Where you gettin' this? I don't see any sources.

they just announced in on ABC 7 news here in Chicago. They said the Sun Times was the first notified by the family.

Sun Times story link is no good even though it was made 45 mintues ago


Edit: ok...here's front page of their site.
Sun Times

Looks legit.

yeah i finally got it too.

sad....guy was funny.


right nick?

Anthony Russo, Pentagon Papers figure, dies at 71

23 minutes ago

Anthony J. Russo, a researcher who helped leak the Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers to the media and prompted wider public questioning of the war, has died, police said.

Russo, 71, died in his native Suffolk on Wednesday, police records technician Susan Hart said Sunday. The cause of death was not immediately made public.

The case that became known as the Pentagon Papers helped put the Vietnam War on trial.

It began when Daniel Ellsberg, a top military analyst disillusioned with American policy, decided to release a top-secret, 47-volume Defense Department study of the U.S. role in Indochina over three decades. Russo helped him reproduce and distribute copies of the study.

Ellsberg first offered the study to several members of Congress and government officials before deciding to leak it to newspapers. His action was branded by President Richard Nixon as treason.

The government initially tried to stop publication of the Pentagon Papers, first in The New York Times and then in The Washington Post, prompting a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision barring prior restraint of free expression.

Ellsberg and Russo were subsequently charged with espionage, theft and conspiracy for the leak. As co-defendants, they subsequently went on trial in Los Angeles, where the papers had been copied.

But in 1973, a federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that the government was guilty of misconduct, including a break-in at the office of Ellsberg's Beverly Hills psychiatrist denounced as having been orchestrated by White House officials seeking to discredit him.

The Times reported on its Web site Sunday that Russo "chafed being called the 'Xerox aide'" because of his long nights spent copying and reproducing the classified study's thousands of pages.

Russo, a Rand Corp. researcher, visited Vietnam for a study involving interrogating Viet Cong prisoners. He came back radicalized.

"I knew what I was told about the war was totally false," he said.

Ellsberg met Russo in Saigon in 1965 and they were both troubled by what they saw during their research there.

"In 1968 I came back and Dan was across the hall at Rand," Russo recalled. "He had been a total hawk in Vietnam. But everything about him seemed shattered. It was as if he was trying to grow himself back. He was going through a metamorphosis. ... He was very tortured. There was no way he could justify the war anymore."

Ellsberg went on to become an anti-war icon. Russo, retired as a researcher for Los Angeles County, subsequently devoted himself to anti-nuclear issues and led Persian Gulf War protests.

Ellsberg mourned Russo's death in a posting on an anti-war blog linked to his official Web site. He called him a courageous collaborator.

"I knew that he was the one person with the combination of guts and passionate concern about the war who would take the risk of helping me," Ellsberg wrote.

It was not immediately known if Russo had any survivors. Funeral arrangements were unknown.

Isaac Hayes dead at 65.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/1...obit/index.html

If I were a member of this cast I'd be worried.

Nah. Morgan Freeman was obviously slated to be the first of the three followed by Mac and Hayes. The Grim Reaper is out there somewhere spiking some salmon mousse out of frustration at being cheated.

Has Tony just had a massive erection all weekend

I don't root for people to die! I just convey the information. For instance, Paul Newman has weeks to live and I'm not the least bit happy.

Jack A. Weil, the oldest working CEO in America and patriarch of a LoDo clothing company that put the snap in western wear, died Wednesday night at the age of 107.

Weil died at home surrounded by members of his family, said his oldest grandson, Steve. A service is scheduled for Sunday at Temple Emanuel, but a time has not been set.

Since founding the Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Company in 1946, "Papa Jack" Weil and his company have been a fixture in lower downtown. He saw value in the former warehouse district long before it became fashionable as LoDo.

With his cowboy hat, a folksy manner and his favorite greeting — "Where you from?" — he would welcome everyone from truck drivers to celebrities like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Robert Redford and Eric Clapton.

They all got the same friendly treatment, said Steve Weil, who went to work for his grandfather full-time in the 1980s.

Status never matter. "He didn't care about what you were, he cared about who you were," his grandson said.

His death comes about eight months after his son, Jack B. Weil died.

Until a few weeks ago, the eldest Weil was a fixture in the store on a part of Wazee Street that the city renamed "Jack A. Weil Boulevard" when he turned 100.

Each day, he would put in about four hours at the store serving as the official greeter before heading for lunch with his son at the Denver Athletic Club.

For many years, his grandfather was "kind of the family secret," Steve Weil said, someone his family admired and loved.

