25 December1995, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (lung cancer and emphysema)
Birth Name
Dino Paul Crocetti
Nickname
Dino King Leer (given to him by Life magazine)
Height
5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
Biography
” Though best known for the 51 films he made, Dean Martin was a prizefighter, steel mill laborer, gas station attendant and card shark before seeing the first glimmer of fame. It came when he teamed up with comedian Jerry Lewis in 1946. Films such as At War with the Army (1950) sent the team toward superstardom. After teaming with Lewis, Martin – born Dino Paul Crocetti – became a dramatic actor and the star of a long-running television variety show. Personality conflicts broke up the comedy duo in 1957. Few thought that Martin would go one to achieve solo success, but he did, winning critical acclaim for his role in The Young Lions (1958) with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. A succession of films followed for the singer-actor, including Some Came Running (1958) with Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra. All would later be members of the “Rat Pack.” Martin learned well and proved potent at the box office throughout the 1960s, with films such as Bells Are Ringing (1960) and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), again with Rat Pack pals Sammy Davis Jr. and Sinatra. During much of the 1960s and 1970s Martin’s movie persona of a boozing playboy prompted a series of films as secret agent Matt Helm and his own television variety show. Airport (1970) followed, featuring Martin as a pilot. He also played a phony priest in The Cannonball Run (1981). His last public role was a return to the stage, for a cross-country concert tour with Davis and Sinatra. He spoke affectionately of his fellow Rat Packers. “The satisfaction that I get out of working with these two bums is that we have more laughs than the audience has”, Martin said. “
Trade Mark
Cigarette and a glass of alcohol whenever he was doing his night club acts
Trivia
” His son, Dean Paul Martin (Dino), was killed in a plane crash in March 1987.
” Much of the “booze” that he drank on stage during his famous “Rat Pack” performances was really apple juice. (Son Dean Paul Martin spilled this secret, after the variety show ended production, stating that his father couldn’t have performed if he’d really drunk that much liquor.)”
” He and Frank Sinatra were best friends, a fact he held very dear to his heart. The two didn’t speak much, in the years after Dean quit the “Rat Pack Reunion” tour, but they did reconcile a few months before his death, over dinner – and a breadroll fight.”
” Dean is one of few actors who have received not just one, but three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for Motion Pictures at 6519 Hollywood Blvd., one for Television at 6651 Hollywood Blvd, and a third for his recording career.”
” Dean’s TV career began in 1950 with The Martin & Lewis Show on The Colgate Comedy Hour, which ran through 1955. He hosted various other shows before reluctantly taking the 1965 gig which turned into a 19-year success under various names.”
” Moore started performing at a young age, having picked up a battered acoustic guitar at the age of eight. He got his first quality guitar at the age of 14, learning to play the right-handed instrument in the standard way despite being left-handed. He moved to Dublin in 1968 at the age of 16. His early musical influences were artists such as Albert King, Elvis Presley, The Shadowsand The Beatles. Later, having seen Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in his home town of Belfast, his own style was developing into a blues-rock sound that would be the dominant form of his career in music.
Moore’s greatest influence in the early days was guitarist Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac who was a mentor to Moore when performing in Dublin. Green’s continued influence on Moore was later repaid as a tribute to Green on his 1995 album Blues for Greeny, an album consisting entirely of Green compositions. On this tribute album, Moore played Green’s 1959 Les Paul Standard guitar which Green had lent to Moore after leaving Fleetwood Mac. Moore ultimately purchased the guitar, at Green’s request, so that “it would have a good home”.
” Skid Row would go on to issue several singles and albums (including 1970’s Skid and 1971’s 34 Hours), and although the group mounted a few tours of Europe and the U.S., it failed to obtain breakthrough commercial success, leading to Moore‘s exit from the group in 1972.Moore then formed his own outfit, the Gary Moore Band (along with members drummer Pearse Kelly and bassist John Curtis), for which the guitarist also served as vocalist. But after the trio’s debut album, 1973’s Grinding Stone, sunk without a trace, Moore hooked up once more with ex-bandmate Lynott in Thin Lizzy. Moore‘s initial tenure in Lizzy proved to be short-lived, however, as his fiery playing was featured on only a handful of tracks. Moore then set his sights on studio work (appearing on Eddie Howell‘s 1975 release, Gramaphone Record), before joining up with a prog rock/fusion outfit, Colosseum II.
” But once more, Moore‘s tenure in his latest outfit was fleeting; he appeared on only three recordings (1976’s Strange New Flesh, plus a pair in 1977, Electric Savage and War Dance), as Moore accepted an invitation by his old buddy Lynott to fill in for a Thin Lizzy U.S. tour, playing arenas opening for Queen.”
