I have a confession to make. I had a bad year. I thought about really letting the words flow, you know? Getting it all out. Seeing what you had to offer in return. But then I thought, that has potential to be dangerous. So I'll keep it simple.
Take a look around you. If you see someone who has treated you kindly, someone who has exhibited patience, someone who has dropped his own soul-crippling baggage to be there for you, someone who makes you laugh, someone who got your back...consider yourself lucky and do whatever it takes to keep that person around. Good people are not a dime a dozen.
A very happy and healthy new year to all of you! Thank you for sticking around and for having patience. Burning Wood is nothing without you.
January 6, Pat Harrington Jr, 86, Actor
January 8, Otis Clay, 73, Singer
January 10, David Bowie, 69, Rock icon
January 14, Alan Rickman, 69, Actor
January 14, Rene Angelil, 73, husband and manager for Celine Dion
January 15, Dan Haggerty, 74, Grizzly Adams
January 17, Dale Griffin, 67, drummer for Mott the Hoople
January 18, Glenn Frey, 67, Eagles rocker
January 23, Jimmy Bain, 68, rock bassist
January 25, Abe Vigoda, 94, Actor
January 28, Paul Kantner, 74, founding member of Jefferson Airplane
January 28, Signe Toly Anderson, 74, original member of Jefferson Airplane
January 29, Linus Maurer, 90, cartoonist
January 30, Frank Finlay, 89, Acting great
January 31, Terry Wogan, 77, TV & radio legend
February 2, Bob Elliott, 92, Radio personality
February 3, Maurice White, 74, Earth Wind & Fire star
February 12, Kim Williams, 69, singer/songwriter
February 15, Vanity, 57, Vanity 6 singer
February 17, Andrzej Zulawski, 75, Filmmaker
February 18, Angela "Big Ang" Raiola, 55, actor
February 19, Harper Lee, 89, To Kill A Mockingbird author
February 19, Umberto Eco, 84, Italian Author
February 22, Sonny James, 87, Country artist
February 28, Frank Kelly, 77, Father Ted star
February 28, George Kennedy, 91, Movie great
March 1, Tony Warren, 79, Coronation St creator
March 4, Joey Feek, 40, half of country duo Joey + Rory
March 4, Pat Conroy, 70, Author
March 8, George Martin, 90, Beatles producer
March 11, Keith Emerson, 71, ELP rock legend
March 15, Sylvia Anderson, 88, Lady Penelope
March 16, Frank Sinatra Junior, 72, Sinatra’s singer son
March 17, Paul Daniels, 77, Comedy magician
March 22, Phife Dawg, 45, Lyricist
March 23, Joe Garagiola Sr, 90, baseball player
March 24, Gary Shandling, 66, actor
March 29, Patty Duke, 69, Child star
March 31, Ronnie Corbett, 85, Comedy legend
March 31, Denise Robertson, 83, TV agony aunt
April 2, Leandro Barbieri, 83, Jazz saxophonist
April 3, Erik Bauersfield, 93, Star Wars actor (It's a trap!)