But in recent years, he became the face of the company and later a memorable symbol for the city itself. He was featured on billboards and videos created by the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"He was part of our brand. He's part of what makes Denver the West," Mayor John Hickenlooper said, who remembered Weil for his entrepreneurial spirit and ceaseless optimism.

"He was somebody who just by being in the room helped everyone feel better," said Hickenlooper, who remembered first meeting "Jack A." back in 1987, when he asked him to sign a petition for a liquor license for what became the Wynkoop Brewing Co.

Hickenlooper remembered Weil being skeptical of the idea of opening a restaurant in what had been a warehouse district, but on his grandson's recommendation he signed the petition.

"He believed in self-reliance, but also in the value of community," Hickenlooper said, recalling the care Weil took in his business relations with the retailers who sold his western wear.

Andrew Hudson, who got to know Weil better while serving as spokesman for former Mayor Wellington Webb, said the 107-year-old businessman's influence went far beyond LoDo.

"He was an icon," Hudson said. "He believed in business ethics long before it became a buzzword."

Hudson said his own life was influenced by Weil. At one point, Hudson was one of several finalists for a spokesman's job with Wal-Mart. But after thinking of the mega-corporation's impact on mom-and-pop businesses, and also thinking of Weil, Hudson said he withdrew from consideration for the job.

Westword Editor Patricia Calhoun recalled meeting Jack A. Weil back in the 1970s when Westword's offices were located near Rockmount.

"He was just funny as anything and really created a tremendous legacy in this town. She enjoyed seeing him every St. Patrick's Day in McCormick's restaurant.

"He always had a twinkle in his eye and told these great jokes, usually at the expense of Democrats," she recalled. It probably would have tickled him to see Democrats buying his shirts during the convention later this month, she said.

Stewart Patton, the doorman at the Oxford Hotel got to know Weil after helping him into a car one day. "He said, 'Where you from?'"

And I said, 'Oh a little town in Indiana you probably never heard of,"

"Try me," Weil answer.

"Poseyville, Indiana," Patton said.

"Poseyville? That's seven miles from Harmony. My brother and I used to herd cattle through there in 1918.

Thereafter, Weil would always say howdy to Patton, and then, with a twinkle in his eye, added, "do you believe he didn't think I knew where Poseyville was."

Weil was born March 28, 1901 in Evansville, IN, where his father Abraham, who lived until 90, was a cattleman.

During a labor shortage in World War I, Weil went to work after school in the DS Bernstein Overall Factory, where he began a lifetime of learning in the apparel manufacturing business.

When he started Rockmount, Weil became what his grandson called "the Henry Ford" of western shirts by inventing the sawtooth pocket and diamond snap design.

Weil is survived by his daughter Jane Romberg of Steamboat Springs and by five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Blink-182 and Morrissey producer Jerry Finn has been taken off life
support after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage last month.
According to a post on the Prosoundweb forum reprinted on Morrissey-
Solo.com, Finn's family made the decision on Saturday.


"Even though he did make snail-like improvement these past 31 days, he
is not any better for words and has not had any consistency in the
tests that the medical team have done for him," a close Finn friend
wrote on the forum. "At this time the hemorrhage has done massive
damage to his body which will leave him severely disabled and in need
of acute care for the rest of his life. We know Jerry wouldn't want to
live like this in a vegetative state."


Finn, 38, got his start as an engineer in the early 1990s before
shifting into production on such albums as Rancid's "...And Out Come
the Wolves." Among his best-known production credits are Blink-182's
"Enema of the State" and Morissey's "You Are the Quarry." Finn has
also worked with Green Day, Bad Religion, Sparta, AFI and the
Offspring, among many others.


Finn had also lent production to Morrissey's upcoming "Years of
Refusal," which has been bumped from a fall release to Feb. 2, 2009,
according to Truetoyou.net.

But this board does have a raging hard-on for the dead guy who played in the gay cowboy movie.

Music industry legend Jerry Wexler, who kick-started his career as a Billboard journalist in the late 1940s and went on to cultivate the careers of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin while a partner at Atlantic Records, has died at the age of 91 at his home in Siesta Key, Fla.

Wexler was born on Jan. 10, 1917, into a Jewish family in the Bronx. After graduating from the school now known as Kansas State University and spending a stint in the Army, he was hired in 1947 at BMI, writing continuity copy for radio stations and plugging the organization's songs.

Later that year a friend recommended him to Billboard, where he was hired with a starting pay of $75 a week. At Billboard, Wexler invented the term "rhythm & blues" to replace the name "race records," which was then the name of the chart tracking such music.

