The Anniversary/Television Personalities: When MTV Launched A New Era In Music 45 Years Ago.

It was exactly on 1 August, 1981, when Music Television—known as MTV—launched its first broadcast with The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star,"  ushering in a new era of pop music. It was the best of TV combined with the best of radio, video jockey Mark Goodman told the audience in the wee hours of the night. 

The nerwork turned out to be a potent mix, with video becoming as important as the music itself. Among the first videos shown on MTV were Pat Benetar’s “You Better Run,” Rod Stewart’s "She Won’t Dance with Me," and The Who's "You Better You Bet."

 Although MTV wasn't the pioneer of the music video concept—its origins can be traced back to the 1960s with The Beatles and The Monkeys—and in the late 1970s a show emerged that many consider the direct ancestor of MTV: the famous "PopClips" on Nickelodeon, conceived by former Monkeys member Michael Nesmith. It only lasted one season, but its brief contribution was fundamental to the arrival of MTV. 

Of course, every beginning has its challenges, even for MTV. The debut couldn't even be seen in New York, and many of the producers recount traveling to New Jersey to watch the launch in a bar. There were other places where it was available from the very beginning. The truth is, it's not known for sure who actually saw the channel's debut on August 1, 1981. Many of us remember it and were able to watch it because VH1, for its 30th anniversary, dedicated the first 24 hours to its broadcast, and today at least the first two hours are available on YouTube. After the first clip, everything went silent for a few moments, then Pat Benatar appeared, followed by a brief description of the evolution of human sound, and then more videos, which were scarce at the time, many of them from years earlier. There was even a Rod Stewart video from 1976. 

In those first few hours, viewers could watch REO Speedwagon, The Who, Blondie, Styx, The Pretenders, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, Split Enz, and April. Wine, among others, and then the official presentation of the first VJs: the great Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn, and Nina Blackwood. It's curious how Goodman comments on how quickly time has passed since the channel's launch, and now it reaches its 45 anniversary, unfortunately with more sorrow than glory. 

The network gradually took off until the "I Want My MTV" campaign, promoted by luminaries like Hall & Oates, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Billy Idol, The Police, and others, aimed to get cable distributors to include it in their programming. Little by little, its influence became omnipresent, with virtually no competition. Although programs like "Night Tracks" appeared on NBC over time, it wasn't the same. MTV's success made music videos essential for established artists and newcomers aspiring to success, benefiting the music industry by giving space to Black artists like Michael Jackson. This was also due to pressure from other artists, since initially there were hardly any Black artists on the programming. Then came "Thriller," and everything changed. The massive success of this video, which many consider the best in MTV history (for me, it's "Take On Me"), encouraged the creation of the VMAs in 1984, whose first ceremony was simple yet successful. Setting the course, and then, even though they continue to be delivered, their influence or value is worthless. 

Obviously the network evolved, delivering memorable moments and programs. For example, the famous "The Basement Tapes," the support for indie music in "120 Minutes," the metal in "Head Bangers Ball," the rap segment "Yo MTV Raps," the "Top 20 Countdown," the Spring Break specials, and the famous "MTV Unplugged," which began with XTC's performance and spawned memorable moments like those with Nirvana and R.E.M. Then came the creation of its younger sibling, VH1, MTV Europe, followed by MTV Latino, Alternative Nation, and AMP. Just as the channel was beginning to decline in the mid-90s, MTV2 breathed new life into the channel, recapturing its golden age and remaining on the air until its cancellation in 2003, leaving us with nothing. There were key moments like the famous "Unplugged," whose idea originated from an acoustic show with XTC, but it was Eric who truly made it happen. Clapton, Paul McCartney, R.E.M., and Nirvana showed that the format would reach massive heights. And what can be said about the VMAs, which after 1985 evolved into something unmissable? I remember the ceremony being considered a massive and unmissable event, until it stopped being innovative and enjoyable from the late 90s onwards. 

Unfortunately, little by little, the network content began to fade and replace music videos with trash reality TV, first was "Real World" back in 1992, and from then on it wouldn't stop, without knowing it, we were witnessing the beginning of the end, until everything became unbearable. Unfortunately over the decades, MTV went through many different phases before ultimately fading as cable TV was replaced by the internet—but not without forever leaving its mark on music.

