twang

Ah, too too bad. But guitar legend Bob Bogle died Sunday. Who has NOT learned a Ventures song in this room? Stand up. I didn't think so. Everyone has done it. And anyone who tried realized that it was not as easy as it sounded.

The simple melody, the repeating riff, it all sounded so cool and so accessible. But when you learned those riffs, suddenly you knew that you were only copying the notes. The feel, the sound, the audacity to play such a bare bones production. Only Booker T and the MG's came close.

Formed in 1958 with fellow guitar player Don Wilson, they started the act as a duo in Tacoma Washington, probably being the first of the real Northwest sound bands to make it outside the northwest. And somehow managed to survive the Beatles and the British invasion. They both knew each other and worked as stone masons before hitting the clubs to watch bands and hang with their guitars. They had a single in 1959 that featured vocals, but it was a flop.

They soon added musicians to fill out their sound and had their first huge hit with "Walk, Don't Run" in 1960. It almost never got off the ground. After they recorded the song, they went shopping for a label. No one was biting so they formed their own label and by chance a local DJ had a copy of their record which he used to intro the news.

This was the break they needed. With the hit behind them, one more piece of luck moved the band into legendary territory. Nokie Edwards and Bob Bogle switched instruments- Nokie to lead guitar, and Bob to bass. A perfect fit. Bob had defined the sound and feel of the Ventures and Nokie ran with it.

And who didn't want to buy a Fender Jaguar after that? Thats Bob at the top left.

Double bass

This is the part of writing that sucks. When ya gotta get down and and say a few words about someone extraordinary. Today it'sLuigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni. We know him as Louie Bellson.

Born in Rock Falls, Illinois on July 6, 1924. Obviously of Italian heritage, he got behind the drum kit when he was 3. But boy , did this guy play with them. let's see. Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee in the 1943 movie The Powers Girl, and with Carmen Miranda in The Gangs All Here. Barely out of his teens he joined up with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton and other jazz heavy weights in the 1948 classic A Song is Born.

Not one to be affected by stardom or the Hollywood lifestyle, even after marrying Pearl Baily in 1952. They remained married until she died in 1990.

I can't even list the major players he played with during his career. So good that Buddy Rich asked him to lead HIS band, when he was off sick. Now that's a gig. He was one of the first drummers to play a real big kit, 2 bass drums and all. That's scary with him behind it.

He continued to arrange and lead bands right up until his death. That's him up there with Carmen.

rough day

So here's a big hit for network TV classics fans. Ricardo Montalban died today at 88. Known for the role of Mr. Roarke on the series Fantasy Island, Montalban got his start in his native Mexico on stage and film.

Hollywood called in the late forties and he earned his wages in a variety of "ethnic" roles, often as Asians, Native Americans or as Khan Noonien Singh, first in the original Star Trek series in 1967 and later in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.

His portfolio included stints as diverse as Dora the Explorer (makes sense) and Freakaziod (what?)

And, for cult TV fans its sad to say Patrick McGoohan died too. Yesterday actually, he was 80. Irish born McGoohan like many started on the stage. After turning to film he landed the starring role in Danger Man, a UK hit spy series.

he grew tired of the role and pitched the series that was to become The Prisoner. It was his baby. He wrote, produced, directed and starred as the character simply call Number 6.

People's Painter

There are few jobs that have built in positives AND negatives. There is no wiggle room when it comes to either. No matter how hard you try, you are always balancing in between the two. Cops have it, news anchors, men and women of cloth and political cartoonists.

Boris Yefimov died yesterday at the age of 108. That's right 108! He witnessed the revolution, civil wars, 2 world wars, the end of the Cold War and the new cold war. Eclipsing all others he was easily Russia's best political cartoonist.

Close shaves were common in Soviet Russia. Stability and common sense meant anyone in the public had better trod a careful line. Boris came to fame during the Second World War satirizing Hitler and the Nazis. Stalin loved poking fun, but his shrewd political instincts told him that this was good propaganda read by leaders and rank and file alike.