He stayed at Billboard until 1951, when he went to work for Big Three, the music publishing arm of MGM Records. The following year, Atlantic Records tried to recruit him, but Wexler said he would only join if he was made a partner, and nothing happened. A year later, when co-founder Herb Abramson joined the Army, Atlantic came back with another offer and this time agreed to take him in as a partner.

Atlantic had already established itself as an up-and-coming R&B label thanks to hits from artists like Ruth Brown, Joe Turner, Stick McGhee and the Clovers, with the just-signed Ray Charles waiting in the wings. If Atlantic founders Abramson and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun led the way into exploring rhythm and blues, it would be Wexler who ultimately led the label deep into Southern soul.


In 1965, he signed a distribution deal for Memphis-based Satellite Records, which was putting out songs by Carla Thomas. That label would later become known as Stax. Before long, Stax began a golden era of hits from Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd and William Bell, among others.

Before long, Wexler had begun using FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., as a home base for sessions. "More than any other locale or individual, Muscle Shoals changed my life -- musically and every which way," Wexler wrote in his 1994 autobiography, "Rhythm & the Blues: A Life in American Music."

The first artist he brought to Muscle Shoals was Aretha Franklin, whose 1967 debut, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You," redefined soul music.

As the '60s wore on, Wexler grew more involved with producing and much less with running Atlantic, although he was still closely involved in signing Led Zeppelin, the J. Geils Band and Donnie Hathaway. He left Atlantic for good in 1975, but resurfaced two years later returned as VP of A&R for Warner Bros. Records.

In his autobiography, Wexler says that with the help of Karen Berg, they signed the B-52's, Dire Straits and Gang Of Four. During the latter half of the 1970s, Wexler produced Etta James' "Deep in the Night," Bob Dylan's Christian album, "Slow Train Coming," Kim Carnes "Sailin'" and Dire Straits "Communique," among others.

Later in life, Wexler was involved with "The Wiz" soundtrack, the Dylan album "Saved" and recordings by a young George Michael, Bill Vera, Lou Ann Barton and Kenny Drew Jr.

Funeral details have yet to be announced.

Wexler's passing is a big one for us music folk.

I'll have to pull out my Stax box.

Should also be noted he produced Dusty In Memphis

In this Oct. 17, 1979, file photo, Jerry Wexler, is shown. Wexler, a legendary record producer, who worked with Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and other greats, has died. He was 91

Loved this bit about him producing Dylan's Slow Train Coming:

Might as well make it SOMB official


Singer Ronnie Drew dies after long illness
watch Saturday, 16 August 2008 22:21

The President has led tributes to singer Ronnie Drew who has died following a long illness.

The President said: 'It is with great sadness that I have learned of the death of the great Irish singer Ronnie Drew'.

She said he was a champion of traditional Irish music and with The Dubliners re-energised and refreshened Ireland's unique musical heritage.
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Mrs McAleese said that Mr Drew 'will be greatly missed by many, but most particularly by his family with whom our thoughts are today'.

Phelim Drew said his father passed away peacefully in St Vincent's Private hospital this afternoon, aged 73. Mr Drew's family expressed their gratitude to Professor John Crown and the entire staff of the hospital.

Drew founded the then Ronnie Drew Group in 1962 which later came to be known as The Dubliners.

The group included fellow Irish music legends Luke Kelly, Ciaran Bourke and Barney McKenna.

While Kelly was known for singing their soulful ballads, Drew will be best remembered for his gravelly-voiced renditions of rabble-rousing folk songs, like Finnegan's Wake and Dicey Reilly.

Drew sang one of the band's biggest commercial hits, when they entered the UK top 10 in 1967 with Seven Drunken Nights and appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops.

In 1995 they appeared once again on the show with Shane McGowan and the Pogues, who performed with Drew on their single The Irish Rover.

Born in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, in 1934, Drew underwent six months' treatment for throat cancer two years ago.

His wife of more than 40 years, Deirdre, died last year. The couple lived in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

He is survived by his two children, Phelim and Cliodhna, and five grandchildren.

Tributes flood in for 'iconic singer'

The Taoiseach said that the Dubliners singer had been an iconic figure in Irish music over the past five decades and that his unique singing voice had been enjoyed by many people.

Mr Cowen added that Mr Drew, whether as part of the Dubliners or during his solo career, will be remembered for his promotion of Irish music both at home and around the globe.

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen, has expressed his sadness on the death of Mr Drew.

Mr Cullen described the singer as a truly Dublin icon and part of our modern folk history.

He said 'I am sure he will be missed tonight from 'Raglan Road' to Fitzgibbon Street' and in all parts of the city of Dublin which he so romanticised about in his music and song'.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Drew's contribution to Irish music and Irish life was immeasurable and his influence would be felt for many years to come.