” Moore proved to be quite busy in 1978, as the guitarist appeared on three other artists’ recordings — Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations, Rod Argent’s Moving Home, and Gary Boyle’s Electric Glide. The same year, Moore issued his second solo release (almost five years after his solo debut), Back on the Streets, which spawned a surprise Top Ten U.K. hit in May of 1979, the bluesy ballad “Parisienne Walkways,” and featured vocal contributions by Lynott. Moore joined forces with his Lizzy mates once more in 1979, appearing on arguably the finest studio album of their career, Black Rose, which proved to be a huge hit in the U.K. (for a fine example of Moore’s exceptional guitar skills, check out the album’s epic title track). But predictably, Moore ultimately exited the group once more (this time right in the middle of a U.S. tour), as a rift had developed between Moore and Lynott. Undeterred, Moore lent some guitar work to drummer Cozy Powell’s solo release, Over the Top, in addition to forming a new outfit, G Force, which would only remain together for a lone self-titled release in 1980.”
” In the 1980s Gary established his reputation as one of the top guitarists on the heavy metal scene with a series of rock albums that showcased his skill. Kirk Hammett of Metallica, who cites Gary as one of his top 5 influences, sums up Gary’s style of playing very well: “Gary’s technique was very modern, but his guitar style was very blues-based. His phrasing was very, very blues-based. He played long, sustained notes coupled with really super fast-picked notes and he had a great legato style“.
” In 1990, Moore returned to his blues roots with ‘Still Got the Blues’, with contributions from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison. The album was well received by fans and was his biggest seller. He stayed with the blues format until 1997, when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats on Dark Days in Paradise; this left many fans, as well as the music press, confused. With Back to the Blues, Moore return to his tried and tested blues format in 2001. In 2002 he got back to more of a hard rocking style with the album Scars. He also returned to playing some of his metal-period material in the 2003 Monsters of Rock Tour. Then he continued on with the blues rock style on Power of the Blues (2004), Old New Ballads Blues (2006), Close As You Get (2007) and Bad For You Baby (2008).”
” The, Back To The Blues’ (2001) album saw him revisit The Blues with renewed vigour and determination, after the more experimental ‘Dark Days In Paradise’ (1997) and ‘A Different Beat’ (1999) albums. A ten-track collection that mixed excellent Moore originals, with gritty and intense covers of standards. But, in the tradition of keeping his fans and critics guessing, 2002 saw Gary Moore crashing back onto the music scene with what had to be his heaviest collection of songs since the late 1980’s, once again forcing people to reassess any opinions and preconceptions they might have had of him.”
” That time round though, Moore had decided to share the limelight, joining forces with ex-Skunk Anansie bassist Cass Lewis and Primal Scream drummer Darrin Mooney to form ‘Scars’, a true power trio in every respect. The ‘Scars’ album was completed in early 2002 and that line-up, then went on to record the ‘Live at the Monsters of Rock’ (2003) live CD and DVD, which featured the band’s set as performed on two separate nights on the UK Tour in May 2003. That live set encompassed a diverse range of material, from across Gary’s playing career.”
” 2004 saw possibly the rawest album yet, with ‘Power of the Blues’. The 10-track set, recorded mostly live in the studio, ranged from the hard rock/blues of the title track, via the upbeat swing of “Can’t find my baby”, to the haunting “Torn Inside”.
” Taking time out in August 2005, for a brief reunion with former Thin Lizzy band members, for a one off concert in Dublin, to mark the occasion of Phil Lynott’s birth. The evening was filmed for the 2006 DVD release, ‘Gary Moore and Friends, One Night in Dublin, A Tribute to Phil Lynott’.
” With his 2007 studio album ‘Close As You Get’, Gary continued in a direction not too dissimilar from ‘Old, New, Ballads, Blues’, released in 2006. Mixing original tunes with some interesting Blues covers that Gary had rediscovered, whilst researching for his award winning radio series, “Blues Power”, on Planet Rock (UK based digital/internet “radio” station). September 2008 saw the release of what would turn out to be Gary’s last studio album, “Bad for you Baby”. Again, a powerful collection of tracks, of original material and selected blues covers. After being on the road for most of 2008 and into 2010 with the “Blues” line up of the touring band. Gary returned from a tour of Russia and the Far East, and decided to reunite with his old sparring partner from the rock line up’s of the 1980’s, Neil Carter. The plan was to put together a “Rock” line up and dust off a selection of tracks from the mid to late 1980’s.”