April 6, Merle Haggard, 79, Country legend
April 10, Howard Marks, 70, Author
April 12, David Gest, 62, TV personality
April 17, Doris Roberts, 90, Actress on Everybody Loves Raymond
April 20, Victoria Wood, 62, Comedy genius
April 20, Dwayne Washington, 52, Basketball player
April 20, Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, 46, WWE wrestling legend
April 21, Lonnie Mack, 74, Blues guitar great
April 21, Prince, 57, Pop icon
April 21, Guy Hamilton, 93, Bond director
April 24, Billy Paul, 80, Chart star
May 1, Tommy Kono, 85, weightlifter
May 1, Madeleine LeBeau, 92, French actress
May 8, William Schallert, 93, actor
May 10, Gene Gutowski, 90, film producer and holocaust survivor
May 17, Guy Clark, 74, Country legend
May 19, John Berry, 52, Beastie Boys star
May 19, Alan Young, 96, Mister Ed TV star
May 19, Morley Safer, 84, correspondent
May 21, Nick Menza, 51, Megadeth drummer
May 24, Burt Kwouk, 85, Pink Panther star
May 31, Carla Lane, 87, Liver Birds writer
June 3, Muhammad Ali, 74, Boxing legend
June 6, Peter Shaffer, 90, British playwright
June 6, Theresa Saldana, 61, actress
June 10, Gordie Howe, 88, hockey player
June 10, Margaret Vinci Heldt, 98, creator of beehive hairdo
June 14, Henry McCullough, 72, Wings guitarist
June 15, Lois Duncan, 82, novelist
June 19, Anton Yelchin, 27, Star Trek’s Chekov
June 21, Wayne Jackson, 74, The Memphis Horns
June 23, Michael Herr, 76, screenplay writer
June 24, Bernie Worrell, 72, Funkadelic star
June 27, Bud Spencer, 86, Western actor
June 28, Scotty Moore, 84, Elvis’s guitarist
July 2, Caroline Aherne, 52, Comedy actress
July 2, Michael Cimino, 77, director
July 16, Alan Vega, 78, Suicide punk pioneer
July 16, Nate Thurmond, basketball player
July 24, Marni Nixon, 86, actress
July 25, Tim LaHaye, 90, Left Behind author
July 26, Youree Dell Harris, Miss Cleo
July 30, Gloria DeHaven, 91, actress
August 6, 2016 Pete Fountain, 86, renowned jazz clarinetist
August 13, Kenny Baker, 81, Star Wars’ R2-D2
August 14, Fyvush Finkel, 93, actor
August 15 Dalian Atkinson, 48, Villa cup hero
August 15, Bobby Hutcherson, 75, vibraphonist
August 17, Arthur Hiller, 92, actor
August 22, Toots Thielemans, 94, Harmonica great
August 28, Gene Wilder, 83, Comic genius
August 28, Juan Gabriel, 66, Mexican singer/songwriter
August 28, Harry Fujiwara, 82, wrestler
August 30, Vera Caslavska, 74, gymnist
September 1, Jon Polito, 65, actor
September 5, Hugh O'Brian, 91, actor
September 7, Bobby Chacon, 64, boxer
September 8, Prince Buster, 78, Ska Singer
September 8, Johan Botha, 51, singer
September 8, Lady Chablis, performer
September 11, Alexis Arquette, 47, Transgender actress
September 13, Jack Hofsiss, 65, director
September 16, Edward Albee, 88, playwright
September 16, W.P. Kinsella, 81, Canadian Novelist
September 17, Charmian Carr, 73, Sound of Music’s Liesl
September 24, Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr, 68, zydeco musician
September 25, Arnold Palmer, 87, Golfing legend
September 25, Jean Shepard, 82, Grand Ole Opry
September 25, Jose Fernandez, 24, baseball player
October 3, Joan Marie Johnson, 72, singer
October 9, Aaron Pryor, 60, boxer
October 13, Dario Fo, 90, playwright
October 14, Jean Alexander, 90, Corrie’s Hilda Ogden
October 15, Dennis Byrd, NFL defensive lineman
October 23, Pete Burns, 57, Dead or Alive chart star
October 24, Bobby Vee, 73, 1960s teen idol
October 29, Norman R. Brokaw, 89, talent agent for Elvis, Marilyn Monroe
November 4, Jean-Jacques Perrey, 87, French composer
November 7, Leonard Cohen, 82, Iconic singer & writer
November 11, Robert Vaughn, 83, Veteran actor
November 13, Leon Russell, 74, US rock legend
November 14, Gwen Ifill, 61, news anchor
November 15, Holly Dunn, 59, Country singer
November 15, Mose Allison, 89, pianist/singer
November 16, Mentor Williams, songwriter "Drift Away"
November 18, Sharon Jones, 60, singer
November 23, Ralph Branca, 90, baseball pitcher "shot heard round the world"
November 24, Colonel Abrams, 67, 80s chart star
November 25, Florence Henderson, 82, Brady Bunch star