In a statement on U2's official website, Bono said Drew has left his earthly tour for one of the heavens.

'Music to inspire, to console... an optimism that was contagious... that's what U2 took from The Dubliners,' he said.

'Ronnie has left his earthly tour for one of the heavens... they need him up there... it's a little too quiet and pious. God is lonely for a voice louder than His own.'

I learned this morning, via an e-mail from a mutual friend who was very close to him, that the critic and artist Manny Farber died last night, at his home in San Diego, aged 91. If you've never read Farber, just stop here and get to it. His collected criticism, in a volume called Negative Space, is one of the touchstone texts of film writing—tough-minded, sharp-eyed, idiosyncratic, often wildly funny, and with a bedrock integrity and aesthetic acuity that even best best of contemporary film critics are hard-pressed to approach, let alone match. He is most often cited for coining the phrases "termite art" and "white-elephant art," two opposed categories. What I found, and find, most valuable in his criticism is his ability to apprehend the entirety of a film—he got it from every angle. He could appreciate a B war picture in the same sense that the guy on the street could, while fully comprehending its value as a work of modern/contemporary art. I'm away from my study, so I can't grab a copy of Space to quote from it willy-nilly. But I can say this: I doubt that Farber was particularly surprised by Godard's Breathless, because his criticism actively anticipated that film.
Farber's subsequent work as a painter casts its own wonderful spell, one as exhilarating and specific as his criticism. About Face, the catalog from the exhibit held at P.S. 1 in New York from a few years back, is a good introduction. The paintings, in one sense, are objective demonstrations of what he observed of "termite art," which, according to Farber, "goes always forward eating its own boundaries, and, like as not, leaves nothing in its path other than the signs of eager, industrious, unkempt activity." On the other hand, they are beautifully contained, cogent works.

He led a remarkable life and left us some remarkable gifts. I wish I'd known him. To those who did, my condolences.

Death of the French mathematician Henri Cartan 14 hours ago PARIS (AFP) - the French mathematician Henri Cartan is deceased on August 13 with l' 104 years age, one learned Monday near the ministry for Research. Medal d' however in 1976 of the National centre of Scientific research (CNRS) and rewarded in 1980 by the Wolf international prize for mathematics, Henri Cartan was a specialist in the analytical functions several complex variables, as well as theory of the potential, algebraic topology and of l' homological algebra. Born in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle), it made a long career in l' teaching, in particular with the Faculty of Science of Strasbourg, then in those of Paris and d' Orsay. He was member of several foreign institutes, of which Royal Society off London and the Academy National off Sciences American. The minister of l' Higher education and of Research, Valerie Pécresse, paid homage in an official statement to " this large mathematician français" who was " l' inspirer of l' French school of mathematics and which, thanks to its action, contributed to the radiation of this discipline".

This person isn't famous but who the hell would take out an Obit like this?


Dolores Aguilar
1929 - Aug. 7, 2008
Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by her husband, Raymond, her son, Paul Jr., and daughter, Ruby.

She is survived by her daughters Marietta, Mitzi, Stella, Beatrice, Virginia and Ramona, and son Billy; grandchildren, Donnelle, Joe, Mitzie, Maria, Mario, Marty, Tynette, Tania, Leta, Alexandria, Tommy, Billy, Mathew, Raymond, Kenny, Javier, Lisa, Ashlie and Michael; great-grandchildren, Brendan, Joseph, Karissa, Jacob, Delaney, Shawn, Cienna, Bailey, Christian, Andre Jr., Andrea, Keith, Saeed, Nujaymah, Salma, Merissa, Emily, Jayci, Isabella, Samantha and Emily. I apologize if I missed anyone.

Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.

Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again.

There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM.

Can't really judge without knowing the family. Just sad how fucked up their situation is.

Oh, yeah. It's hard to know without knowing even the situation of anyone involved, but what's written doesn't reflect well on the deceased, her family, or the person who wrote it.

http://sfist.com/2008/08/18/update_dolores...bit_is_dead.php

Amazing. Because:
1. As I read, it reminded me of my own grandmother; and
2. My grandmother lived/died in Vallejo too.

While TMI, I'm sure having that published was cathartic for her miserable family.

I agree. I don't find things like that all that shocking; in fact, I sometimes find them uplifting. That kind of honesty pierces the void of bullshit like nothing else. If she was a monster, then by all means don't fall back on simpering propriety; tell it like it is.

The Dave Matthews Band's saxophone player, LeRoi Moore, has died from injuries suffered in a June accident, a publicist tells CNN.

Johnny Moore, 70, Ska Trumpeter, Is Dead
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 20, 2008

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) Johnny Moore, a trumpeter and founding member of the pioneering Jamaican ska and reggae band the Skatalites, died on Saturday. He was 70.

