Deaths in 2009 [Wikipedia]

The following is a list of notable deaths in 2009. Names are listed under the date of death, not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.

Deaths of notable animals (that is, those with their own Wikipedia articles) are also reported here.

A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.

June 2009

5

• Chris O'Brien, 57, Australian oncologist, cancer. [1]

[edit] 4

• Shitsuko Araki, 111, Japanese supercentenarian. [2] (Japanese)
• Frank G. Harrison, 69, American politician, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania (1983–1985). [3]
• John F. Henning, 93, American politician, Ambassador to New Zealand (1967–1969). [4]
• Jean Sagadeev, 42, Russian musician, suspected suicide by hanging. [5] (Russian)
• Shih Kien, 96, Hong Kong actor (Enter the Dragon). [6]

[edit] 3

• Geoffrey Bingham, 90, Australian evangelical Christian writer. [7]
• David Bromige, 75, British-born Canadian poet, winner of the Pushcart Prize. [8]
• Sam Butera, 81, American saxophonist, after long illness. [9]
• David Carradine, 72, American actor (Kung Fu, Kill Bill), suspected suicide by hanging. [10]
• Sam George, 56, Canadian activist, native rights campaigner involved with the Ipperwash Crisis, pancreatic and lung cancer. [11]
• Thomas Gill, 87, American politician, U.S. Representative from Hawaii (1963–1965). [12]
• Nikandros Kepesis, 95, Greek politician, natural causes. [13] (Greek)
• Peter J. Landin, British computer scientist, natural causes. [14]
• Benoit Marleau, 72, Canadian actor, cancer. [15] (French)
• Bruce McLachlan, 67, Australian horse racing trainer, heart attack. [16]
• John Campbell Ross, 110, Australian supercentenarian, last surviving Australian veteran of World War I. [17]
• Koko Taylor, 80, American blues musician, complications from gastrointestinal surgery. [18]
• Moloko Temo, 134?, South African claimant to the world's oldest person title. [19]

[edit] 2

• David Eddings, 77, American fantasy author. [20]
• Tony Maggs, 72, South African racing driver, cancer. [21]
• Palghat R. Raghu, 81, Burmese-born Indian musician, cardiac arrest. [22]
• Horst Siebert, 71, German economist. [23] (German)

[edit] 1

• Alaa Abdel-Wahab, 37, Iraqi sports journalist, bomb attack. [24]
• Bob Christie, 85. American racing driver, pulmonary fibrosis. [25]
• Erich Heine, 41, South African-born German director of ThyssenKrupp, plane crash. [26]
• Vincent O'Brien, 92, Irish race horse trainer. [27]
• Prince Pedro Luís of Orléans-Braganza, 26, Brazilian prince, plane crash. [28]
• Alexander S. Potupa, 64, Belarussian politician, physicist, economist and writer. [29]
• Jerry Rosenberg, 72, American jailhouse lawyer, natural causes. [30]
• Dirk du Toit, 65, South African politician. [31]

[edit] May 2009

[edit] 31

• Torsten Andersson, 82, Swedish painter. [32] (Swedish)
• Kamala Das, 75, Indian writer, after long illness. [33]
• Millvina Dean, 97, British woman, last living passenger aboard the Titanic, pneumonia. [34]
• Brian Edrich, 86, British cricketer. [35]
• Sir John Holland, 94, Australian engineer, construction magnate. [36]
• Danny La Rue, 81, Irish-born British female impersonator and singer, prostate cancer. [37]
• Vyacheslav Nevinny, 74, Russian actor, diabetes. [38] (Russian)
• George Tiller, 67, American physician and abortion provider, shot. [39]

[edit] 30

• Luís Cabral, 78, Guinea-Bissauan politician, President (1973–1980). [40]
• Susanna Haapoja, 42, Finnish politician, cerebral haemorrhage. [41]
• Eric Hammond, 79, British trade unionist, General Secretary of the EETPU. [42]
• Ephraim Katzir, 93, Israeli biophysicist and politician, President (1973–1978). [43]
• Waldemar Matuška, 76, Czech singer, pneumonia and heart failure. [44] (Czech)
• Nell Meadows, 110, American supercentenarian. [45]
• Gaafar Nimeiry, 79, Sudanese politician, President (1969–1985). [46]
• Niki Typaldou, 64, Greek photographer and journalist, cancer. [47] (Greek)

[edit] 29

• Hank Bassen, 76, Canadian ice hockey player, heart attack. [48]
• Kevin Beurle, 53, British scientist, hot air balloon accident. [49]
• Jonny Dollar, 45, British music producer, cancer. [50]
• Susan Jordan, 67, American lawyer and activist, plane crash. [51]
• Ed Murray, 80, American politician, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1987–1991). [52]
• Nikos Panayiotidis, 56, Greek actor, heart attack. [53] (Greek)
• Bill Perkins, 89, Australian footballer (Richmond). [54]
• Viktor Petrov, 89, Russian clarinetist and educator, professor at Moscow Conservatory. [55] (Russian)
• Karine Ruby, 31, French snowboarder, fall. [56]

[edit] 28

• Mort Abrahams, 93, American film and television producer (Planet of the Apes, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), natural causes. [57]
• Terence Alexander, 86, British film and television actor (Bergerac). [58]
• Terry Barr, 73, American football player (Detroit Lions), Alzheimer's disease. [59]
• Marcel Béliveau, 69, Canadian television host, producer and comedian, cancer. [60] (French)
• Manuel Collantes, 91, Filipino diplomat, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs (1984), cardiac arrest. [61]
• Paul Haney, 80, American public servant, information officer for NASA ("Voice of Mission Control"), cancer. [62]
• Roger Kaffer, 81, American Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Joliet. [63]
• Luis María de Larrea y Legarreta, 91, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bilbao. [64] (Spanish)
• Lambros Papantoniou, 64, Greek journalist, after long illness. [65] (Greek)
• Lenrie Peters, 76, Gambian surgeon and novelist, after short illness. [66]
• Ercole Rabitti, 87, Italian footballer and trainer. [67] (Italian)
• Oleg Shenin, 71, Russian politician, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1990–1991). [68]
• Betty Tancock, 98, Canadian Olympic swimmer (1932). [69]
• John Tolos, 78, Canadian professional wrestler, renal failure. [70]