“Adding Jon Noyce, (ex Jethro Tull/Sessions) on bass, some one who was also part of the, “One Night in Dublin” Tribute DVD in 2005, and Darrin Mooney (Primal Scream/Sessions) on drums, who was no stranger to the touring and recording line during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. This line up, hit the road in May of 2010, performing a live set based around a selection of tracks from the “Rock Years” of the 1980’s. This proved to be a real treat for fans, old & new, as many would have not heard Gary play these songs live, either for a very long time, or in many cases, at all. In addition to the older tunes, a number of new “Celtic Rock” style tracks were included in the show, which went down very well with the live audiences. Tracks, which Gary was planning to record and embellish, on his next studio project. A project that was ready to start when Gary returned from a short holiday break.”
” Unfortunately, that was not to be, as Gary passed away in his sleep in the early hours of February 6th, 2011, in Estepona, Spain. After being such a “force of nature” in the guitar-playing firmament, for many years, as part of a professional career that began when he was only 16. He leaves behind a huge hole for many, not just his close family and friends, but guitar fans around the world.”
” Of all the many tributes paid since Gary’s passing, maybe this one, from Gary’s friend and musical collaborator, Don Airey, might sum up the best of most people’s thoughts of Gary: “At the 1984 Donington Festival during the long solo in “Empty Rooms” the previously restive crowd went so quiet, you could hear a pin drop – everyone back and behind stage stopped whatever they were doing and just stood to listen open-mouthed. His artistry touched thousands of people over the years, not least those of us lucky enough to have shared a stage or a recording studio with him. Sleep tight old mate, you’ll be sorely missed.” “
” Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1915, he was actually born at Jug’s Corner in neighboringIssaquena County in 1913. Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s he reported his birth year as 1913 on both his marriage license and musicians’ union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. The 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. The Social Security Death Index, relying on the Social Security card application submitted after his move to Chicago in the mid-1940s, lists him as being born April 4, 1913. Muddy’s gravestone gives his birth year as 1915.”
” Muddy’s grandmother, Della Grant, raised him after his mother died shortly following his birth. Della gave the boy the nickname “Muddy” at an early age because he loved to play in the muddy water of nearby Deer Creek. Muddy later changed it to “Muddy Water” and finally “Muddy Waters”.
The shack where Muddy Waters lived in his youth on Stovall Plantation is now located at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He started out on harmonica, but by age seventeen he was playing the guitar at parties, emulating two blues artists who were extremely popular in the south, Son House and Robert Johnson.”
” On November 20, 1932, Muddy married Mabel Berry; Robert Nighthawk played guitar at the wedding, and the party reportedly got so wild the floor fell in. Mabel left Muddy three years later when Muddy’s first child was born; the child’s mother was Leola Spain, sixteen years old (Leola later used her maiden name Brown), “married to a man named Steven” and “going with a guy named Tucker”. Leola was the only one of his girlfriends with whom Muddy would stay in touch throughout his life; they never married. By the time he finally cut out for Chicago in 1943, there was another Mrs. Morganfield left behind, a girl called Sallie Ann.“
“Growing to manhood there, in the very heart of the region that had spawned this magnificent music, Waters was drawn early to its stark, telling, expressive power. He had been working as a farm laborer for several years when at thirteen he took up the harmonica, the instrument on which many blues performers first master the music’s rudiments. Four years later he made the switch to guitar. “You see, I was digging Son House and Robert Johnson.”
” The two were the undisputed masters of the region’s characteristic “bottleneck” style of guitar accompaniment. With this technique the Delta bluesman could utilize the guitar as a perfect extension of his voice, the sliding bottleneck matching the dips, slurs, sliding notes and all the tonal ambiguity of the voice as it is used in singing the blues.Within a year, Waters recalled, he had mastered the bottleneck style and the jagged, pulsating rhythms of Delta guitar. He had learned to sing powerfully and expressively in the tightly constricted, pain-filled manner that characterized the best Delta singers.”
” By the time a team of Library of Congress field collectors headed by Alan Lomax visited and recorded Waters for the Library’s folksong archives in 1941 (they were looking for Robert Johnson at the time, unaware of his death three years earlier), returning to record him further the following year, he had had several years’ local performing experience behind him.Providing the musical impetus for dancers at rough-and-tumble back country dances, in juke joints, and at picnics, houseparties and other rural entertainments had sharpened the young bluesman’s vocal and instrumental abilities to a keen edge. The recordings show the strikingly distinctive power of the young Waters, both as singer and master of Delta bottleneck guitar.”