He died at a friend's house after being released from the hospital where he had cancer treatment last week, said Herbie Miller, a music promoter.

Mr. Moore helped form the Skatalites in 1964 along with the saxophonists Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso and the trombonist Don Drummond.

In the months the group was together, it set about infusing jazz, movie themes and other genres with ska style. It broke up in the mid-1960s, but regrouped in New York two decades later. Two of the group’s albums, 'Hi-Bop Ska!' and 'Greetings From Skamania,' were nominated for Grammy awards.

Their music has influenced bands like 311, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and No Doubt.

Mr. Moore lived in New York City for 14 years but returned to Jamaica in the early 1980s. He last toured abroad about eight years ago with the reggae artist Bunny Wailer, and in recent years he made occasional appearances at Kingston clubs.

He is survived by four children.

tough day for the Moore family

Dorival Caymmi, Singer of Brazil, Is Dead at 94

By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: August 19, 2008

Dorival Caymmi, a Brazilian singer and songwriter who helped lay the foundations of bossa nova, wrote Carmen Miranda’s first hit and gave legendary voice to the romance of the beaches, fishing villages and bathing beauties of his native Bahia, died on Saturday at his home in Rio de Janeiro. He was 94.

The cause was multiple organ failure, according to accounts in the Brazilian news media. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, praised him as “one of the founders of Brazilian popular music.”

Mr. Caymmi’s career encompassed 60 years and about 20 albums, the last one released four years ago. But his influence transcended such measurable milestones and found enduring expression in the music of Brazilian greats like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.

In an introduction to an anthology of Mr. Caymmi’s work in 1994, Jobim, the driving force behind bossa nova, a sophisticated jazz style derived from samba, wrote: “Dorival is a universal genius. He picked up the guitar and orchestrated the world.”

From the beginning of his career, Mr. Caymmi musically imbued his country with a rhythmic, romantic identity that went well with Brazil’s enticing geography and sultry, bikini-clad women. His first and immediately popular song, written at 16, “O Que É Que a Baiana Tem?” (“What Is It About Brazilian Women?”), set the tone.

That song became the first hit of Carmen Miranda, whose well-displayed limbs, extravagant hats and exuberant voice made her a global sensation as the Brazilian Bombshell. In 1996, the publication News From Brazil said Mr. Caymmi taught Ms. Miranda to move her arms and hands with the music, which became her trademark.

Songs like “Marina” (1944) and “O Samba da Minha Terra” (1941) inspired the greats of bossa nova.

Mr. Caymmi’s easygoing style was compared by some to that of Bing Crosby, not least because of his similar velvety baritone.

The laid-back Andy Williams and Perry Como sang Mr. Caymmi’s “Das Rosas,” translated as “And Roses and Roses” by the American lyricist Ray Gilbert.

Romero Lubambo, a Brazilian guitarist who lives and plays in the United States, said in an telephone interview on Monday that it was impossible to overstate Mr. Caymmi’s public recognition in his own nation.

“Everybody who is alive in Brazil today has probably heard of him,” he said.

Writing in The New York Times in 2001, Ben Ratliff said Mr. Caymmi was perhaps second only to Jobim “in establishing a songbook of this century’s Brazilian identity.” A large part of this was evoking the life and dreams of working-class people, particularly fishermen.

Dorival Caymmi was born on April 30, 1914, in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state. He had several jobs, including that of journalist, and won a songwriting contest in 1936 as part of Salvador’s carnaval. Two years later he went to Rio de Janeiro to study law and perhaps look for a job as a journalist.

But he went into the music business, and firmly established himself with the song Ms. Miranda performed in the movie “Banana-da-Terra” (1939). He became a regular on Radio Nacional, and his fame grew. He recorded for five decades, both singing solo with his own guitar accompaniment and backed by bands and orchestras.

Mr. Caymmi married the singer Adelaide Tostes, who used the stage name Stella Maris. She survives him, along with their sons, Dori and Danilo, and their daughter, Nana, who are all also successful musicians.

News From Brazil reported that Mr. Caymmi’s nearly 70-year marriage survived some carousing on his part. It told of his wife’s finding him in a bar surrounded by women. She slammed a table, broke a glass, punched him, and left. “He was a hard act to follow,” she said, “but it was worthwhile.”

Don Helms, 81, Who Put the Twang in the Hank Williams Songbook, Is Dead

By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: August 16, 2008

Don Helms, whose piercing, forceful steel guitar helped define the sound of nearly all of Hank Williams’s hits, and who performed and recorded with a long list of other country greats, died Monday in Nashville. He was 81 and lived in Hendersonville, Tenn.