[edit] 27

• Ammo Baba, 74, Iraqi footballer and trainer, diabetes. [71].
• E. D. Doyle, 90, Irish military officer and analyst. [72]
• Clive Granger, 74, British economist, Nobel Prize winner for economics. [73]
• Mona Grey, 98, British public servant, Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland. [74].
• Ortega Henderson, 25, American rapper, gunshot wounds. [75]
• Abram Hoffer, 92, Canadian orthomolecular psychiatrist. [76]
• Gérard Jean-Juste, 62, Haitian political activist, after long illness. [77]
• Carol Anne O'Marie, 75, American Roman Catholic nun and mystery novelist, Parkinson's disease. [78]
• Sir William Refshauge, 96, Australian public health administrator. [79]
• Jack Reilly, 84, American television producer (Good Morning America), complications from a fall. [80]
• Paul Sharratt, 75, British-born American television producer, cancer. [81]
• Ralph D. Winter, 84, American missionary (U.S. Center for World Mission), multiple myeloma and lymphoma. [82]

[edit] 26

• Mamadou Bâ, 79, Guinean politician, cancer. [83] (French)
• Arcangelo Ianelli, 86, Brazilian painter, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [84] (Portuguese)
• Kaoru Kurimoto, 56, Japanese author, pancreatic cancer. [85]
• Mihalis Papagiannakis, 68, Greek politician, Member of Parliament, cancer. [86] (Greek)
• Michael Ross, 89, American screenwriter and director (Three's Company), complications from a heart attack and stroke. [87]
• Ronald Takaki, 70, American sociologist, professor of ethnic studies (University of California, Berkeley), suicide. [88]
• Peter Zezel, 44, Canadian ice hockey player, haemolytic anaemia. [89]

[edit] 25

• Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, 48, Nigerian Pan African activist, car accident. [90]
• Billy Baxter, 70, British footballer, cancer. [91]
• Amos Elon, 82, Austrian-born Israeli author and journalist. [92] (German)
• Haakon Lie, 103, Norwegian politician. [93] (Norwegian)
• Costas Sfikas, 82, Greek cinematographer. [94] (Greek)
• Franz Soronics, 88, Austrian politician. [95]
• Ivan van Sertima, 74, Guyanese-born British historian, linguist and anthropologist (Rutgers University). [96]

[edit] 24

• Jay Bennett, 45, American musician (Wilco) and songwriter. [97]
• Ella Snoep, 82, Dutch actress. [98] (Dutch)
• Blyth Wright, 65, British mountaineer, avalanche expert, and Scottish National Party activist. [99]

VidTweeter

VidTweeter

The Clash: Rude Boy 'Ray Gange was just too rudefor the Clash' [1980 Film]

The cult of the roadie

Ray Gange was just too rude for the Clash, says Marcus Gray

When people talk about the 1980 film Rude Boy nowadays, they call it "the Clash movie". It featured the band, portraying themselves, and a selection of great live performances. But they were not the notional stars of the film. That was a young man called Ray Gange, the Rude Boy of the title.

Rude Boy is a strange piece of work, stuck in that always awkward place between documentary and fiction. Uncomfortable and (in some cases) reluctant amateurs struggle to portray themselves, or people who share their names. To describe Gange's's own performance as wooden would be unfair: wood can't drink heavily and look embarrassed while mumbling its lines.

The original 1960s rude boys were sharp-dressed, gang-affiliated young Jamaicans. A decade later, the Clash appropriated the term as a romantic catch-all for their own followers. At first, the 20-year-old Ray Gange on the screen seems to be an archetypal Clash fan, albeit one lucky enough to be offered a job as a roadie. But it soon becomes clear that the pro-capitalist and borderline racist views he expresses are at odds with the values championed by his new employers.

During the period of filming, spring 1978 to spring 1979, Margaret Thatcher was on the verge of assuming power, and racism was a major issue. Joint producer-directors David Mingay and Jack Hazan pushed for Gange to challenge the band. Thus, the screen Ray Gange is partly the real Ray Gange, partly a composite of other Clash hangers-on, and partly the film-makers' zeitgeist indicator.

The shiftlessness and drunkenness are authentic Gange, though: it's not easy to hump amplifiers with a can of Special Brew stuck to your lips, so Gange didn't bother. Here, Mingay and Hazan had no choice but to run with the result, playing up his haplessness. When the Clash finally lose patience and leave him stranded, the question is not so much why as why so long?

After watching the rough cut of Rude Boy, the band certainly had regrets. They instructed Mingay and Hazan to cut it to 50 minutes of straight concert footage, and when the pair refused, the band withdrew their support. The most recent DVD reissue of Rude Boy seems to agree about its key selling point, offering the option to "just play the Clash". For the record: the 20-odd blistering live performances would never have been captured had it not been for (the real) Ray Gange, who first pointed Mingay and Hazan in the Clash's direction.

By the time the film was released, Gange was in Hollywood with a green card - working on a building site. He quit, involving himself with various "band projects" on the local punk scene, and picking up occasional work as a TV and film extra, though Rude Boy remains his only credit on imdb.com. In late 1982, he moved back to his native Brixton. Asked to sum up what he has done since, he offers "band management, record label owner, narcotics vortex, art degree, parent, and get old". He no longer drinks or smokes, and is a full-time father and a part-time artist who hopes to show his paintings and sculptures on a website by the end of the summer.

Now heavy-set and balding - but affable and surprisingly healthy-looking - he recently played an Italian assassin in an unnamed short, which "may never see the light of day". He's also in a video for Radio London, recorded this spring by the Devildolls Rock'n'Roll Street Gang in support of the Strummerville foundation.