In Memoriam: Iconic And Veteran Actor "James Tolkan" Dies At 94

James Tolkan, the veteran character actor best known for his stern authority roles in "Back to the Future" and "Top Gun," has died at the age of 94.  James Tolkan, known for his roles as an authoritarian figure in the Back to the Future and Top Gun films, has died. He was 94.

Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, New York, where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, said Saturday. A brief obituary published on the Back to the Future website said Tolkan died "peacefully", but no cause of death was given.

In Back to the Future, Tolkan portrayed the bow tie-wearing vice-principal Gerald Strickland, who eyeballed students for trouble in the halls of the fictitious Hill Valley high school – in particular Marty McFly, played by Michael J Fox. "You got a real attitude problem, McFly," Tolkan's character says in the 1985 film.  "You're a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too."

Tolkan also appeared in Top Gun as commanding officer Tom "Stinger" Jardian. Near the end of the film, when Jardian asks Tom Cruise’s character, Capt Pete "Maverick"  Mitchell, about his choice for future duty, Mitchell replies that he wants to be a Top Gun instructor. "God help us," Tolkan's character replies, laughing. Tolkan's big-screen résumé also included The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Amityville Horror, Wolfen, WarGames, Masters of the Universe, True Blood and Opportunity Knocks.

Born on June 20, 1931, in Calumet, Michigan, James Stewart Tolkan cycled through Chicago after his parents divorced and wound up in Tucson, Arizona, where he graduated from Amphitheater High School in 1949. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, he attended Coe College and the University of Iowa, came to New York with $75 in his pocket and studied with Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio, where Beatty was a classmate in 1956.

He made his onscreen debut in 1960 on an episode of ABC's Naked City, and in 1966 he understudied for Robert Duvall before replacing him as bad guy Harry Roat in the original Broadway production of Wait Until Dark, starring Lee Remick. 

Later, Tolkan played insurance investigator Norman Keyes on five episodes of NBC’s Remington Steele and several characters over 21 installments of A&E’s A Nero Wolfe Mystery (he directed a couple of episodes as well). He also guest-starred on Miami Vice, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Wonder Years, Leverage and many other shows.

Survivors include his wife, Parmelee, who worked at the American Place Theater as a costumes and scenery painter. They met on the set of the 1971 off-Broadway play Pinkville when he was acting in it and she was a prop girl, and they married that year in Lake Placid. Donations in his memory can be made to your local animal shelter, animal rescue organization or Humane Society chapter.

Tolkan also played Napoleon and his look-alike in Woody Allen’s Love and Death and was the crooked accountant known as Numbers who works for Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) in Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy.He appeared in three movies directed by Sidney Lumet: as a cop in the Pacino-starring Serpico, as a determined D.A. in Prince of the City and as a judge in Family Business.On Broadway, Tolkan portrayed salesman Dave Moss in the original 1984-85 production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. (Ed Harris played the character in the 1992 movie adaptation.)

Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee Welles.

In Memoriam: Legendary Martial Artist And Actor "Chuck Norris" Dies At 86

Martial arts phenom and Hollywood action star Chuck Norris has died on Thursday at the age of 86, in what his family described as a "sudden passing."

A message poster by his family on Friday confirmed the deceased: "It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning," "While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace." 

Born Carlos Ray Norris in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, he grew up poor. At age 12, he moved with his family to Torrance, Calif., and joined the U.S. air force after high school, in 1958. It was during a deployment to Korea that he started training in martial arts, including judo and tang soo do.

"I went out for gymnastics and football at North Torrance High," he told The Associated Press in 1982. "I played some football, but I also spent a lot of time on the bench. I was never really athletic until I was in the service in Korea."

After he was honourably discharged in 1962, he worked as a file clerk for Northrop Aircraft and applied to be a police officer, but was put on a wait list. Meanwhile, he opened a martial arts studio, which expanded to a chain, with students including stars like Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, Donny and Marie Osmond, and Steve McQueen, whom he later credited with encouraging him to get into acting.