” In 1943 Waters—like millions of other African Americans in the South who moved to cities in the North and West during the Great Migration from 1916 to 1970—relocated to Chicago. There he began playing clubs and bars on the city’s South and West sides while earning a living working in a paper mill and later driving a truck. In 1944 he bought his first electric guitar, which cut more easily through the noise of crowded bars. He soon broke with country blues by playing electric guitar in a shimmering slide style. In 1946 pianist Sunnyland Slim, another Delta native, helped Waters land a contract with Aristocrat Records, for which he made several unremarkable recordings. By 1948 Aristocrat had become Chess Records(taking its name from Leonard and Phil Chess, the Polish immigrant brothers who owned and operated it), and Waters was recording a string of hits for it that began with “I Feel Like Going Home” and “I Can’t Be Satisfied.” His early, aggressive, electrically amplified band—including pianist Otis Spann, guitarist Jimmie Rodgers, and harmonica virtuoso Little Walter—created closely integrated support for his passionate singing, which featured dramatic shouts, swoops, and falsetto moans. His repertoire, much of which he composed, included lyrics that were mournful (“Blow Wind Blow,” “Trouble No More”), boastful (“Got My Mojo Working,” “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”), and frankly sensual (the unusual 15-bar blues “Rock Me”). In the process Waters became the foremost exponent of modern Chicago blues.”
” Tours of clubs in the South and Midwest in the 1940s and ’50s gave way after 1958 to concert tours of the United States and Europe, including frequent dates at jazz, folk, and blues festivals. Over the years, some of Chicago’s premier blues musicians did stints in Waters’s band, including harmonica players James Cotton and Junior Wells, as well as guitarist Buddy Guy. Toward the end of his career, Waters concentrated on singing and played guitar only occasionally. A major influence on a variety of rock musicians—most notably the Rolling Stones (who took their name from his song “Rollin’ Stone” and made a pilgrimage to Chess to record)—Waters was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.”
” By the end of the ’50s, while Waters was still making fine music, his career was going into a slump. The rise of rock & roll had taken the spotlight away from more traditional blues acts in favor of younger and rowdier acts (ironically, Waters had headlined some of Alan Freed‘s early “Moondog” package shows), and Waters‘ first tour of England in 1958 was poorly received by many U.K. blues fans, who were expecting an acoustic set and were startled by the ferocity of Waters‘ electric guitar. Waters began playing more acoustic music informed by his Mississippi Delta heritage in the years that followed, even issuing an album titled Muddy Waters: Folk Singer in 1964. However, the jolly irony was that British blues fans would soon rekindle interest in Waters and electric Chicago blues; as the rise of the British Invasion made the world aware of the U.K. rock scene, the nascent British blues scene soon followed, and a number of Waters‘ U.K. acolytes became international stars, such as Eric Clapton,John Mayall, Alexis Korner, and a modestly successful London act who named themselves after Muddy‘s 1950 hit “Rollin’ Stone.”
” While Waters was still leading a fine band that delivered live (and included the likes of Pinetop Perkins on piano and James Cotton on harmonica), Chess Records was moving more toward the rock, soul, and R&B marketplace, and seemed eager to market him to white rock fans, a notion that reached its nadir in 1968 with Electric Mud, in which Waterswas paired up with a psychedelic rock band (featuring guitarists Pete Cosey and Phil Upchurch) for rambling and aimless jams on Waters‘ blues classics. 1969’s Fathers and Sons was a more inspired variation on this theme, with Waters playing alongside reverential white blues rockers such as Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield; 1971’s The London Muddy Waters Sessions was less impressive, featuring fine guitar work from Rory Gallagher but uninspired contributions from Steve Winwood, Rick Grech, and Georgie Fame.”
” Curiously, while Chess Records helped Waters make some of the finest blues records of the ’50s and ‘60s, it was the label’s demise that led to his creative rebirth. In 1969, the Chess Brothers sold the label to General Recorded Tape, and the label went through a long, slow commercial decline, finally folding in 1975. (Waters would become one of several Chess artists who sued the label for unpaid royalties in its later years.) Johnny Winter, a longtime Waters fan, heard the blues legend was without a record deal, and was instrumental in getting Waters signed to Blue Sky Records, a CBS-distributed label that had become his recording home.”
