Passages

[Robin Davies]

Tom Verlaine passed from cancer. It hasn’t been reported yet. A friend of mine is a friend of Verlaine’s friend.

Television is one of my favorite bands

Very sad news. His solo albums deserve more attention.
Breakin' in my Heart is my all-time favourite song by anyone ever.

[hearthesilence]

Tom Verlaine passed from cancer. It hasn’t been reported yet. A friend of mine is a friend of Verlaine’s friend.

Television is one of my favorite bands

Oh man, what a gut punch. I love Television, but for whatever reason, I've never caught any of their shows, which I severely regret.

Love all three of their studio albums (the debut is obviously one of THE great albums), and their bootlegs are priceless.

It has now been reported... Variety

I caught the show at The Academy (which is no longer around) in 1992. Not sure if that was the show that was used to record the live album from that time. My friend thinks it was. It was a terrific show

This is crazy. I found this. Set lists from all bands that played at The Academy over it's six years. Television's included

It feels like the news is spreading very slowly, but I imagine it's because it's a weekend and that Verlaine wasn't a household name among mainstream celebrities.

That live album (and probably the same show) really is awesome. It's frustrating that it's only available as a CD-R. All the songs from their third album sound even better on that live album, and IIRC Richard Lloyd prefers all those songs live too - he was never happy with how that album was mixed and recorded.

I was actually hoping Richard Lloyd would join Television for another tour someday (he left in 2007), but those hopes kind of faded after reading some interviews that made his departure understandable. For starters, they recorded an album's worth of new material, but it's all instrumental because Verlaine either couldn't or wouldn't come up with any lyrics and therefore didn't sing at all. Who knows if it'll ever get released, but Lloyd has a copy and was frustrated that it went to waste.

Regardless, never saw Television in any incarnation. Every time I went to the Strand, I always wondered if Verlaine was there since I'd be going through the bargain racks as well.

Very sad news. His solo albums deserve more attention.
Breakin' in my Heart is my all-time favourite song by anyone ever.

Oh yeah. I still need to check out his later ones, but four of his first five are great albums IMHO (the debut, Dreamtime, Cover and Flash Light), and the highly uneven Words from the Front still has some classics including one of his very best songs, "Postcards from Waterloo." I scooped them up during the pandemic and even tracked down that two-CD anthology The Miller's Tale which includes a really great live disc.

I love the early Television version of "Breakin' in My Heart" as well - very different - but the one on the debut is essentially the greatest supergroup EVER: prior to that recording, all four instrumentalists had been full-time members of Television, the Patti Smith Group, Blondie and the B-52's. And the results are glorious.

I'm still tracking down a lossless copy of the debut's "original" mix which was accidentally released on CD before being withdrawn. Some bootlegs dubbed from vinyl test pressings circulate, but the withdrawn CD was transferred from the original master tape. Bob Clearmountain's mix is good, but I think Verlaine's mix (which his label rejected) holds up better.

[Drucker]

HTS--what is this original mix you speak of?

[L.A.]

Barrett Strong, Motown Artist and Temptations Songwriter, Dead at 81

[hearthesilence]

Barrett Strong, Motown Artist and Temptations Songwriter, Dead at 81

Detroit Free Press has a good write-up. I only have a passing familiarity of who did what on Motown - it was really was an amazing team they put together at that label during its Detroit heyday, both in scope and efficiency - so I didn't realize he walked away after getting Motown's first big hit, basically disillusioned with the life of a working/touring singer, and then came back to a very different era as a songwriter, all the more impressive given how his songs (co-written with writing partner Norman Whitfield) helped define that time for Motown.

[hearthesilence]

HTS--what is this original mix you speak of?

Wikipedia can explain it better than me:

The album was originally mixed by Verlaine, but this mix was rejected by Elektra Records. Bob Clearmountain subsequently remixed the album, and it was this version that was released by Elektra in 1979. In 2002, a CD reissue by Collectors' Choice Music inadvertently used the earlier, rejected mix for initial pressings fulfilled by mail order; this was subsequently replaced with the approved Clearmountain mix by the time the CD was made available through traditional retail channels.

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC Verlaine approved of Clearmountain's mix, even years after the fact, so it's probably unfair to knock it too much as a compromise, but for my own tastes, I like hearing the album raw with less polish.