Vistors to Yefimov's apartment were treated to amazing stories told with and startling accuracy for someone born in 1900. Stalin scared the shit out of him. In 1947 he received a call from him, the "boss". This is one call you don't shout from the shower that you'll call him right back.

Seems Stalin read all the papers and regularly called editors suggesting stories, changes to headlines and the occasional reminder that his staff may stop by and pick up a colleague for a ride around the block. In this instance he was trying to get the focus on an American military buildup in the Arctic.

Yefimov had promised, the day before, a cartoon on the subject and it had not yet shown up. A regular propagandist for Izvestia, Stalin was well aware of the calibre of his cartoons. Anyway, Uncle Joe was on the line and he wanted to know where his cartoon was. In fact he wanted it by the evening edition, barely 2 hours away. Yefimov said he was convinced he was dead. So much to do in such short time. He DID finish it but was surprised to find out that Stalin had re-wrote the cartoon's caption, using red crayon to scrawl over his original words before submitting for publication.

Born Boris Fridland in Kiev of Jewish parents he didn't really get off to a good start with art classes, but doggedly kept drawing and copying his favourite cartoons. Encouraged by his brother Mikhail, (who became a journalist) he entered art school. But civil war broke out and he and his brother thought it prudent to adopt less Jewish sounding names. He chose Yefimov, and Mikhail a Kolstov.

Boris followed him to Moscow and got his first political cartoon published in Pravda in 1922. The rest is history, a lot of it.

For today, I'll sign off and go see what fodder exists for modern cartoonists. I suspect there is plenty of it.

Last flight.

Kermit Love, the costume designer, who along with Jim Henson, created such amazing puppets like Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster (my favourite) and Snuffleupagus died this past Saturday. He was a versatile designer in demand with the ballet elite including Twyla Tharpe and Jerome Robbins.

Jim Henson sketched out Big Bird for the 1969 debut of Sesame Street and Love created the actual puppet, all 8 feet of it. He started making puppets in 1935 for a federal Works Progress Administration theater (I`ll have to look that up), and was a costume designer for Orson Wells Mercury Theatre before working for the New York City Ballet.

He also couched puppeteers in getting into the role of the puppets personality. And no, he`s not Kermit the Frog`s namesake. See ya Willy.

Tiled walls are best.

I pride myself in being able to whistle pretty good. I may not do complete sonatas but I can warble a very recognizable Four Seasons. As anyone who whistles knows, there are a few choice spots that just have the right acoustics to give your twitterings body, depth and dimension. No other place serves this purpose better than a good public bathroom. The tiled walls, the yards of mirrors, the hard floors breath life into this simple instrument.

One melody I enjoy most is the Star Trek theme from the original TV series. I have been whistling it for years. I am ashamed to say I never took the time to find out where it came from. I, like most others, just thought, well, it came from the TV show. Some contract writer pumped it out.

Well, that isn't too far from the truth. Alexander Courage, a musical arranger for Twentieth Century Fox got the nod to do the theme for the pilot. In one of those weird twists of business fate, Gene Rodenberry wrote some lyrics to go with it, (believe it or not) and in so doing cut in half any royalties Courage would have received on the playing of that song over the past 40 years.

Alexander Courage was definitely the real deal. Emmy winner, Oscar nominated. He arranged such hits as My Fair Lady, Hello Dolly and Fiddler on the Roof. But you do just one thing that marks your career for ever. And that was Star Trek in 1965. He also did some music for The Waltons and Lost in Space.

Courage died May 15 at the age of 88.

Keep on rolling . . .

Thelma Keane died last Friday. She was the husband of Bill Keane, creator of the Family Circus comic strip. The strip has been in continuous syndication since the early 60's and appears in over 1500 newspapers worldwide.

The model and inspiration for the mom in the one panel strip, she was recognized on the street in the early days, so close was the cartoon to the real person.

Bill and Thelma met during WWII in Australia. They worked in the same war bonds office, she was a secretary and he was a promo artist for the American military. They married in 1948 and returned with Bill to the states.

Thelma was a big part of the Family Circus's success on another front too: she was a shrewd business manager, keeping the business of the daily strip in well organized hands.