Meanwhile, the screen Ray Gange appears to have acquired cult status. The real Gange insists it was only ever "journalists" who concerned themselves with a political analysis of either Rude Boy or his role, anyway. These days, people are simply impressed that he was there and has the film to prove it. "It's a source of identification for a lot of the band's fans," he says. "They weren't expecting an existential De Niro-esque tour de force." And, he adds, he's happy to hear film offers from anyone who knows they won't be getting De Niro.

myspace.com/raygange

· Marcus Gray is the author of The Clash: Return of the Last Gang in Town

Hypnotized Office Girl

Hypnotized Office Girl
Video sent by HypnotizedGirls

http://hypnotizedgirls.blogspot.com/

An office girl hypnotized.

Blonde Hypnotized

Blonde Hypnotized
Video sent by hypnogod

i like to think somebody is watching this somewhere.

Thinks She is Showing & then for some reason she screams! Beautiful women hypnotized by Italian Hypnotist Casella Guicas

Keith Carradine - I'm Easy (Live 1976) R.I.P. David

Keith Carradine - I'm Easy (Live 1976)
Video sent by mrjyn

i like to think somebody's listening to this somewhere

like a cigarette for the rapture

img369204.jpg, originally uploaded by mrjyn1.

like a cigarette for the rapture while you casually inhale--a temporary satisfaction completely in your control; to be out of control leads to wild and unimaginable delight, none of which i would trade for more standard fare. what care i if the keeper makes infrequent visits to my cage out of obligation or tenderness, for i will gorge on her raw, bloody meat, passed through the bars and not bare my Sabre fangs even if she holds in her hand the meat of my dinner-dreams: fantastic savanna, i once roamed without compare.

i have even gotten her to believe she may rub my striped snout, with her brave eyes showing tenderness, which hide the fear which i smell above even the fresh meat...and although i wish to take the steak and the hand back into my cool chamber and gorge , it is only for the next visit that i don't.

why, i even think she thinks i am a tame house cat.

Irn-Bru Goth Holiday [via: http://gothsinhotweather.blogspot.com/]

New irn-bru advert. Goths drink irn-bru and go wild in Blackpool.

Elvis Introduces Fantasy Band (Including Jimmy Page, Keith Moon and Stevie Wonder) [BBC Ad]

nichopoulooza
03 June 2009
Want to Subscribe?

Elvis Introduces Fantasy Band (Including Keith Moon, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder) [BBC]
Elvis Introduces Fantasy Band (Including Keith Moon, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder) [BBC]

Elvis Fantasy Band Keith Moon Marvin Gaye Stevie Wonder BBC Jimmy Page

Jeff Hardy - Devil In Disguise [ELVIS] this is almost art--not!!

Jeff Hardy is the Devil In Disguise - Not!

EMPTY YA-YA GARDEN AFTERNOON PARTY REMAINS SAME BANGLADESH EVENT

4 Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan
40°45′2″N 73°59′37″W
June 1972 Elvis Presley made his first and only appearances in New York City at the Garden. Elvis played four shows to 80,000 people, which at the time was a record for the venue. A week after the shows an album of the Saturday evening performance was rushed to release making it the fastest turnaround between a live performance and its recorded release. To mark the 25th anniversary of Elvis' Garden shows, a recording of the Saturday afternoon performance was released titled "An Afternoon in the Garden."


Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, has been the name of four arenas in New York City.

The Rolling Stones live album Get Yer Ya Ya's Out was made with the band's performances at MSG on November 27 and 28, 1969, during their legendary 1969 North American Tour.

1970s

August 1, 1971, George Harrison held his Concert For Bangladesh. This historic event was the first special benefit concert to raise funds for charity (in this case, the country of Bangladesh, which was at that time in a severe and desperate state). There were two concerts held that day, with one taking place at 2:30pm and the other at 7:00 pm. The show featured artists such as Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, and Klaus Voormann, to name a few. A live album of the concert was released in 1972.

John Lennon performed a concert at The Garden on August 30, 1972 which was professionally recorded and posthumously released on the 1986 album Live in New York City.

Rick Nelson put MSG into song with his 1972 million seller "Garden Party."

English rock band Led Zeppelin performed three consecutive, sold-out performances which were filmed and recorded at The Garden during their 1973 U.S. tour. The performance was later released on the concert film The Song Remains the Same and its accompanying soundtrack. Additional footage from these concerts was released in 2003 on the Led Zeppelin DVD.

In June 1974 The Who played 4 sold-out dates. A single radio announcement during a December 1973 radio broadcast was enough to sell out the shows in a matter of hours.

In October 13, 1974, to cap his comeback after his retirement in 1971 Frank Sinatra played in front of 20,000 fans at the Garden in a show dubbed "The Main Event" that was broadcast nationally and internationally. The concert was recorded and released along with other concerts as The Main Event Live

On November 28, 1974, John Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at an Elton John concert - Lennon's last ever concert appearance. They sang together as a duet on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" and "I Saw Her Standing There". The concert was released as the "There" portion of John's 1976 live album Here and There. Elton John's song "Empty Garden", a beautiful tribute to John Lennon, clearly refers to The Garden.


CONT. FROM ABOVE
..It is also the name of the entity which owns the arena and several of the professional sports franchises which play there. There have been four incarnations of the arena. The first two were located at the northeast corner of Madison Square (Madison Avenue and 26th Street) from which the arena derived its name. Subsequently a new 17,000-seat Garden (opened December 15, 1925) was built at 50th Street and 8th Avenue, and the current Garden (opened February 14, 1968) is at 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station. One Penn Plaza stands at the side.

On February 14, 1968 Madison Square Garden IV opened after the Pennsylvania Railroad tore down the above-ground portions of Pennsylvania Station and continued railway traffic underneath. The new structure was one of the first of its kind to be built above an active railroad system and the platforms of an active railroad station. It was an engineering feat constructed by R.E. McKee of El Paso, Texas.

Public outcry over the demolished Beaux-Arts structure led to the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The current Garden is the hub of Madison Square Garden Center in the office and entertainment complex formally addressed as Pennsylvania Plaza and commonly known as "Penn Plaza" for the railroad station atop which the complex is located.

In 1972, the Garden's Chairman, Irving Mitchell Felt, suggested moving the Knicks and the Rangers...