[Aunt Peg]

Lisa Loring, 64, the original Wednesday Addams: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... -at-age-64

[Lemmy Caution]

Barrett Strong, Motown Artist and Temptations Songwriter, Dead at 81

There was so much talent in Detroit at that time, back when DET was a major city and the automotive capital. Besides all the local kids who became Motown stars and Aretha, The Falcons -- mentioned briefly as talent show pals of Barrett Strong -- featured Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett & Mack Rice (of Mustang Sally fame), and were important in the transition from R&B to soul from 1957-63. (You're So Fine; I Found a Love, etc)

As for the song Money, Janie Bradford was a Motown receptionist and songwriter who reportedly contributed the line "your love gives me such a thrill, but your love don't pay my bills" leading Berry Gordy to give her co-writing credit. Which makes it odd that Barrett Strong would be cut out if he created the main riff and song foundation. The song Money paid a lot of Bradford's bills for decades.
Bradford also wrote Marvin Gaye's hit Too Busy Thinking About My Baby, among other songs.

As for Barrett Strong's singing career, he put out some good soul. I'd rec Yes No, Maybe So, which has a New Orleans soul/R&B flavor, like something by Ernie K-do or Chris Kenner. While Make Up Your Mind sounds like a cross between The Impressions and Bobby Blue Bland. Good stuff.

[colinr0380]

Annie Wersching, who played a character in seasons 7 and 8 of 24 who managed the impressive feat of being even more torture-happy than Jack Bauer (but driven crazier by it), but who perhaps had the strongest impact by voicing the character of Tess in the opening section of The Last of Us game being the first in a series of supporting characters whose stories come and go, framing the journey of the main characters as they progress through the landscape (EDIT: Actually second, as I forgot about the daughter in the Prologue section!)

[flyonthewall2983]

Showtime

[fiendishthingy]

Cindy Williams

[therewillbeblus]

Cindy Williams

Ever since I saw it as a kid, her authentic performance in American Graffiti was always its standout attribute. I've come to believe that film is a masterpiece for a variety of reasons, but she's still the most memorable spoke in the wheel - a timelessly-relatable persona of youth

[hearthesilence]

Louise Harrison Caldwell, the older sister of The Beatles’ George Harrison, at age 91.

[Never Cursed]

Gawker, again

[CSM126]

Leapin’ Lanny Poffo, talented professional wrestler fated to be forever overshadowed by his brother, “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

Also somewhat notable for famously collecting a six figure salary from World Championship Wrestling for years without ever once being asked to actually work. Because that was WCW in a nutshell.

[hearthesilence]

Melinda Dillon, who received a 1963 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in the original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles as Jillian Guiler in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Teresa Perrone in Absence of Malice.

[beamish14]

Melinda Dillon, who received a 1963 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in the original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles as Jillian Guiler in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Teresa Perrone in Absence of Malice.

A wonderful screen presence who bowed out of the business very quietly some years ago. I love her in Bound for Glory

[therewillbeblus]

She’s good at playing mothers. I always think of her familiarly stressed-stoic maternal demeanor in A Christmas Story and Magnolia before Close Encounters even if she’s arguably my favorite part of that movie

[Feego]

She’s good at playing mothers. I always think of her familiarly stressed-stoic maternal demeanor in A Christmas Story and Magnolia before Close Encounters even if she’s arguably my favorite part of that movie

She really is wonderful in A Christmas Story, and I think in light of the various antics and quotable lines, many overlook her warm presence as the sometimes wacky but strong glue that keeps her two children and manchild husband grounded. One of my favorite moments in the film is when she cunningly plays off Ralphie's fight so that the dad won't get mad. She also plays a long-suffering wife and mom in a 1985 episode of The Twilight Zone, in which she finds a stop watch that can stop time and bring her much needed peace.

[fdm]

Schlomo Perel, Europa Europa's real-life Holocaust survivor

[flyonthewall2983]

Leapin’ Lanny Poffo, talented professional wrestler fated to be forever overshadowed by his brother, “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

Also somewhat notable for famously collecting a six figure salary from World Championship Wrestling for years without ever once being asked to actually work. Because that was WCW in a nutshell.

quite a guy

[hearthesilence]

Charlie Thomas of the Drifters. He was part of the second great incarnation of the group, joining at the same time as Ben Nelson (aka the late, great Ben E. King). Though Nelson became their main lead vocalist, Thomas did sing lead on tracks like “Sweets for My Sweets” and “When My Little Girl Is Smiling.” He was later one of the group's inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[hearthesilence]

Gary Smith, producer of the Pixies and Juliana Hatfield, his own Fort Apache Studios drew a wide array of indie and alternative musicians such as Billy Bragg and Tanya Donelly. Probably best-known for producing the Pixies' first professional recordings, which were used for their debut record Come On Pilgrim, he also produced the Chills' great album, Submarine Bells.

[beamish14]

Burt Bacharach

[bdsweeney]

Burt Bacharach

This hits like the death of Lamont Dozier where if you consider the breadth of the songwriting, it's just remarkable what he produced. So many hidden gems. And many great associations with the movies, too. A sad loss.