Originally called the Family Circle (hence the round panel) they changed the name because of objections from that other famous Family Circle, the magazine. Bill Keane still draws the cartoon today at age 85 with the help of his son Jeff.

But will it get that gritty feeling out of the back of your head?

Died April 29, Albert Hofmann, Swiss scientist, inventor of LSD, studier of plants and animals, particularly natural substances that could be used to benefit people. Of note is his research into chitin, a cellulose-ish, fibre-y substance found in the shells of bugs and such.

But we all remember him for coming across lysergic acid diethylamide in 1938. I know I do. Actually he shelved the research for 5 or so years and it wasn't until 1943 that he got serious with what this stuff was. Legend has it he absorbed some of it through his fingers while handling ingredients and had a short 2 hour "trip". Soon thereafter, he deliberately experimented with it over a period of a week or so with his research colleagues. (I would like to see their notes.) This leads to another legend, the "Bicycle day", where he took a good sized dose on purpose. Not surprisingly he got good and looped and had an assistant ride him home on his bike. It was quite fun apparently.

During this trip he summoned a doctor just in case. He reported that some aspects of the experience were scary: For example, he feared he was possessed by demons, his furniture was talking to him and his neighbor was a witch. The doctor could find nothing physically wrong and just sent him to bed. Here he calmed down and had pleasant dreams filled with rainbows and sounds transformed into colours.

Cade's cola

Gatorade inventor, Dr. Robert Cade, died today in Jacksonville, Florida. He was 80. Originally developed for the Florida Gators football team, the beverage has become a sports icon equal to Nike.

Cade and three others came up with the original formula in 1965. The sweltering Florida heat took its toll on local athletes and Cade wanted to create a drink that replaced what the body flushed out in sweat. Rather that just water or juice, he wanted a product that replaced vital chemicals, a true designer liquid.

According to lore, the first batch cost less than $50 in supplies and didn't taste very good, but it did do what it was supposed to do. To quell complaints they added sugar and lemon juice. It launched a year later, the year that Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy, a brought fame to Florida AND made Gatorade a household word.

Eeek, a mouse.

Joey Bishop, the 5th and last surviving member of the Rat Pack, died today, he was 89. Born in the Bronx, Joseph Abraham Gottlieb, was a comedian from the start. Unlike the other Rat Pack-ers, who were actors and singers first (true song and dance men) Bishop did stand up. He started doing vaudeville before he went off to war.

When he returned he went back to comedy, this time stand up in clubs, radio and that fledgling medium, television. Frank Sinatra caught his act and helped him get better gigs, including working with Sinatra.

Always the sombre "rat", his long face and quiet delivery eaned him a reputation for being the responsible one of the gang, the designated driver. He never matched his buddies for partying and girl chasing. In fact he was married to only one woman, Sylvia Ruzga, for nearly 60 years.

With the exception of a few movies in the fifties and early sixties, most notably, Ocean's Eleven, he was working the Vegas Clubs with the Rat Pack. TV offers surfaced starting in 1960 with many appearances on the tonight show hosted by comedy heavyweights Jack Parr and Steve Allen.

Soon after he starred in his own comedy show, The Joey Bishop Show, about a guy who stars in a late night talk show. When will they learn. Anyway it didn't last past a few seasons. Next was his own late night talk show, a real one, but it fizzled. Partly because Bishop was a comedian, not an interviewer, and partly because now he was up against the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at the helm. A young up and comer, Regis Philbin, was his sidekick.

Ironically, Bishop would guest host the Tonight Show more than 150 times.

Sometimes he appeared to be the junior member of the Rat Pack, or mascot. In typical Joey Bishop fashion he's quoted as saying “But even the mascot gets to carry the ball, too,”

A buck or two.

Actress Lois Maxwell, famous for her role as Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond films including The Spy Who Loved Me, View to a Kill and Dr. No died today. She was 80 years old. The Canadian born actress left home at 15 to join up and was touring Europe in a song and dance troup as a member of the Army Entertainment Corps when they figured out she was a minor. She was so good no one wanted her to be sent back so she enrolled in Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. It turned out to be a good career move.

