Obituaries

[fangz1956]

Thanks for posting that, Uji. I've always loved Hitch's writing. Even if I couldn't agree 100% with what he was saying, I loved the fact that his writing always makes think about the subject from a different perspective. I think he said and thought things that others were/are too afraid to touch. An example of this would a piece he wrote about Mother Teresa in 2003. He dared to shine a light in the dark corners and had the brass to call her a fraud. Don't know that I can agree with all he said, but what he said and the way he said it is a pointed reminder that the media doesn't always reveal all sides of any given story or person. How refreshing to think that even saints can a dark and flawed side.

If you haven't read the piece and would like to, here's the link:

Mommie Dearest

[Uji]

The Mother T article is the perfect example of how Hitchens never let others do his thinking for him. Any position he took was one he'd worked out for himself and to his own satisfaction. That didn't make him right, but it sure made him hard to argue with. That's the reason he was so often so funny, I think. He could turn "common-sensical" ways of thinking on their head, and suddenly you could see how nonsensical they actually are.

PS Elizabeth Warren (running for the Senate in MA) somehow seems to be cut from the same cloth. She lacks most of Hitchens's less than endearing qualities but seems to retain all the positive ones. She looks like she might actually win, too.

[Wise One]

[fangz1956]

Self-destruction.........what a shame and what a talent wasted.

[fangz1956]

Ballerina Zina Bethune

What a lady!!!!

[Wise One]

We should file this one under "No good deed goes unpunished."

I had not even heard of her but I knew somebody who might — my wife, who danced for George Balanchine long ago. Here's what she said:

Oh yes. Very sad. She was Clara when I was in The Nutcracker. Her mom Ivy, also an actor, was my acting coach. We were friends.

Her acting career was not long, but it had some shining moments. She was incredible in the TV special playing the lead in This Property is Condemned. When she starred in the one-season TV drama, The Nurses (this was during the whole TV doctor craze) her scenes with guest star William Shatner were amazing.

I had written a note to reconnect with her two years ago, but felt funny about sending it. It's still in my ToDo folder.

She used her dance to do wonderful work and her death was senseless and horrible.

She was a strange girl growing up. Her father had died before she was born and she had a dramatic and (I thought) morbid obsession with him. She kept a plaster cast of his hand on her nightstand.

I found out recently that Balanchine's The Nutcracker was in its first couple of years of existence as a ballet when I was cast. I think Zina was its first young star. My mom loved her too. I will post some pictures of us today on FB, from a Life Mag article on The Nutcracker.

Posthumous PETA Award

[Wise One]

Earl Scruggs, an inspiration to thousands of musicians and wannabes, died. He was great!

[Neck-aint-red]

Mike Wallace

[Juggler]

Obituary

Michael "Flathead" Blanchard 1944 ~ 2012

A Celebration of the life of Michael "Flathead" Blanchard will be held on April 14th, 3 pm 8160 Rosemary St, Commerce City. Weary of reading obituaries noting someone's courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors' orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died.

Mike was born July 1944 in Colorado to Clyde and Ethel Blanchard. A community activist, he is noted for saving the Dr. Justina Ford house from demolition and defending those who could not defend themselves. He was a Republican delegate, life member of the NRA, founder and President of the Dead Cats MC. He loved music.

Mike was preceded in death by Clyde and Ethel Blanchard, survived by his beloved sons Mike and Chopper, former wife Jane Transue, brother Stephen Blanchard (Susan), Uncle Don and Aunt Cynthia Blanchard(his favorite); Uncle Dill and Aunt Dot, cousins and nephews, Baba Yaga can kiss his butt. So many of his childhood friends that weren't killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend.

Published in Denver Post on April 12, 2012

[fangz1956]

Dick Clark, America's Perennial Teenager

[fangz1956]

[Wise One]

A happy wedding day at the door of Lee Chapel.

Father, their son, and now Mother, all dead.

[fangz1956]

[Wise One]

Mayberry fades from our world if not from our hearts. I had the pleasure of meeting Don Knotts a few years before he died, at his book signing at the National Press Club, and once saw Jack Dodson in a little play at Fords Theater. Haven't met the rest of them, but I first learned of "Deacon" Andy Griffith when I was a very young boy. He was about 27 when he did his amazing comedy routine "What it was, was football." It made him a star.

[fangz1956]

The Queen of Disco.........lots of dancing the night away back in the day to her wonderful music.

[fangz1956]

Robin Gibb

[fangz1956]

The Master is gone.......................

[fangz1956]

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."





Master of Science Fiction

[Wise One]

Doc Watson was the best of the best, an amazing guitar picker. I had the pleasure and good fortune to see him in live performance at least 6 times, in venues across the country. I even saw him perform with his son Merle, in McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, fantastic, a few years before his son's untimely death in a tractor accident.

[Wise One]