November 26, Ron Glass, 71, US TV star
November 26, Fritz Weaver, 90, actor
November 28, Grant Tinker, 90, TV producer
December 1, Andrew Sachs, 86, Fawlty Towers star
December 6, Peter Vaughan, 93, Game of Thrones star
December 7, Ian Cartwright, 52, Wolves midfielder
December 8, John Glenn, 95, First to orbit Earth
December 8, Greg Lake, 69, ELP legend
December 10, AA Gill, 62, Writer & critic
December 10, Ian McCaskill, 78, TV weatherman
December 11, Esma Redzepova, 73, singer
December 11, Joe Ligon, 80, singer
December 12, Walter Swinburn, 55, Derby winning jockey
December 13, Alan Thicke, 69, TV star
December 15, Craig Sager, 65, reporter
December 18, Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99, Actress
December 24, Rick Parfitt, 68, Quo Rocker
December 24, John Barfield, 52, baseball player
December 25, George Michael, 53, Singer
December 26, Liz Smith, 95, Actress
December 26, Alphonse Mouzon, 68, Percussionist
December 26, Ricky Harris, Comedian and Actor
December 27, Richard Adams, 96, Author
December 27, B.G. & H.P., soul mates
December 27, Carrie Fisher, 60, Actress
December 28 Debbie Reynolds , Actress
15 comments:
And yet Dick Cheney, Charles and David continue to thrive...go figure
J**** F***! What a year!
I had to stop a third of a way through the list. Just to fucking painful to continue.
Captain Al
March 25 sister-in-law
I, too, couldn't finish the list. But I will.
In the meantime,
"Take a look around you. If you see someone who has treated you kindly, someone who has exhibited patience, someone who has dropped his own soul-crippling baggage to be there for you, someone who makes you laugh, someone who got your back...consider yourself lucky and do whatever it takes to keep that person around. Good people are not a dime a dozen."
I will be quoting you.
Thank you, and my 2017 be better for us all.
-Xtm
Thanks for being here Sal, I always enjoy reading your posts. It's one of the best music blogs out there.
February 6 - Dan Hicks, singer/songwriter, 74. Original member of the Charlatans. Founder and leader of Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks.
Too many lists have forgotten Dan this year. One of my all time favorites, may his music always be with us.
Let's not forget drummer extraordinaire Bill Gerstel for numerous bands including:
"3 Teens Kill 4","The Neighbors", "Rogue's March", "Pinataland." Rave on my friend.
Burning Wood was certainly one of the bright spots of an overall depressing year. Thanks, Sal.
Best of luck to all for 2017.
After reading Johnny D's comment, I realized that as sad as that long list is, there are some that were missed.
Thanks Sal for a well written and insightful blog.
It's good to know we can all meet here.
Sad as it is to have lost so many of my heroes in the worlds of music, films and art, at least their works will live on for the rest of us to savour and enjoy. For a couple of years now this blog has been something to look forward to and long may it continue. To misquote Defoe (or Benjamin Franklin if you prefer) death and taxes are the only certainties with which to comfort ourselves as we boldly go where no-one has gone before (thank you Capt Kirk). I remain ever optimistic (if only because it can't get much worse, can it?) so bring on Brexit and Trump I say! I wish you a Happy New Year and may it bring you all you wish for. Keep on keepin' on. Cheers!
Almost forgot—let's also thank buzzbabyJ for his hard-working contributions this year. Those great mixes don't make themselves, y'know.
Thanks for all you do to keep things going.
Yeah- 2016 was rough. Yikes!! Thank you for all the music and convo that made it all much better.
On a side note... your "comments" section at bottom is back to how it used to be, prior to a few months ago. I've been downloading and wanting to comment and couldn't b/c I don't have the type of accounts it listed.... ahhh, sweet freedom....
March 17, 2016 - Steve Young. Fortunately Bear Family is working on a box.
/There's always one more...
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