Passages

[bottlesofsmoke]

I actually just watched Mario Adorf last night in Luigi Comencini's A cavallo della tigre, playing a brutal convict. He was very good in both comedies and more serious roles, and often a combination of the two, as in A cavallo della tigre. I definitely think of him as both an Italian and German actor, Italian comedies in the 60s, German films in the 70s and 80s, though that isn't a hard and fast rule. Certainly one of the more memorable and recognizable supporting actors for at least two decades and appeared in some really great movies. My favorite performances of his are probably La visita and as the idiot savant chess prodigy in Schachnovelle, based on Zweig's The Royal Game. He's also one of the few things I really remember from Wilder's Fedora.

[Gregory]

Afrika Bambaataa. I'm inclined not to state the obvious about his huge creative impact or about all the crimes he was never charged with

[GaryC]

Australian actor Monty Maizels, aged 102. In The Castle, the 2003 Ned Kelly, other films and TV.

He wasn't listed in this forum's centenarians list, so I've added a note.

[colinr0380]

Prolific German character actor Mario Adorf, whose massive filmography includes work by Volker Schlöndorff, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Corbucci, and Claude Chabrol.

Plus in the 60s he was in the Harry Allan Towers produced version of Ten Little Indians (the UK/German co-production one with Christopher Lee and Dennis Price that surprisingly with those credentials was not directed by Jess Franco!); Jerzy Skolimowski's King, Queen, Knave; and he was also the right hand man to Charlton Heston's Major Dundee in Peckinpah's film (he teams up with Senta Berger again in the caveman comedy sequel film When Women Had Tails. That trailer begins with a great tagline worthy of the current thread!)

In the 70s he was in a number of the most notable Italian giallos - The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, the excellent Short Night of the Glass Dolls (which makes for a striking double bill with Eyes Wide Shut), and What Have They Done To Your Daughters?; and was in Billy Wilder's penultimate film, Fedora. In the 80s Straub and Huillet's Class Relations and the John Frankeneimer film starring Michael Caine, The Holcroft Covenant, plus the follow up Alec Guinness starring BBC series to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People, and Liliana Cavani's Francesco. In the 90s he has a small role as the ship captain ferrying Julia Ormond to a showdown in the Arctic in Bille August's adaptation of Smilla's Sense of Snow (another giallo-esque mystery-conspiracy film)

Criterion-wise, he appears in Fassbinder's Lola, The Tin Drum, The Lost Honour of Katarina Blum and I Knew Her Well.

[colinr0380]

Afrika Bambaataa. I'm inclined not to state the obvious about his huge creative impact or about all the crimes he was never charged with

I'm mostly familiar with his Leftfield collaboration Afrika Shox and its Chris Cunningham directed music video, with Bambaataa appearing at the end to deliver the punchline.

[colinr0380]

Shozin Fukui

Speaking of crazy figures rampaging through urban streets, it was also sad to hear of the passing of Shozin Fukui. His 1991 'cyberpunk' film Pinocchio √964 (and his short films Caterpillar and Gerorisuto) got a very welcome upgrade to Blu-ray (and first release in the country) in the UK by 88 Films last year. Its (arguably better, simply because of being in black and white, though with being much more confined to a warehouse it loses some of the 'shot verite style on the streets' aspect that Pinocchio has) prequel companion film Rubber's Lover from 1996 apparently has a recent Australian Blu-ray release but has never been released in the UK and has only been released in the US on its mid 2000s Unearthed Films DVD edition.

If anyone is going to check these out though, be strongly advised that they make Shinya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo films look rather tame in comparison. Only to be recommended to those with a tolerance for constant screaming, wildly hectic camerawork and lots and lots (and lots) of vomit! (This video works as probably the best 'cut down' version of Pinocchio √964 if you want to get a precis of it without having to watch the entire ten minute scene of the female lead vomiting up her body weight of rice in an annex of a Tokyo subway station and then rolling around in it (which is very much that film's equivalent of Isabelle Adjani's freakout scene from Possession)

[hearthesilence]

Afrika Bambaataa. I'm inclined not to state the obvious about his huge creative impact or about all the crimes he was never charged with

Surprisingly he had a pretty active Instagram account, so he hadn't completely disappeared off the map.

Rolling Stone and especially The New York Times have good obituaries that detail his legacy and fall from grace.

Cause of death is confirmed to be prostate cancer.

[Aunt Peg]

Mario Adorf, 95, actor with a extraordinary collection of credits. His characters horrid death in The Tin Drum (1979) has long been etched in my mind: https://www.ansa.it/amp/english/news/li ... cbe3a.html

[MichaelB]

Mario Adorf, 95, actor with a extraordinary collection of credits. His characters horrid death in The Tin Drum (1979) has long been etched in my mind: https://www.ansa.it/amp/english/news/li ... cbe3a.html

Extensively discussed above.

[Gregory]

Afrika Bambaataa. I'm inclined not to state the obvious about his huge creative impact or about all the crimes he was never charged with

Surprisingly he had a pretty active Instagram account, so he hadn't completely disappeared off the map.

Rolling Stone and especially The New York Times have good obituaries that detail his legacy and fall from grace.

Cause of death is confirmed to be prostate cancer.

He should have disappeared off the map. Must've had someone blocking people from his replies 24/7 on IG. Stonewalling and denying for that many years while knowing deep down that you're never truly getting your life back is pathetic.

[Gregory]

Angela Pleasence, 84

[JSC]

A great actress. Very creepy in Symptoms. Also great in The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

[hearthesilence]

Afrika Bambaataa. I'm inclined not to state the obvious about his huge creative impact or about all the crimes he was never charged with

Surprisingly he had a pretty active Instagram account, so he hadn't completely disappeared off the map.