Elvis Madison Square Garden 1972 nichopoulouzo george c. nichopoulos nichopoulos jerry lee lewis new york new york city manhattan EMPTY YA-YA GARDEN AFTERNOON PARTY REMAINS SAME BANGLADESH EVENT

ELVIS: KING OF STAX [I've Got A Thing About You + Color My Rainbow + Good, Bad, But Beautiful:Outtakes]

Nashville - Studio B [TOURISTS SING 'CRYING']

Recording Studio Of Elvis And Many More Great Artist

Elvis - Kang Rhee - Karate School Memphis

Torneo Extremo - A Little Less Conversation (Elvis Presley)

Nike Soccer Elvis Presley vs JXL - A little less conversation

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Tours Graceland

Maps in "Happy Go Lucky" (UK, 2008) via tenura porno

Happy Go Lucky , directed by Mike Leigh (UK, 2008)
The examination of maps' quotations is complete. Every quotation is separated from the others by a short image.

Stars Join Prince Harry for Charity Polo Match

Prince Harry reminded New Yorkers on Saturday how much his mother had loved their city, then climbed onto a pony for a rousing game of polo to raise money for impoverished children in Africa. (May 30)

Nichopoulooza vs. Fullgospelpreacher! UNEXPURGATED [for Phoebe Lewis: who doesn't believe]

Jerry Lee Lewis: King of Rock'n'Roll!
[ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: Doc. Dir. - Tony Palmer]

2:55

Added: 7 months ago
From: nichopoulooza
Views: 6,547

All Comments (19 total)

UNEXPURGATED

nichopoulooza

this is always and will be forever my favorite rock'n'roll clip. thanks forever to mr. palmer for preserving it--30 years later.

Adikakadi

Hi! nichopoulooza, Is it possible to get the whole clip without Jack Good's commentary?
Where and when was made this WLSGO ? best regards Adikakadi.

ozzyrockz

sorry i meant 1976 at the palomino club in north hollywood

jerryleelewisfan42

could you please post more from this documentary please ?

fitaskurtcobain

Great :)

Brutus2

Meat Man!!! You Know What I Am!!!

Adikakadi

At least!!!!
I'm lookin' for this most wildest version of WLSgo. Great Thank's nichopoulooza!! Please send more!!

Krunchypants

Drinking wine spo dee oh dee is awesome in this documentary too.

jerryleepop

wow, can you upload it?

ozzyrockz

!976 The palomino club in north holleywood

MarcoAntonio311264

You know who is the real king of rock'n roll...

TheRealCritique

LOTS of TALENT, not just in the piano but also that voice. They just merge effortlessly and perfectly. he sure makes it look easy, but he is an impossible guy to match...he grew up listening to the right music...

fullgospelpreacher

His soul was long ago turned over to demon powers

nichopoulooza

amen brother, and a conflicted soul it be. let's not focus on one man amongst a raging fire burning in two powerful and related religious sects as to the legitimacy of conflict ion as it effects a man. This same music which came from the Pentecostals and continues to divide them and there closely related branches , including that of the assembly of god and scores of other smaller denominations, all varying on the larger topic,

nichopoulooza

but for the good of their doctrine and flock, rather than unto a man at the end of a life lived not unlike some clergy and preachers, but done so in the light with no fear or harm to those who follow him likewise for entertainment, not salvation, while his ever present sense of eternal consequence ranks as learned and forthright as his cousin's, both knowing that where even until a man's dying breath the page of his life has not been written into the book of damnation or salvation,

nichopoulooza

nor should that page be sullied or judged as idle accusation unto a forum which knows nothing about you or your personal authority separating you from any man who might judge any other who has lived a life fuller than most, possesses a talent, greater than all, and has never denied his ultimate choice which is still his to keep or exchange according to his and God's will for he and every man, even you, brother..

fullgospelpreacher

WHAT? Bring it down brother. Talk to make sense, not to confuse and empress. Even Paul, the great preacher of the church, did not use enticing words of men's wisdom.

massiveham

Jerry walks away with the episode he's in. Demonic energy in his performing and downright venomous during his interview. To wit, on Elvis (who was alive when this aired); "phony-type kid, ended up singin' like Bing Crosby!" 60's rock: "nothin' but Bobbies on the radio! Thank god for the Beatles! They showed 'em a trick. Cut those Bobbies down like wheat before the sickle!" His own career: "it took thirteen years of my life to make it back. Just for the love of a girl. Then she walked off."

fjelly0

Jerry Lee Lewis-Rest: 1-0.

Numbers Mix Me Up

I NEVER WANT TO MET THESE PEOPLE... EVER.

MALCOLM X GAME SHOW

SYNTH COKE

Traci Lords: First Techno Album '1000 Fires' + [Miami Herald Interview 1995]

Traci Lords: Rap Work Out

For more clips like this, visit the blog for the NYC cult cable-access show Media Funhouse, located here: www.mediafunhouse.blogspot.com

Ex-underaged porn star Traci Lords' (fully legal, and somewhat dressed) workout tape, but it's not the version that made the rounds as the "Advanced" tape. That one, which is excerpted on YouTube already, just has Traci saying "transition...!" over and over again (oh my TVC 15). In this version she raps on the soundtrack. I much prefer this iteration of her exercises for the crotch area. What a talented young woman she was. Sorry for the tape bouncing, but do you really care?

Traci Lords workout exercise video VHS cult movies Media Funhouse

BEST ELVIS ART INSTALLATION! "There is Something Nice About Everyone. There is Everything Nice About Elvis" [COURTESTY OF TUPEL

BEST ELVIS ART INSTALLATION! "There is Something Nice About Everyone. There is Everything Nice About Elvis"--Oleta Grimes

Elvis Presley's Fifth Grade School Teacher
Tupelo, MS

Oleta Grimes Elvis Presley Fifth Grade School Teacher Tupelo MS mississippi elvis

The Liston Chronicles, Part 1 & 2: Setting Sonny [Nick Tosches]

ROUND 2

Tuesday Jun 2, 2009

Was The Punch legit?

Or was Sonny looking for a soft spot to fall right away?

The Liston Chronicles, Part 2: Setting Sonny

By Gregory Toledo

“Though the fury's hot and hard
I still see that cold graveyard
There's a solitary stone that's got your name on.”