The cause was complications of heart surgery and diabetes, said Marty Stuart, a friend and fellow performer.

Mr. Helms played on more than 100 Hank Williams songs and on 10 of his 11 No. 1 country hits. He provided the dirgelike, weeping notes in songs like “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and added a catchy, propulsive twang to up-tempo numbers like “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” and “Hey, Good Lookin.’ ”

“After the great tunes and Hank’s mournful voice, the next thing you think about in those songs is the steel guitar,” said Bill Lloyd, the curator of stringed instruments at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “It is the quintessential honky-tonk steel sound — tuneful, aggressive, full of attitude.”

After Williams died in 1953, Mr. Helms embarked on a long career as a performer and songwriter. His guitar can be heard on the Patsy Cline hit “Walking After Midnight,” Stonewall Jackson’s “Waterloo,” the Louvin Brothers’ “Cash on the Barrelhead,” Lefty Frizzell’s “Long Black Veil” and Loretta Lynn’s “Blue Kentucky Girl.”

Donald Hugh Helms was born in New Brockton, Ala., and grew up on the family farm. As a boy, he listened to the Texas swing music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, whose steel guitar player, Leon McAuliffe, was a big influence, as was a local player, Neal McCormick.

At 15, he got his first steel guitar, a Sears Silvertone that was held flat on the lap, unlike the table-style steel guitars he would later play. Since the farmhouse had no electricity, he played the instrument over a washtub to make it resonate.

While still a teenager, Mr. Helms became a member of the Drifting Cowboys, the backup band for Williams, then a local radio star who performed in small clubs and roadhouses. Mr. Helms enlisted in the Army in 1945 and by the time he was discharged two years later, Williams had signed a record contract and was on his way to perform as a regular on “Louisiana Hayride,” a Shreveport, La., radio show broadcast all over the South.

Mr. Helms stayed put in Alabama, where he had steady performing work, but after Williams joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1949 and created a sensation with his first No. 1 hit, “Lovesick Blues,” he became part of the new edition of the Drifting Cowboys that Williams put together in Nashville.

He was the last surviving member of that ensemble.

In 1945, he married Hazel Cullifer, who survives him, as do his two sons, Frank and Marc; two brothers, Glenn and Ted; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Initially, Mr. Helms played a Fender eight-string double-necked guitar, but in 1950 he acquired the Gibson Console Grand that most listeners associate with Williams’s hits. Later he would play a pedal steel guitar, but he kept the Gibson under his bed, pulling it out for special occasions.

The rough-hewn sound of the pre-pedal steel guitar suited Williams’s bluesy vocals. At the suggestion of the record producer Fred Rose, Mr. Helms favored the treble strings and played high on the neck, producing a penetrating sound that could cut through the background noise of the bars, honky-tonks and roadhouses where Williams’s records were most often heard

The Helms sound, said Mr. Lloyd of the Country Music Hall of Fame, helped move country music away from the hillbilly string-band accompaniment popular in the 1930s and toward the more modern electric style that took over in the 1940s.

“His tuning, and the way the tuning made the tone high-pitched, matched Hank Williams’s style just perfectly,” said DeWitt Scott, the founder of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, which inducted Mr. Helms in 1984.

Mr. Helms played on Williams’s last recording session, in Sept. 1952, which generated “Kaw-Liga,” “Take These Chains From My Heart,” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” released after Williams’s death in January 1953.

“I played him an intro, and we sang the song through one time,” Mr. Helms said about the recording of “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” After that, he said, “I never saw him alive again.” His account of those years, dictated to Dale Vinicur, was published in 2005 in “Settin’ the Woods on Fire.”

After recording an instrumental record with the Drifting Cowboys, Mr. Helms and several of his fellow musicians worked with Ray Price, who renamed them the Cherokee Cowboys. Mr. Helms went on to record with a host of country music stars, including Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce and Ferlin Husky. He also played on Johnny Cash’s early albums for Columbia Records.

In 1957 he joined the Nashville Tennesseans, the backup band for the Wilburn Brothers, touring with them for years and performing on their syndicated television show. After performing with Hank Williams Jr. and Ernest Tubb in the late 1960s and ’70s, Mr. Helms reunited with the Drifting Cowboys in 1977. In 1989 he began touring with Jett Williams, Hank Williams’s daughter.

In his later years, he did recording sessions with younger musicians like Rascal Flatts, Bon Jovi and Kid Rock. At the time of his death he was working with Vince Gill on an album of uncompleted Hank Williams songs.

“He remained an active musician until the day he died,” said Mr. Stuart.