” Winter produced the sessions for Waters‘ first Blue Sky release, and sat in with a band comprised of members of Waters‘ road band (including Bob Margolin and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith) along with James Cotton on harp and Pinetop Perkins on piano. 1977’s Hard Again was a triumph, sounding as raw and forceful as Waters‘ classic Chess sides, with a couple extra decades of experience informing his performances, and it was rightly hailed as one of the finest albums Waters ever made while sparking new interest in his music. (It also earned him a Grammy award for Best Traditional or Ethnic Folk Recording.) “
” Waters also capitalized on the folk-music craze of the late Fifties and early Sixties with a series of albums that found him assaying acoustic blues on such albums as Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill (a tribute to rural bluesman Big Bill Broonzy, released in 1960), Muddy Waters, Folk Singer (1964) and The Real Folk Blues (1966). Less successful were attempts to contemporize his sound with such ill-advised efforts as “Muddy Waters Twist” (a 1962 single) and Electric Mud (an album of psychedelic blues from 1968). More satisfying by far were a couple of albums – Fathers and Sons (1969) and The London Muddy Waters Sessions (1972) – that found Waters accompanied by such vanguard rock musicians as Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton. His thirty-year tenure with Chess Records ended in 1975 with the release of The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album. From here, he moved to the Blue Sky label (a Columbia subsidiary). “
” Waters’ audience grew exponentially following his electrifying performance in The Last Waltz, a film documentary (produced by Martin Scorsese) of The Band’s farewell concert. Staged at San Francisco’s Winterland ballroom, the Thanksgiving 1976 event was a star-studded affair. Water’s scalding rendition of “Mannish Boy” – on which he was accompanied by The Band and Paul Butterfield on harmonica – was an unforgettable highlight. Subsequent to that, he kept the momentum going with a series of uncompromising albums for Blue Sky that were produced by longtime fan Johnny Winter. These included Hard Again (1977), I’m Ready (1978), Muddy Mississippi Waters Live (1979) and King Bee (1981). All were critical and popular successes. “
” In addition to his musical legacy, Waters helped cultivate a great respect for the blues as one of its most commanding and articulate figureheads. Drummer Levon Helm of The Band, who worked with him on The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album and at The Last Waltz, had this to say about him in a Goldmine magazine interview: “Muddy taught us to take things in context, to be respectful, and to be serious about our music, as he was. He showed us music is a sacred thing.”
” Waters, who remained active till the end, died of a heart attack in 1983. He was 68 years old. In the years since his death, the one-room cedar shack in which he lived on the Stovall Plantation has been preserved as a memorial to Waters’ humble origins”
” Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (b. 7 January 1929 d. March 1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (21 March1920 – 15 May 1985), a 25-year-old soldier from Montreal, Quebec. Fryer shipped off to war prior to Clapton’s birth and then returned to Canada. Clapton grew up with his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, who was stepfather to Patricia Clapton and her brother Adrian, believing they were his parents and that his mother was actually his older sister. The similarity in surnames gave rise to the erroneous belief that Clapton’s real surname is Clapp (Reginald Cecil Clapton was the name of Rose’s first husband, Eric Clapton’s maternal grandfather). Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany, leaving young Eric with his grandparents in Surrey.
Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar, made in Germany, for his thirteenth birthday, but the inexpensive steel-stringed instrument was difficult to play and he briefly lost interest. Two years later Clapton picked it up again and started playing consistently. Clapton was influenced by the blues from an early age, and practised long hours to learn the chords of blues music by playing along to the records.He preserved his practice sessions using his portable Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder, listening to them over and over until he felt he’d got it right.
After leaving Hollyfield School, in Surbiton, in 1961, Clapton studied at the Kingston College of Artbut was dismissed at the end of the academic year because his focus remained on music rather than art. His guitar playing was so advanced that by the age of 16 he was getting noticed. Around this time Clapton began busking around Kingston, Richmond, and the West End.In 1962, Clapton started performing as a duo with fellow blues enthusiast David Brock in pubs around Surrey. When he was seventeen years old Clapton joined his first band, an early British R&B group, “The Roosters”, whose other guitarist was Tom McGuinness. He stayed with this band from January through August 1963.In October of that year, Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones & The Engineers. “
” By the time Eric Clapton launched his solo career with the release of his self-titled debut album in mid-1970, he was long established as one of the world’s major rock stars due to his group affiliations — the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Blind Faith — which had demonstrated his claim to being the best rock guitarist of his generation. That it took Clapton so long to go out on his own, however, was evidence of a degree of reticence unusual for one of his stature. And his debut album, though it spawned the Top 40 hit “After Midnight,” was typical of his self-effacing approach: it was, in effect, an album by the group he had lately been featured in, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.
Not surprisingly, before his solo debut had even been released, Clapton had retreated from his solo stance, assembling from the D&B&F ranks the personnel for a group, Derek & the Dominos, with whom he played for most of 1970 and recorded the landmark album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Clapton was largely inactive in 1971 and 1972, due to heroin addiction, but he performed a comeback concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London on January 13, 1973, resulting in the album Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert (September 1973). But Clapton did not launch a sustained solo career until July 1974, when he released 461 Ocean Boulevard, which topped the charts and spawned the number one single “I Shot the Sheriff.” “
” A January 1973 comeback concert at London’s Rainbow Theatre re-introduced him to public performing, but his solo career really commenced in earnest a year later with 461 Ocean Boulevard. Recorded in Miami, it was influenced by the mellower likes of J.J. Cale and Bob Marley. Striking a chord with the public, 461 Ocean Boulevard topped the album charts in 1974. Meanwhile, Clapton’s cover of “I Shot the Sheriff,” originally by Bob Marley and the Wailers, helped introduced reggae to a mass audience. Working with a steady band that included guitarist George Terry, Clapton pursued a mellow, song-oriented course that accentuated his husky, laid-back vocals. His Seventies output, including such albums as There’s One in Every Crowd (1975) and No Reason to Cry (1976) has been largely underrated and is ripe for rediscovery. Clapton again struck commercial paydirt in 1977 with Slowhand, a strong set that included Clapton’s definitive version of J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine” and the #3 hit “Lay Down Sally.”