~Elvis Costello, "Complicated Shadows"


“LISTON” was spelled out on the back of the heavyweight champion’s robe as he walked into the weigh-in before his second title defense. Behind the lettering was the image of a sun. A setting sun.

Sonny Liston had every reason to be confident on the night of February 25, 1964. He was an eight-to-one favorite to defeat Cassius Clay. “The loud mouth from Louisville,” declared the New York Times, “is likely to have a lot of vainglorious boasts jammed down his throat by a ham-like fist.” That was an echo of the opinion of nearly everyone paying attention. Even the Nation of Islam was reluctant to get too involved on behalf of their recent convert. Elijah Muhammad himself believed that it was “impossible” for Clay to beat Liston. Malcolm X did not, and offered religious-based counsel to the jittery challenger, and then defied Elijah Muhammad by attending the fight in Miami.


He didn’t know it yet, but Liston had already made the mistake common to legions of history’s strong men. The mistake was hubris. His contempt for the skills of Cassius Clay was as pronounced as his training was casual. He drank wine and snacked on potato chips. Liston was prepared only to go the two or three rounds he figured it would take to cash in on Cassius –no more, no less.

The Liston training camp revolved around the whims and moods of Liston. Everyone, including his trainer Willie Reddish, was told what to do and when to do it. Liston listened to no one except James Brown singing “Night Train”. The only exceptions were a Roman Catholic priest who befriended him in prison and the only hero he ever acknowledged –Joe Louis. Apparently, Louis never told Liston the story of his own lackadaisical training that brought about his first loss against Max Schmeling. Nor did the priest open the book of Samuel in Sonny’s presence. Had he done so, the champion may have remembered that it was a mere stone in the sling of a youth that felled Goliath.

No less was the speed of an arrow in the bow of a youth that slew Richard the Lionheart.

Liston looked at Clay and saw a mere stone in his shoe, expecting to parry his arrows as if they were shot by Cupid.

And so it went that a twenty-two year old upstart fought like a mighty archer on wheels; And Liston’s clay feet followed wearily as the rounds sailed past the third. The new old king learned the hard way that hubris blinds a man more than the astringent his corner may or may not have put on his gloves before the fourth round. Liston refused to come out for the seventh round. That was that. Cassius Clay became the new champion, shocking the world and bouncing all over the ring proclaiming exactly that –as Liston sagged on his stool.

Barbarossa, one of history’s great warriors, drowned under the weight of his armor in a shallow river. Liston’s fall was just as anticlimactic. It was downright meek.

Disrobed of his invincibility, he went to St. Francis Hospital for X-rays on his left shoulder. Later a team of doctors confirmed that he had in fact suffered an injury that would be “sufficient to incapacitate him and prevent him from defending himself”. Liston’s corner claimed that the injury occurred during training and that they had to cease sparring earlier than planned. When asked why they didn’t postpone the fight, the answer was “we thought we could get away with it.”

A forgotten nugget of information is that the rematch was originally set for November 16, 1964 at Boston Garden. Sonny trained harder than he had since his peak in 1959 on the grounds of what is now the White Cliffs Country Club in Plymouth, MA –whipping himself into search-and-destroy shape at 208 lbs. Reporters swarmed and Liston’s mood swung between sullen and surly, even worse than usual. Ten sparring partners became casualties and some ended up in the hospital. Liston didn’t even have “Night Train” playing because the beat was too slow for a new pace of training. He was hell-bent on redemption. “When I catch him,” Liston promised, “you’ll know I’m bitter.”

It wasn’t all “meanness” with Sonny. He was known to be gentle with children and impulsively generous with the down-and-out. At times, he seemed to yearn for the peace his life and his choices never allowed. One evening at White Cliffs, Sonny noticed a beautiful scarlet sunset over Cape Cod Bay. “Look at there," he said to a reporter for Sports Illustrated, extending his giant hand and pointing to the horizon, "Isn't that the most beautifulest sight you've ever seen?”

He didn’t know it yet, but the setting sun’s appearance was inauspicious.

Friday the 13th was just a few days later and Ali was rushed by ambulance to Boston City Hospital for an emergency hernia operation. The fight was called off. Liston growled: “If he didn’t carry on in the street the way he did he wouldn’t have hurt himself.” Ali was no less disappointed. “I was really in the best shape of my life as was Sonny. Now all that hard work has gone down the drain,” he said. “Everything was set up. Now I have to sit back for another six months. It was such a letdown for me and for Sonny. All that work for a man his age.”

A man his age. Liston dissipated. He was picked up for drunk driving in December and got into it with ten policemen who had to wrestle him into a cell. Reporters noticed that he was looking “heavier and haggard”.

He spent Christmas in jail.

The infamous rematch ended up in a high school hockey arena in Lewiston, Maine. Ali came in four pounds less but was noticeably bigger than the previous year with inches added to his thighs, biceps, and forearms. Liston was simply older. Whatever fire he had captured at White Cliffs was gone.

Suspiciously, Liston was installed as a nine-to-five favorite.

Ali began round one bouncing and shifting and flicking shots. He landed one hard right hand and Sonny reacted as if it were a caress. Liston was moving in when Ali’s back was near the ropes, he threw a left jab and Ali came over with a right hand that was far more innocent than the previous one… and Liston went down. The fiasco that followed is incidental. Liston’s performance was anything but.

There are those who believe that Liston’s first round knockout was on the level. Others meet it halfway and consider the knockdown legitimate but assert that his refusal to get up suggested something else. Sonny himself spoke of it before the California Boxing Commission and stated that the knockdown was indeed real but that he refused to get up because Ali was standing over him. This doesn’t fit the film. Sonny was too busy trying vainly to make it look like he was hurt. He wasn’t even looking at the big butterfly fluttering about.

The fact is Liston had an exceptional chin. Mike DeJohn proved it. Cleveland Williams proved it. Cops did too –with hickory nightsticks. After Marty Marshall landed the right that broke his jaw, he said, "I never knew he was hurt. You hit him with your Sunday punch but he don't grunt, groan, flinch or blink. He don't do nothing; he just keeps coming on. He’s discouraging that way.”

