ Simpson
https://www.tmz.com/2024/04/11/oj-simpson-dead-dies-cancer/

see you in hell

rip oj simpson

RIP takes on a different meaning with that guy

rest in piss

I mean, obviously his whole saga is more complex than that - that epic documentary series from a few years back nailed how his story touched upon so many ruptures of injustice in America, how flawed a man he was even though he was celebrated as an exemplar. But definitely fuck this guy.

Here's hoping TV runs a "Naked Gun" movie in tribute.

ok seeing cancer

i was wondering whether it wasnt a stretcher falls down multiple sets of steps before catapulting into a burning building accident

lol

Or a low speed car crash.

Robert MacNeil

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/04/12/robert-macneil-dead-newshour/

Weirdly, MacNeil and Jim Lehrer were both present at JFK's assassination

Oh so that's the conspiracy

They keep knocking off witnesses don’t they

I heard an interview with Lehrer years ago, and while he doesn't necessarily believe in conspiracy theories, he said he heard a shot coming from the grassy hill.. he conceded that it may have been a trick of acoustics, but he remembered turning to look in that direction

Roberto Cavalli, fashion designer.

Worlds oldest conjoined twins George and Lori Schappell

hopefully both of them

yes, both of them.

i know nothing about them at all but i hope they had a happy life

Quite an eventful life, sounds pretty good - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_and_George_Schappell

my gosh, glad they made the most of the tough hand they were dealt

Eleanor Coppola, 87. My Blu-Ray set of Apocalypse Now includes Hearts of Darkness as a bonus disc.

Mister Cee

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/arts/music/mister-cee-dj-dead.html

I'm not sure Hearts Of Darkness isn't a better movie than Apocalypse Now

Makes a great double feature with Burden of Dreams.

rico wade of organized noize and the dungeon family, 52

A lot about Eleanor Coppola in Sam Wesson's Coppola book.

Wasson...

this is a good tribute. i want to give a shout-out to the companion book to The Story of English series that PBS/MacNeil did in 1986. that book taught me a lot. even if i have forgotten it all now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LKupNgYU4M

i love that Jim Lehrer famously never voted in his time doing the news. so that he could stay impartial.

Journalists not voting to remain impartial is seriously old school - it used to be common amongst Golden Age anchor/news people.

Faith Ringgold

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/13/arts/faith-ringgold-dead.html?smid=url-share

Deadly Derek dead.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/15/derek-underwood-outstanding-england-cricket-spinner-dies-aged-78

The not-voting thing seems especially dumb these days. This quote from Peter Baker of the NYT (from 2020) sounds like someone trying to contort himself into never feeling empathy.

"I try hard not to take strong positions on public issues even in private, much to the frustration of friends and family. For me, it’s easier to stay out of the fray if I never make up my mind, even in the privacy of the kitchen or the voting booth, that one candidate is better than another, that one side is right and the other wrong."