Clapton remained a prolific artist throughout the Eighties, releasing a live double album that reached #2 (Just One Night), cutting two albums (Behind the Sun and August) with Phil Collins as producer, and launching his own label, Duck Records, in 1983, with one of his stronger studio efforts, Money and Cigarettes. In January 1987, he undertook the first of what would become an annual series of multi-night stands at London’s Royal Albert Hall. In 1992, his career received a major boost from his appearance on MTV’s Unplugged series. Returning to his roots on the heels of that acoustic folk-blues set, Clapton next cut a long-promised blues album, From the Cradle (1994). Throughout the Nineties, he continued to amass hits–no mean feat, given the shifting musical climate–including “Tears in Heaven,” a memorable elegy for his late son Conor; “Change the World,” a beatbox-driven collaboration with R&B artist/producer Babyface that won a Grammy for Record of the Year; and “My Father’s Eyes,” a ballad from his 1998 album Pilgrim.”
“ Tears in Heaven” was written after his son’s tragic death. It was co-written with Russ Titelman and acknowledged with a Grammy in 1993.
Most recently, Eric Clapton has organized a benefit concert in honor of Hubert Sumlin, the great bluesman, to take place at the Apollo Theater in New York on February 24, 2012. He will be joined by Jeff Beck, Keb Mo, Levon Helm, and Derek Trucks among others. Clapton is known to sponsor an array of charitable events and concerts. He has also established a rehabilitation clinic in Monserrat to help those with substance abuse problems.
‘ Clapton’ was released on September 27, 2010 by Reprise.
A live album titled Play The Blues Live At Lincoln Center performed with Wynton Marsalis was released on September 13, 2011 by Reprise.
Early 2013 saw the release of ‘Old Sock’, an album of 10 cover songs and two new originals, which was met with mixed reviews, some saying that it was lazy and unnecessary (“little commitment to the music here and even less enthusiasm”) whilst others appreciated the mastery he still exhibits over his craft (“winding down a legendary career with his typical class, reverence to the past and master’s touch”).
Eric Clapton is highly regarded as a premier musician, and continues to remain a force in music today.”
” At least 15 people were dead after being electrocuted by a high-voltage cable as they were riding a Carnival parade float in Haiti Tuesday, emergency officials said.
Dozens were also injured in the overnight accident in Port-au-Prince, Communications Minister Rotchild Francois said in a statement.
The float was carrying a popular Haitian rap group called Barikad Crew, Haiti’s Radio Metropole reported.
It struck a cable as it passed underneath it in a parade watched by tens of thousands of people.
The rap group’s star singer, who goes by the name “Fantom”, was struck directly by the fallen cable and is in critical condition, the website Haiti Press Network said.”
” At least 35 New Year’s Eve revellers have been killed in a stampede in Shanghai. Chinese state media has reported a further 42 people have been injured in the crush.
The carnage began in crowded conditions shortly before midnight on December 31, as people packed the waterfront Bund district to welcome the New Year, according to a local government statement.
Unconfirmed reports on social media site Weibo suggested partygoers had thrown fake US dollar bills or coupons into the air at a nearby nightclub immediately prior to the crush, prompting a scramble.”
” A massive brawl in a Pennsylvania shopping mall has been caught on film.”
” Hundreds of teens were involved in the fight in Monroeville, Pennsylvania which forced the mall to close early according to philly.comThe fights broke out on Friday. Monroeville Police Chief Douglas Cole said at least two people were hospitalized.”
” The group of teens started turning up at the mall around 5pm local time with approximately 1000 turning up.”
” A slim spruce covered in tinsel and dusty Christmas decorations has stayed parked in Neil Olson’s living room for 40 years now, and it somehow has retained its needles over those four decades.
” Most of ’em don’t last,” Olson, 89, said. “The needles are kept on for a reason. It’s supernatural, I say.”
Olson put up the tree in 1974 when two of his six sons went off to serve in the Vietnam War. He planned to take it down when he had all six boys home again for Christmas at the same time.
He’s still waiting for that day.
Five of the kids live in Wausau. But the eldest, who is disabled, lives in Washington state and has been unable to make the journey back to Wisconsin at Christmas.”
” A report of shots fired and a fight that erupted in the food court at “jam-packed” Chicago Ridge mall caused its evacuation and early closure Saturday night in the southwest suburb.