Ali landed a flicking punch thrown with his legs out of position and no leverage. His first response to Liston’s going down was outrage and it is memorialized in perhaps the most famous boxing photograph ever snapped. “Get up you yellow dog!” –Ali’s shout at the horizontal Liston is frozen in time. It was only later that Ali and company came up with his “anchor punch” spin for posterity’s sake. It’s understandable. Dives taint both fighters, but a first round KO of the impossibly strong Sonny Liston after previously stopping him is a fitting aftershock for the world.

For all Floyd Patterson knew, everything was on the level. He went to Liston’s dressing room after the bout. Liston sat there alone, staring at something far off with that permanent scowl that wasn’t a scowl. Floyd said, “I know how you feel. I’ve been experienced this myself.” Sonny didn’t acknowledge him. Finally, Floyd went to walk out and Sonny ran up, put a hand on Floyd’s shoulder and said “thanks”.

Liston became a persona non grata after the fiasco. He fought on against mostly nondescript opposition in Sweden and then returned to fight a 6’4 truck driver named Bill McMurray. By this point it is not unlikely that Liston was forty years old, although he still had the strength of ten men. With Ali stripped of his title and out of the picture, Sonny was fixing his sites on Joe Frazier by 1968. Emboldened with a fourth round KO of McMurray, a new trainer in Dick Sadler (who would also train George Foreman) and Sammy Davis Jr.’s interest in his career, Liston was feeling upbeat. “I’ll beat [Frazier],” he declared. “I won’t have to chase him. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”

Henry Clark was ranked ninth by Ring Magazine when Liston faced him four months after McMurray. Liston won every round behind a jab and became the first man to stop him. Amos Lincoln was his eleventh straight KO since the Ali rematch, and Lincoln ended up draped over the ropes for three minutes while his handlers tried to revive him.

The old ex-champion was coming on, straight for Frazier, and the boxing world was buzzing. It couldn’t last if the word on the street was accurate though, and the word was that Liston was boozing it up regularly and addicted to heroin. It couldn’t last because Liston was Liston. Leotis Martin put an end to Liston’s redemption delusions and brought the sheep in with a right hand, followed by a left hook and another right. Liston fell hard and didn’t move. There wasn’t much doubt that this was his only legitimate knockout loss.

Liston’s last bout was held in Jersey City in June 1970 against Chuck Wepner. A strangely silent guest appeared at the back of the armory where the fight was held: it was Muhammad Ali. Ali remained confused and fascinated by his predecessor for many years after their bouts and admitted that Liston scared him. He once went so far as to privately claim that “Liston was the Devil.” Either way, Liston was applauded as he entered the ring against the 6’5, 228 lb challenger.

It was a brutal fight; and Liston wins those.

Wepner, stopped after nine rounds, was in shock for three days after the bout with a broken nose, a broken left cheekbone, and seventy-two stitches to close his face. Sonny had hopes that this, his 50th victory, would qualify him for a bout against Jerry Quarry. It was not to be.

The Grim Reaper showed up instead, tapping him on one of those massive shoulders. Sonny Liston died alone, probably on December 29, 1970, and apparently from a drug overdose. No one really knows. Black daisies sprang up in the bedroom where his body lay for days before anyone found him.

It was a brutal life; and no one wins those.

PREVIOUSLY

ROUND 1

The hard scrabbled and colourful characters that populate the world of boxing have often made for great books and film.

Until the recent tragedy involving his daughter, Mike Tyson was garnering attention for the documentary that bears his name.

While I found it so-so, predictably most movie critics less familiar with the ex-heavyweight champ have taken to it.

But there are several more compelling figures whose stories would make for great documentaries. Some, amazingly, even had tougher roads and upbringings than Tyson.

Sonny Liston

There's no chronological imperative with this sort of thing otherwise we would have seen Sonny Liston and George Foreman tackled, two heavyweight champs just as intimidating as Tyson at their peak.

It's surprising no filmmaker spring boarded from the critically acclaimed

Nick Tosches book The Devil and Sonny Liston and the Liston chapter in David Redneck's King of the World.

There are a lot of great elements at play in the life of the scowling man who came from a family of more than 20 children – the Mob, prison, Muhammad Ali, heroin, and Las Vegas, namely.The passage of time makes it a trickier proposition but that hasn't hindered good-to-great docs in recent years on Jack Johnson, Joe Louis vs. Max Smiling, and Emile Griffith.

George Foreman

Maybe in the near future someone will take on Foreman. Sure, he was a bit ubiquitous a few years back but it does nothing to diminish his story, one of the more remarkable second acts of any public figure in American life, let alone athlete.

From patriotic Olympian to scowling champ who scored comic book worthy knockouts to upset loser to retiring reclusive preacher was interesting enough. But then the improbable comeback and upset KO for a portion of the heavyweight title at 45, the Teddy Bear persona and raking in mammalians in one of the few examples of an athlete doing well on a product endorsement.

Matthew Said Muhammad

A man with three identities. He was abandoned on a Philadelphia parkway as child and sent to a Catholic orphanage. As Matthew Franklin, he learned to box and engaged in some of the most fallacious bouts of all time – the fight clips alone would be an eye-opener for any non-boxing fan. He eventually converted to Islam and found out after he became champion that his birth name was Maxwell Louche. Like a lot of fighters he hung on way too long, although he's not the sad, pathetic figure so many become.

Johnny Tap

Mi Vida Local, Tap's large tattoo, doesn't begin to describe it. Tap's father was killed why he was still in his mother's womb. When Tap was nine, his mother was raped and left for dead at the side of the road. It was only decades later that police could publicly ID her suspected killer (he'd long since died).

Tap, a colourful and entertaining champion, beat fellow Albuquerque native and bitter rival Danny Romero in a brilliant performance in the biggest fight of his life. Managed by his wife, Tap was undefeated for nearly a dozen years but that prowess has been overshadowed by a life filled with drug addiction and suicide attempts. An appearance on the voyeuristic Celebrity Rehab – which has been rumoured – Wildon’t do him justice.