Mr. Helms was a regular performer at steel guitar conventions and concerts, where he could galvanize listeners with a few signature chords from country’s music’s most cherished hits. “Don would look out over the audience as the lights dimmed,” said Paul Hemphill, the author of “Lovesick Blues,” a biography of Hank Williams. “Then he’d say, ‘Now, close your eyes and think of Hank.’ ”

Helms work is classic.

Donald Erb, Composer of Early Electronic Music, Dies at 81

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: August 15, 2008
Correction Appended

Donald Erb, a composer with a strong interest in electronic music who was prominent on the avant-garde scene of the 1960s and ’70s, died Tuesday at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He was 81.

His death followed a long illness, said his wife, Lucille Erb.

Mr. Erb, who was distinguished professor emeritus of composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, composed “Reconnaissance,” one of the first chamber works for live synthesizer and acoustic instruments. It had its premiere in New York in 1967 with Robert Moog, a pioneer of the synthesizer, playing that instrument.

Mr. Erb wrote many works for brass, including the Concerto for Brass and Orchestra (1986) and “Three Pieces for Brass Quintet and Piano.”

Mr. Erb’s catalog also includes 1969's “The Seventh Trumpet,” which reflects Mr. Erb’s affinity for incorporating objects into his scores, in this case water-filled jugs and wine glasses, as well as harmonicas and synthesizer. Mr. Erb also wrote many other solo, symphonic and chamber works, some with improvisatory and aleatoric elements that reflected his experience as a jazz musician.

He wrote 10 concertos, including one for the cellist Lynn Harrell; others were given their premieres by prominent musicians like the clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1927, Mr. Erb played trumpet with a dance band in high school and performed professionally as a jazz trumpeter after serving in the Navy during World War II.

He studied composition with Marcel Dick at the Cleveland Institute of Music, from which he received his Master of Music degree in 1952, and Bernhard Heiden at Indiana University in Bloomington, receiving a doctorate of music in 1964. He briefly studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the early 1950s.

He was appointed to the Cleveland Institute of Music faculty in 1952 and was appointed distinguished professor of composition in 1987. He retired in 1996.

He left Cleveland for several years to teach composition at other institutes, including Indiana University and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He was composer in residence with various ensembles, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1968 and 1969. He was president of the American Music Center (which awarded him their Letter of Distinction in 2001) in the early 1980s.

Mr. Erb suffered cardiac arrest in 1996 and had not been active as a composer since.

Besides his wife of 58 years, Lucille, he is survived by his daughters Christine Hoell of Columbus, Ohio, the actress Stephanie Erb of Los Angeles and Janet Carroll of Rockaway, N.J.; a son, Matthew, of Columbus; and nine grandchildren.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 20, 2008
An obituary on Saturday about the composer Donald Erb described the history of his composition “The Seventh Trumpet” incorrectly. It was composed in 1969; it was neither commissioned by nor given its premiere in 1987 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (That work was his “Concerto for Brass and Orchestra.”)

edit- OK this is the f'n trifecta of unreported music related deaths. I think Tony should relinquish his scythe.

Yay, death.

Cleveland Clinic: Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died

EAST CLEVELAND -- A statement released by the Cleveland Clinic Wednesday evening states that U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died as a result of a brain hemorrhage.

The statement from The Clinic reads: "Throughout the course of the day and into this evening, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones' medical condition declined. Medical doctors and neurosurgeons from Huron Hospital and Cleveland Clinic sadly report that at 6:12 p.m. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones died. She dedicated her life in public service to helping others and will continue to do so through organ donations. Please keep her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time."

At an earlier press conference, Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital, told the media that Tubbs Jones suffered a brain aneurysm in an inaccessible part of her brain but remained in critical but stable condition. The aneurysm burst causing Tubbs Jones' brain to hemorrhage.

An aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge of a blood vessel caused by disease or the weakening of the vessel wall. They most commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and in the main artery coming from the heart and, if the bulge bursts, it can result in death.

Kious also said at that earlier news conference that Tubbs Jones had limited brain function as a result of the hemorrhage.

Tubbs Jones spokeswoman Nicole Williams says Tubbs Jones suffered the aneurysm while driving in Cleveland Heights Tuesday night.

A family member has told Channel 3 News that the congresswoman has not regained consciousness since being transported to the hospital last night.

The Cleveland Heights Police Department issued a media release this morning that stated that, at around 9 p.m. Tuesday night, an officer observed a car traveling east on Mayfield Road that was weaving. The car then turned northbound onto Lee Road.

The officer activated his emergency lights and says the vehicle, later learned to be operated by Tubbs Jones, pulled to the side of the road, then started rolling across the south bound lanes.