No one was injured and no arrests were made, Chicago Ridge Mayor Chuck Tokar said. He said there were no shots fired. Police were investigating.
At about 6 p.m. officers responded to a fight in progress in the food court and while on the way, received a report of shots fired, prompting a “multi-jurisdictional response,” according to a statement released by police.
” Several groups previously within the food court area had begun to go into the mall area,” the statement said. Stores began to close their gates and they made the decision to close the mall and evacuate.
“ Somehow a fight broke out in the food court,’’ said Tokar. The fight “escalated,’’ said the mayor, who said no gunshots were fired. “
” If all you want for Christmas is some online video gaming, you may feel like you got coal in your stocking.
Online game networks Xbox Live and PlayStation Network were knocked offline much of Christmas Day in an apparent DDos (distributed denial of service) attack.
Taking credit for the takedown: a group called Lizard Squad, which previously claimed credit for August attacks on the PlayStation Network and online games World of Warcraft and League of Legends. “
Click pic to go live where you can follow Santa around the world
” Each festive season the air forces tasked with defending US airspace instead devote themselves to tracking Father Christmas.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command – or NORAD – started tracking him when a 1955 advert encouraged children to phone Santa – but gave the wrong number.
When he realised what had happened, Colonel Harry Shoup – who came to be known as the “Santa Colonel” – quickly told his staff to answer the calls with an update on Father Christmas’s current position.”
” And the practice has continued ever since, developing into a tradition where volunteers staff call centres on Christmas Eve and field around 70,000 phone calls each year from 200 countries.
But the tracker has adapted with the times, becoming more advanced through the years as it took to the internet.
It now has its own Twitter,Facebook and YouTube accounts, and not only counts down the days until Father Christmas will begin delivering presents but lets you visit the digital North Pole and play various games.”
” After a family’s Christmas presents were stolen, Lexington police officers who responded to the call found a way to make sure the family would still have a good Christmas.
Jason Rothermund, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge, said the officers, Tim Ball, James Dellacamera and Benjamin Blank, contacted the organization and asked if there was money left over from their annual event, Shop with A Cop, in which officers take children in Lexington out shopping for presents.
Rothermund said they did have leftover funds, which were then used to buy gifts for the family.
” These officers took the initiative to go above and beyond what they normally do,” he said.
The original Christmas gifts were recovered later the same day they were stolen, but the officers took the kids shopping for more presents because they didn’t have a lot originally, said police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts.
Christina Edwards, 28, has custody of her nieces, Jaylin Beeman, 6, and Destiny Edwards, 4 months, and her nephew, Brayden Edwards, 3. She is raising them by herself.
When the officers came back later saying they wanted to take the kids shopping, Edwards was thrilled.
” I felt very blessed that somebody would want to help,” she said.
Edwards said the officers had $300 to spend on the kids, and the kids had a great time shopping for their gifts at Meijer. Brayden and Jaylin each got pajamas, clothes and shoes. Brayden got a SWAT team badge, helmet and gun, as well as a soccer ball and other toys. Jaylin picked out Barbie dolls and a Barbie jeep.
Rothermund said the most important thing about what the officers did is that they didn’t have to do it, they wanted to.
” This is the type of story that makes me proud to be a police officer,” he said. “It’s why people become police officers.” “
” Positive pregnancy tests are for sale online by a Green County woman who is marketing them specifically for the holidays.
An online ad called the positive tests “a way to keep your man.” The tests are being offered for $20.
Many people who spoke to FOX23 seemed appalled that someone would attempt to buy one of the tests.
“ Why would you want to do that to somebody?” one person asked.
Those buying the tests could also run into legal problems ranging from libel to emotional stress to misrepresentation.
“ If a woman were to ask for money for medical treatment, that would be considered a crime or fraudulent criminal act,” said attorney Timothy Houchin of Brune Law Firm.”