Bernard Hopkins

Grew up in the Philly projects and was not yet 18 when he went in for a long-term bid for armed robbery. Learned to fight in prison and never re-offended upon his release. Lost his pro debut and didn't step back into the ring again for another year, a most inauspicious start for a future Hall of Farmer. He was a solid pro for many years but had to watch others take the spotlight and the paydays until his first masterpiece – over previously unbeaten Felix Trinidad in the first big sporting event in New York City after 9/11. While a self-made man, he's managed to burn many bridges in the boxing world, but at the same time is now a business partner of a former rival, Oscar De La Goya.

And three documentaries that are real:

HBO in August will present the documentary Assault in the Ring, which had languished for a couple of years and was originally known as Cornered. The recent Antonio Margarito illegal hand wrap controversy may have figured into the timing.

The doc centres on the 1983 fight between undefeated Billy Collins and Luis Rest. Collin's face was a pulpy mess afterward, and it was discovered that the horsehair had been removed from Recto's gloves. Rest and trainer Panama Lewis served prison sentences while Collins, 22, was unable to fight again and turned to the bottle, dying in a single-vehicle crash less than one year after the bout.

No word yet on any such airing for Passim the Dream, which screened at the Tribe Film Festival last year.

Junior middleweight Passim Um was a child soldier in Uganda, as were several of his brothers. He would eventually reach the U.S. and became a top contender, though his best days are behind him. But can someone brought up amid death and violence ever escape it? He was shot in the abdomen in 2002 in Florida and tested positive for marijuana after one of his fights.

Finally, Facing Ali. By the looks of the trailer, this doc of Ali through the lens of his opponents promises to be weightier than the book title of the same name.

Information concerning Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad derived from Alex Haley’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and “New Muslims”, a publication by the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). “Liston was the Devil” comment found in Nick Tosches “The Devil and Sonny Liston”, p. 219. Unless otherwise acknowledged, information for this article was also derived from contemporary editions of the New York Times. Gregory Toledo can be contacted at scalinatella@hotmail.com

Traci Lords: Hot for Teacher

Traci Lords: Hot for Teacher
Video sent by mrjyn

MR. HORACE DIDN'T HAVE TO BE SUCH AN ASSHOLE. SHE IS JUST LOOKING FOR ADVICE.

HOUSE IDOL READS [Hugh Laurie reads Jerome K. Jerome's 'On Being Idle']

Stephen Fry talks about ABBABBC4TV "better than it needs to Be" laughing out loudly

in the BBC4 TV special "Guilty", British comedic celebrity Stephen Fry talked about his various decadent indulgences - one of them being the music of ABBA.

WebHide optionsShow options... Results 1 - 100 of about 217 for geraldo heraldo talk to elvis presley's step mother dee stanley about elvis...

Nice search Memphis! and they say you guys aren't Elvis crazy!

Show options...

Results 1 - 100 of about 217 for geraldo heraldo talk to elvis presley's step mother dee stanley about elvis having sex with his mother gladys.

know bill? Jung: AA + Drug Seeking Behaviour

This clip describes the relation between the theories of Carl Gustav Jung, and the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous. It also elucidates the connection between Jung's pioneering theory and its more ...

Free Stiff CD! [The Independent: TV advert: 27.01.08]

Official TV advert for the Stiff Records CDs, given away free in The Independent newspaper on 27.01.08 and 26.01.08.

Stiff Box Set [Interview with Stiff Records' founder, Dave Robinson]

Interview with Stiff Records founder Dave Robinson about "The Big Stiff Box Set" - the briliant 4xCD + book release from Union Square Music. Broadcast live on 'Entertainment 24' on BBC News 24, 29th October 2007. More info on the box set at

Wigan Casino [for the Mancs]

The Wigan Casino was a nightclub in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Operating between 1973 and 1981, it was known as a primary venue for northern soul music. It carried forward the legacy

mmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Tour Saint Jacques in Paris at night

Hotels Paris Rive Gauche: Honey

Some honey flowing from a honey extractor in Eiffel Park Hotel

Lene Lovicha: Bird Song [Stiff]

Blondie - Accidents Never Happen [All I do is watch Blondie videos over and over. Shit happens]

[that might be the first 'shit happens' I've seen in ten years.]

There is not any track where Clem doesn't play concentrically
weenie
Shit happens
MasterCard

All I do is watch Blondie videos over and over.

FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK: KIRSTY MacCOLL + POGUES

TENPOLE TUDOR: SWORDS OF A THOUSAND MEN [Stiff] ooh! When was he Adam Ant?! I don't remember!

this'll be the only tenpole that's less than turgid, in my opium.

LENE LOVICH: [Pop-Up] LUCKY NUMBER [Stiff]

NICK LOWE - CRUEL TO BE KIND [HQ New Audio] Reminds me of Shirley Brilleaux [nee Alford's] wedding to $tiff co-founder - Lee fr

NICK LOWE - CRUEL TO BE KIND [HQ New Audio] Reminds me of Shirley Brilleaux [nee Alford's] wedding to $tiff co-founder - Lee from Dr. Feelgood in Hammond, LA: this and booze! Best Wedding ever!

Little Nashville: Murfreesboro's Murphy Center [MTSU]