After the war she went to Hollywood and worked with Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan in That hagen Girl, earning her a Golden Globe. Then she appeared in a Life Magazine spread featuring up and comers of the day with another aspiring actress - Marilyn Monroe.

Rome called and she lived there in the 50's where she worked in film and met her husband, Peter Marriot. Next its a move to London and a family was started. It was during this time that she was appraoched about what was to be her iconic role, the flirtatious secretary to M. She lasted through 2 Bonds, Sean Connery (argueably the best) and Roger Moore (most prolific).

Canadian born, she returned to Canada after her husband died in 1973 and worked in film and television, wrote a newspaper column and just hung out and chilled.

She moved back to England and thence to Fremantle Australia, where she died. Roger Moore said at one time "I think it was a great disappointment to her that she had not been promoted to play M. She would have been a wonderful M."

Strong brew.

Austrian jazz pianist, Joe Zawinul died today. He was 75. An accomplished keyboardist, Joe played for Dinah Washington, Maynard Ferguson and scored hits for Cannonball Adderly like the 1966 gospel tinged Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.

A regular at New York's Birdland nightclub, he was never afraid to blend other musical styles into his sound. Rock, soul, gospel, r&b all mixed in with his sound. And he played electric piano, pretty out there when the only electrified instruments in jazz had mainly been guitar and organ.
He met Miles Davis there and the 2 worked together on In a Silent Way (for which he wrote the title song) and then by 1970 he worked with Davis on Bitches Brew, the landmark jazz fusion album. This same year saw the beginning of one his most enduring projects; Weather Report. Together with saxopohinist Wayne Shorter they defined jazz fusion for over 15 years.

A year later he founded the Zawinul Syndicate and had just finished a tour of Europe marking its 20th anniversary this past spring.

Uh huh

Max Roach died today, he was 83. I had the good fortune to see him play when he was young, say about 60. He had another drummer, sorry I forget your name, that played with him, backed HIM up, another drummer. He had a drum kit he sat at and another one he stood at for timpani and cymbal work. The kind of show that either inspires you to take up the instrument or go home and burn your vintage Gretsch jazz kit in the fireplace.

His resume includes gigs with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus. One of the architects of bebop, he just stayed curious with music all his life. A bit of luck doesn't hurt either. His first big role came when the drummer for Duke Ellington got sick, and he filled in for 3 nights. I'd be wearing Depends.

And oh yeah, Elvis died 30 years ago today.

Where's my beret.

Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman died today in Faro, Sweden. He was 89. Responsible for bringing the serious to serious films, he made over 50 of them. Lovingly photographed and often with zany, unreal scenes, his movies enshrined cold winter nights and weak frozen sunlight peaking through trees.

He traded some tin soldiers for his brother's magic lantern when he was a child after falling under its spell when it entered their household. Life was strict in the Bergman household and he left as soon as he could when he was 19.

Drama was his first love and he made a name directing plays through the war years. He moved on to TV dramas in te 50's and worked out parts of his movies either on stage or through made for TV series. Anyone who can make a movie based on the black plague, and make it work, has to be good.

How green is my lonelyness.

Jean-Paul Sartre, born this day in 1905. French existentialist, playwright and author. He served in WWII and was captured. The clever fellow escaped and went on to serve in the resistance. He even wrote his first plays during the war. Hats off to a writer who can make plays about existentialism fun.

Notable passings this week.

Donald Herbert, known to television fans as Mr. Wizard, died yesterday, he was 89. A throwback to a gentler time in television, he was, like the other Misters (Rogers and Dressup) respectful to his audience and cared to get things right, because it mattered. And he could do things the network lawyers would never let anyone do nowadays. Holy crow some kid might try it at home!

Kurt Waldheim, former UN Secretary General and former president of Austria, died today, he was 88. Most of his political life was dogged by assertions he had been at worst a WWII war criminal or at least knew of them. This did not stop him being elected Austrian president in the 80's.

And . . . .

Edwin Traisman, 91, died June 9. He worked for Kraft foods and helped develop Cheez Whiz (thank heavens) and instant pudding. Hmmm, seems to have a creamy, sauce -ish theme going. And to round out a healthy meal he patented a method to freeze the french fries used in McDonald's restaurants.