From the fertile mind of master parodist Bobby Burns comes this version of “Home Alone” that focusses on the subplot with Bud telling tales to Kevin of their creepy neighbor , who just might be the “South Bend shovel slayer” … Clever stuff
Send me a postcard or something :] PO Box 49389 Austin, TX 78765
LYRICS
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen We wish you happy holidays, whoever you may be So merry Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, or heck all three We’ve modernized these jingles for the massive bourgeoisie Love, The Updated Christmas Carol Team
Santa Clause is Coming to Town You better not judge, you better not hate Better not bully or discriminate Progressive Santa’s coming to town He’s making a list of gluten free foods He won’t take a peek at J-Law’s nudes Progressive Santa’s coming to town He’s 50 different races And all for tax reform He’ll protect all your children Well, as long as they’ve been born
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (reindeer) Had an advantageous nose (he outlived his friends) He passed his bright red traits on (traits on) Darwin said that’s how it goes (evolution’s not a theory)
Mary Did You Know Mary did you know that your baby boy supports the NRA Mary did you know that your baby boy is white
Deck the Halls Deck the halls with kujichagulia Kwa wa wa wa wa wa wa wanza Give zawadi, hang benderas Kwa wa wa wa wa wa wa wanza Throw your hands up in the air-uh Kwa wa wa wa wa wa wa wanza
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch You’re a green one, Mr. Grinch You’re lacking in finesse That greenish epidermis determines your success Mr. Grinch Racist Whos constrain you to the issues they continue to suppress You’re an outlier, Mr. Grinch You give the Whos a fright They say your heart is 3/5ths normal, You’re either wrong or white Mr. Grinch Don’t walk the streets of Whoville you might fight a cop the Whos will not indict
White Christmas I’m dreaming of a racially ambiguous holiday
Away In A Manger Away in a manger with Jesus and crew His schmeckle got cut cause hey Christ was a Jew
O Holy Night O holy night, the stars are brightly shining It is the night Jesus did something holy Joseph watched golf, his leather chair reclining As Mary birthed a child, I think a donkey was involved Three wise men came, with GPS they found him Christ lied in a barn, as his omniscient baby-daddy looked down Jesus crawled on his knees His mom shared it on snapchat O bright device! O night, when Christ celebrated Christmas “
We all love our dogs , some more than others , and this video shows that love taken to a Christmas extreme … bon appetit
Published on Dec 15, 2014
” http://freshpet.com Everyone! We would LOVE to see your pets and will be giving out some special prizes! If your pet has what it takes, feel free to post a photo or video of them eating with hands and use the hashtag #FreshpetFeast
We are on a mission – to bring the power of fresh, real food to dogs and cats. And we’re committed to doing so in ways that are good for our pets, for people and for the planet.
At Freshpet, our dogs and cats aren’t just our pets. They’re part of the family. And as our families choose to eat fresh, less-processed foods, we thought it made sense that our pets should too. That’s why we made Freshpet. Freshpet isn’t found on the shelf like every other pet food. You’ll only find it in the Freshpet fridge. Just fresh meats and fresh veggies, and no preservatives.
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This ROV from Deep Trekker would make a great gift to the mariner on your list but beware of the $4000 price tag … and this is the starter model . The flagship model , DTG2 Turbo Worker , lists for $10,000 .
DTG2 from Deep Trekker
” The DTG2 from Deep Trekker comes complete with a standard 50 meters of tether that connects you to the Superbright LCD Screen Controller and offers the first completely portable, remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Built to last, the DTG2 is constructed of a cast-aluminum body that encases a 360-degree window and allows the user to have an unprecedented field of view, whether checking out the bottom of the boat or exploring the ocean floor. Typical battery life ranges from six to eight hours. “
Watch this video of the DTG2 and see just how cool it is …
As cool as an underwater ROV might be we personally can see ourselves having much more fun from a gift of the V2 , state of the art , waterproof , floating drone from SeaHex which is a steal at $8,000 … (sarc off)
SeaHex V2
” The SeaHex V2 changes the stakes for the ever-growing market of quadcopter drones. The big brother of the V1, which allows for safe water recovery, the V2 provides the impressive ability for both water landings and takeoffs. When coupled with the offshore fishing package, the SeaHex V2 lets you create a program to search a half-mile grid in front of you while sending a live feed back to an iPad or a smartphone onboard. That’s a huge advantage when looking for baitballs or a feeding frenzy.”
And here is a video of the SeaHex V2 in action …
While we have highlighted a couple of the most expensive items on the list , do not be deterred . There is something for all budgets among the great gift ideas for the fisherman/boater you love at Marlin Magazine
” While Christmas time usually means stores and homes filled with rosy-cheek, joyful Santa Claus decorations, some shoppers were rather scared by this Santa spotted in the Macy’s Department Store in New York. The pale-faced St. Nick sounds like he may be having a spot of bother on the toilet as he tries out his signature, “ho, ho, ho!” Credit: YouTube/Mr. Crumples “
Here is the latest Tweet from @TheDemocrats , hawking their Christmas wares …
The responding tweets are wonderfully instructive of the public’s feeling towards an official political party’s embrace of hatred as a “party value” and must be read . It would appear that there are much more right thinking people visiting the page than hate-filled dems , and rightly so .
The “hate is not a family value” crowd has once again demonstrated their hypocrisy for all the world to see . The “Christmas gift” in question is pictured below :
And it can be yours for the low , low price of just $30 plus shipping , handling and sales tax , where applicable . Only the Kool-Aid gulping Dems would be foolish enough to spend 30+ dollars on a $6 made in China plastic travel tumbler .
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