By ERIN EDGEMON Business Editor Elvis Presley, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, The Who, The Beach Boys and Garth Brooks; all are legendary musicians who have sold millions of records. But there’s something else that these performers have in common. They all performed at Murphy Center on the MTSU campus during the height of their careers. From 1973 through 1995, Murphy Center was Middle Tennessee’s premier indoor concert venue. After the opening of the Sommet Center (then the Nashville Arena) in Nashville in 1996, Murphy Center has rarely been used as a music venue. The Sommet Center can hold up to 20,000 people for concerts, a number Murphy Center couldn’t compete with. Founding director of MTSU Student Programming Harold Smith said Murphy Center was the largest indoor venue in the Nashville area until 1996 with a capacity of just over 12,000, and it could generate the revenues promoters and artists required at that time. “That is pretty much what sold Murphy Center,” Smith said. At the time, Murphy Center was at the mercy of the regional promoters who booked the concerts. During Murphy Center’s peak, a typical tour route was Louisville, MTSU and then Atlanta, or Charlotte, Knoxville, MTSU and then Memphis. But to get on that route MTSU had to prove it had a viable venue especially when the stage crew was mostly made up of students. “The thing that cinched it was Elvis Presley,” Smith said. The King Elvis, one of the best-loved performers in the world, performed five times at Murphy Center to soldout crowds. And unlike most concerts, the rows were filled with families: grandparents, parents and children who wanted to get a glimpse of the King of Rock and Roll. Smith remembers fans flashing pictures from the front to the back of the venue and women rushing to the stage screaming. Tickets to the first Elvis concert on March 14, 1974 went on sale two months in advance. It sold out in one day. Smith referred to Elvis as a “friendly kind of guy,” but he thought it was strange how worked up and excited he got before a show. But when Elvis hit the stage following the intro to “2001: A Space Odyssey” it was magic. “When he came out and did the ‘2001’ thing, the hair stood up on the back of my neck,” recalled Chris Shofner, an MTSU student at the time. “There was definite star power there. He put on an incredible show.” Jere Chessor remembers his parents seeing Presley in concert. “Like any woman at that time, my mom was just in heaven,” he said. “She was just swooning when they got home. She remarked about how gorgeous he was. She was just in heaven.” Smith remembered the diamond rings Elvis wore on his fingers. As Presley was preparing to take the stage, Smith watched as Joe Esposito, Elvis’ road manager, wrapped fresh-colored tape over Elvis’ knuckles. Smith learned that he did this before every show so fans couldn’t pull off his jewelry when he put his hands in the crowd. The Who The Who concert Nov. 25, 1975 was what put Murphy Center on the map for rock and roll concerts. “I bought tickets the day they came on sale,” said Chessor, who skipped class at Motlow State Community College to buy tickets to the show. He managed to buy tickets eight rows from the front. “It was unbelievable that they would come to Murfreesboro,” Chessor said, remembering how “sparkling and new” Murphy Center was at the time. What Chessor remembers most about the concert was lead singer Roger Daltrey’s high-energy stage performance. “Roger Daltrey was really dynamic,” he said. “He must really have been high or something. “It was just incredible,” Chessor added. A review of the concert written in the 1976 MTSU yearbook, The Midlander, said the “concert had been greatly anticipated by most everyone. “Tiny, penetrating light rays of red and green panned out across the darkened Murphy Center. Fans stood in awe waiting for something more.” Shofner recalled that The Who was touring on the release of their seventh album “By Numbers.” “They only did two or three shows in the states and that was one of them,” he said of the Murphy Center show. The Who were testing out the show in Murfreesboro. Shofer said it was really unusual to have a band like The Who in a town like Murfreesboro. “It was a hell of a show,” he said. Other legendary shows Everyone from Bob Hope, John Denver, Tina Turner, Journey, Styx, Billy Joel and George Strait performed at Murphy Center. Chessor sat four rows back for the Styx concert June 29, 1983. “You could see the sweat coming off of (frontman) Dennis DeYoung,” he said. Chessor also recalled seeing Seals & Crofts perform Oct. 30, 1976. He saw George Strait play in the round April 7, 1995. The Midlander from 1977 called Seals & Crofts three-hour show “a hell-rousing performance.” Smith said Journey caused the biggest reaction of any concert on the MTSU campus when tickets first went on sale for the April 14, 1983 show. “When we put tickets on sale at the box office, the line for tickets completely circled the top of Murphy Center twice,” he said. That line formed five days before tickets were scheduled to go on sale. Shofner saw Linda Ronstandt perform Oct. 18, 1975. He recalled a relatively short show, which she closed by saying “Goodnight Vanderbilt.” Crosby, Stills & Nash performed “Teach Your Children Well” as an encore to their concert, Shofner said. “Everyone knew the song. About halfway through the song (Crosby, Stills & Nash) basically stopped playing and the whole crowd was singing the words. “That was an experience,” he said. Wendy Bryant was a student at MTSU when she saw Garth Brooks perform one of the five times he played Murphy Center. “It was actually one of the best shows that I have ever seen,” she said. “He was really energetic and he connected with everyone in the arena.” Bryant also remembers passing up tickets to see The Judds Farewell Concert, which was broadcast on television from Murphy Center, Dec. 4, 1991. Tammi Brumfield, who was an MTSU student at the time, remembers working as a seat filler for the The Judds Farewell. “One of the things I remember most vividly about that show is sitting in the back of the venue behind a couple of big monitors and being amazed at how much bigger the venue looked on those screens than it did sitting inside of it,” she said. Brumfield also remembers catching ZZ Top Sept. 18, 1991 and Rush Feb. 23, 1994. Joey Mears, of Murfreesboro, remembers seeing Pearl Jam March 26, 1994. He had general admission floor seats. “I fought my way up to the front and hung on to the barricade,” he said. What Mears remembers most about the show is the double guitar smash just before the encore. “I had hair fill of splinters,” Mears said. Mears also saw Bon Jovi, White Zombie and Nine Inch Nails. “One of my biggest memories (from the Nine Inch Nails show) was one of my friends came and leaned on me, and she passed out. I thought I should help her, but I didn’t want to miss any of the show.”

BRIAN WILSON: Do It Again [Wall of Voodoo]

BRIAN WILSON: Do It Again [Wall of Voodoo]
Video sent by mrjyn

Beach Boys: RAPIDO [1988/89] this is the best intro ever! je coeur Rapido!

Carl Wilson [Tomorrow 1981 (2/2)]

tomorrow Carl Wilson live at the (I think) Tom Snyder show (??), 1981.

This is part 2: an interview with Carl Wilson, after which he performs another song, Heaven...but unfortunately it's incomplete. When I bought on of my BB-video's this recording was at the very end of the tape...

Bob Dylan - Beyond Here Lies Nothin' - Together Through Life

Bob Dylan 2009 Pate NJN Together Through Life Beyond Here Lies Nothing music Together-Through-Life Beyond- Here-Lies-Nothing