The officer warned the south bound vehicles by pulling the cruiser across the roadway. Upon reaching the vehicle, the officer found Tubbs Jones to be in obvious medical distress and called for an ambulance.

As news the severity of Tubbs Jones' condition was made public, statements of support came in from colleagues and friends.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich issued the following statement after hearing about his colleague: "Both Elizabeth and I are praying for Stephanie and her family. We will be traveling from Washington to Cleveland today to offer comfort and support to her family."

The 58-year-old Tubbs Jones became the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress when she was elected in 1998.

Tubbs Jones was set to be a superdelegate at next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

One of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's biggest boosters during the primaries, she threw her support to Barack Obama in June.

Sen. Clinton released the following statement Wednesday afternoon: "Stephanie is a strong, remarkable woman with an incredible fighting spirit. My thoughts and prayers are with my dear friend Stephanie and her family at this difficult time."

Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Township) issued this statement: "Everyone thinks all we do in Washington is fight and that Republicans and Democrats never get along, but Stephanie has been my dear, dear friend for more than 20 years, dating back to our days as county prosecutors. She is a force of nature and is always the most popular and gregarious person in any room. She's an incredibly loving and exuberant spirit, and my thoughts and prayers are with her son, her family, her friends and staff."

CNN: Gene Upshaw, exec director of NFL player's union dead at 63 from pancreatic cancer.

The former Sunnyvale engineer who Hollywood star Teri Hatcher helped put in prison for molesting two young girls, one of whom committed suicide, has died of colon cancer.

Richard Hayes Stone, Hatcher's former uncle, had been serving a 14-year sentence when he died Tuesday at the Alvarado Medical Center in San Diego, according to Craig Ostendorf, a spokesman for Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe.

Stone, 70, had been in prison for six years.

"It closes the book on a very, very sad tragedy," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham, who prosecuted Stone. "Unfortunately those who are still alive will always suffer from his actions."

In 2002, Sunnyvale teenager Sarah Van Cleemput shot herself in the head leaving behind a note that said: "You're probably thinking a normal teenager doesn't do this; well, ask Dick!"

According to prosecutors, "Dick" was Stone.

After reading about the case while visiting her parents in Sunnyvale, Hatcher, now the star of "Desperate Houswives," contacted prosecutors. She told Gillingham that Stone molested her, too, when she was a child. At the time Stone was her uncle through marriage.

After Hatcher stepped forward and gave a secret interview with prosecutors, Stone pleaded guilty.

Hatcher revealed her dramatic role in the criminal case two years ago, in a series of interviews.

"At the end of the day, there was no way I was not going to put this girl first, before whatever


damage might be done to me," Hatcher told Vanity Fair magazine.

Sorry, too easy...

Buddy Harman, the percussion heartbeat of Music Row and Nashville's best-known and most-recorded drummer, died Thursday evening. He was 79, and suffered from congestive heart failure.

A native Nashvillian born Murrey Mizell Harman Jr., Mr. Harman played drums on more than 18,000 recordings, including Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," Patsy Cline's "Crazy," Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man," Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and Elvis Presley's "Little Sister." He was the first staff drummer on the Grand Ole Opry and the first prominent drummer in country music history, and his work helped secure country's place as a viable, popular and modern art form.


"Buddy Harman set the standard, both quantitatively and qualitatively, for what a great country drummer should be," wrote David Cantwell in Heartaches By The Number: Country Music's Greatest Singles. "The mind boggles at the number of musically distinctive and emotionally fitting ways Harman found to lay down a beat."

Mr. Harman was a master of the country shuffle (which he helped invent during the "Crazy Arms" session), and he was enough of a musical chameleon to play pounding rock 'n' roll on "Pretty Woman," stately, restrained pop on "I'm Sorry," graceful swing on Roger Miller's "King of the Road" and straight-ahead country on Loretta Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter."

"He's Nashville's all-around drummer, and he's the best drummer I ever worked with," said Harold Bradley, who played on thousands of sessions with Mr. Harman.

WSM air personality and country music historian Eddie Stubbs said of Mr. Harman, "If anybody could be called the father of modern country drumming, it would be Buddy. He defined the role of the drums in country music. No matter the song, he knew what to play. More importantly, he knew what not to play. Always."

Mr. Harman is survived by wife Marsha Marvell Irby; daughters Autumn Harman of Nashville and Summer Harman of Mt. Juliet; and sons Mark Harman of Franklin, Stanley Harman of Nashville and Murrey M. Harman III of Nashville; by six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and by brothers Bob Higley and Richard Higley, both of Jacksonville, Fla.

Details concerning a memorial service are not yet available.