Rolling Stone and especially The New York Times have good obituaries that detail his legacy and fall from grace.

Cause of death is confirmed to be prostate cancer.

He should have disappeared off the map. Must've had someone blocking people from his replies 24/7 on IG. Stonewalling and denying for that many years while knowing deep down that you're never truly getting your life back is pathetic.

He should have gone to prison. This was apparently an “open secret” and yet no one did anything for decades.

[hearthesilence]

I guess copy editors are still in short supply.

[Lemmy Caution]

I only knew Bambaataa's 1984 EP Unity, a collaboration with James Brown. 4 versions of one song as I recall: "Peace, Love Unity ... and Feeling Good ". A comeback of sorts for JB. Worthwhile for James Brown fans. The Godfather of Soul's riffs and grooves were a fertile source for 80's hip hop and deejays. So of course he wanted to get in on it, appeal to the next generation, etc. After that, I never heard of Bambaataa again.

[Lowry_Sam]

He should have gone to prison. This was apparently an “open secret” and yet no one did anything for decades.

Wow, this comes as a surprise to me. I stopped paying attention to all rap/hip hop around 2000 & don't pay any attention to gossip sites, so I was completely in the dark about the accusations until these obits. I also was surprised he was only 67, I thought he would have been much older than me.

He was actually really big in the NYC/Philly scene of the early 80s as he bridged gap from just rap/hip hop scene into djclub & college rock/alternative scenes. After his solo effort, he collaborated with Bill Laswell frequently & most notable was the indie hit World Destruction with John Lydon (PIL, Sex Pistols), which is as relevant as ever with Trump in the White House now.

He then also collaborated with 808 State in the early 90s, reworking his original hit "Planet Rock."

[domino harvey]

I’m not sure I knew Bambaataa before the reference in the Arsonists’ “Liberal Arts”

[hearthesilence]

I only knew Bambaataa's 1984 EP Unity, a collaboration with James Brown. 4 versions of one song as I recall: "Peace, Love Unity ... and Feeling Good ". A comeback of sorts for JB. Worthwhile for James Brown fans. The Godfather of Soul's riffs and grooves were a fertile source for 80's hip hop and deejays. So of course he wanted to get in on it, appeal to the next generation, etc. After that, I never heard of Bambaataa again.

Yeah, that's the last track on Star Time (the greatest box set compilation ever released, and the one James Brown collection everyone should own IMHO).

He's definitely in the history books, but Bambaataa, like his peer Grandmaster Flash, was still underappreciated (before the allegations came out) because an enormous part of what he did for hip-hop came from his time as a DJ. You arguably had to be there to fully appreciate what he did - failing that, people like me can still go by eyewitness testimony, and it's clear he, Flash and DJ Kool Herc (who actually came before them) were virtually in a class of their own in terms of influence and innovation.

A lot of that was mind-blowing to behold if you want to go out and dance (and you can still see Flash do his thing), but it was also problematic in terms of putting it on a record. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five might be the name on the record, but a lot of times Grandmaster Flash didn't really get a chance to shine. The one great exception is "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel." Similarly, Bambaataa didn't really have a great record until "Planet Rock," but then he arguably topped himself with "Looking for the Perfect Beat" and then followed those with one more bonafide classic "Renegades of Funk." All great records, and they also came together with the help of key collaborators like Arthur Baker and John Robie. He kept on making records after that, but those three singles remain his core recorded legacy, not to mention three of the most important hip-hop records ever made. Looking for the Perfect Beat: 1980–1985 has them all and at the moment it's the only compilation worth getting. The two other records mentioned, "Unity" and "World Destruction," are excellent collaborations, but only "Unity" is included on that compilation. He also made a prominent appearance in "Sun City," the greatest benefit single ever made (partly because it's actually great, unlike well-meaning but hideous treacle like "We Are the World" which came out the same year). The album Sun City is worth getting, and it may be the only legit place to get that single.

Again, his crimes were horrendous, and I understand if anyone who has no interest in hearing his records. It's not a problem for me for the reasons Darlene Love stated when people asked her about "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" - that record is hers as much as Phil Spector's, and you can't deny the role the Wrecking Crew had on it too. Same with Bambaataa's records - quite a few hands were involved in them, and they wouldn't have been possible without them.

[tolbs1010]

...Star Time (the greatest box set compilation ever released, and the one James Brown collection everyone should own IMHO).

True statement. Everything essential in full-length versions.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Bollywood song legend Asha Bhosle.

[Gregory]

Bollywood song legend Asha Bhosle.

After Lata Mangeshkar's passing in 2022 two giants of global musical culture are gone

[zedz]

Bollywood song legend Asha Bhosle.

After all this time, I’d just assumed she was immortal.

[GaryC]

Ian Watson, UK writer, aged 82. I've not seen any online obituaries as yet, but Facebook posts are coming up that he has passed. (I have several friends in common with him and met him a few times. The last time was the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow, when we were at the launch of an anthology we both had stories in.)

He was one of the major UK science fiction writers who came to prominence in the 1970s, and The Embedding, The Jonah Kit, The Martian Inca, Alien Embassy (the first of his I read) and Miracle Visitors is no mean run of five novels. His principal contribution to cinemas is his work with Stanley Kubrick on what became A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Watson is credited for "screen story".

[colinr0380]

Bollywood song legend Asha Bhosle.

After Lata Mangeshkar's passing in 2022 two giants of global musical culture are gone

Both of whom were namechecked in Cornershop's most famous song A Brimful of Asha (Content warning for the wanton overusage of the word "bosom"!)

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Bollywood song legend Asha Bhosle.

After all this time, I’d just assumed she was immortal.

After 80 years of masterpieces, I assumed so too.