Before he would become a star in movies and on TV, Norris was wildly successful in competitive martial arts. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate champion. He also founded his own Korean-based US hard style of karate, known sometimes as chun kuk do, and the United Fighting Arts Federation, which has awarded more than 3,300 Chuck Norris System black belts worldwide.

Black Belt magazine ultimately credited Norris in its hall of fame with holding a 10th-degree black belt, the highest possible honour.

Norris made his film debut as an uncredited bodyguard in the 1968 movie The Wrecking Crew, which included a fight with Dean Martin. He had crossed paths with Bruce Lee in martial arts circles. Their friendship — sometimes as sparring partners — led to an iconic faceoff in the 1972 movie Return of the Dragon, in which Lee fights and kills Norris's character in Rome's Colosseum.

He went on to act in more than 20 movies, such as Missing in Action, The Delta Force and Sidekicks.

"I wanted to project a certain image on the screen of a hero. I had seen a lot of anti-hero movies in which the lead was neither good nor bad. There was no one to root for," Norris said in 1982.

In 1993, he took on his most famed role, as a crime-fighting lawman in TV's Walker, Texas Ranger. The show ran for nine seasons, and in 2010, then-governor Rick Perry awarded him the title of honorary Texas Ranger. The Texas Senate later named him an honorary Texan. 

Norris also made a surprise comedic appearance as a decisive judge in the final match of the 2004 movie, The only on occasion has he taken on acting roles in recent years, including 2012's The Expendables 2 and the 2024 sci-fi action movie Agent Recon. He's due to appear in Zombie Plane, an upcoming film starring Vanilla Ice.

Then it come the "Chuck Norris Facts", it was around the time of Dodgeball that his toughman image became the stuff of legend — literally. "Chuck Norris Facts" went viral online with such wildly hyperbolic statements as "Chuck Norris had a staring contest with the sun — and won" and "They wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mt. Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough for his beard."

Norris ultimately embraced the absurdity of the meme, putting together The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book, which combined his favourites with supposedly true stories and the codes he aimed to live by. He would also write books on martial arts instruction, a memoir, political takes, Civil War-era historical fiction and more.

"To some who know little of my martial arts or film careers but perhaps grew up with Walker, Texas Ranger, it seems that I have become a somewhat mythical superhero icon," Norris wrote in the forward to the Fact Book. "I am flattered and humbled."

Norris is survived by five children: stunt performers Mike and Eric with his late ex-wife Dianne Holechek; twins Dakota and Danilee with his wife Gena Norris; and Dina, the result of an early 1960s "one-night stand" revealed in his autobiography.

Norris celebrated his birthday just over a week before his death, posting a sparring video on Instagram.

"I don't age. I level up," he wrote.

In Memoriam: The Swedish Actor And Musician "Björn Andresen" Dies At 70

Björn Andresen, the reluctant "Most Beautiful Boy" dies at 70. Andresen the Swedish actor who as a teenager played an ailing composer's object of unrequited desire in the 1971 film "Death in Venice," but who resented being objectified by the film's director, Luchino Visconti, who called him "the most beautiful boy in the world," died last October 25 in Stockholm. The cause of death, in a hospital, was cancer, said his daughter, Robine Roman.

Mr. Andresen was 15 and had long blond hair and high cheekbones when he was cast as Tadzio, a Polish boy who visits Venice with his family, in Visconti’s adaptation of Thomas Mann's 1912 novella. Tadzio's mere appearance bewitches the composer Gustav von Aschenbach, played in the film by Dirk Bogarde. They meet in an elevator, leaving Aschenbach spellbound as they lock eyes but do not speak. Aschenbach then follows Tadzio around the city and fantasizes about him as a kind of artistic and romantic muse, before growing sick and dying in a beach chair as he reaches toward the boy.

In his 1983 autobiography, "Dirk Bogarde: An Orderly Man," described Andresen as the perfect Tadzio and said that he had an almost mystic beauty. But, he added, the last thing that Bjorn ever wanted, I am certain, was to be in movies. Visconti was also fixated on Mr. Andresen. During the boy’s screen test, the director asked him to strip to his swimsuit. 

"When they asked me to take off my shirt, I wasn't comfortable," Mr. Andresen told Variety after the release of "The Most Beautiful Boy in the World," a 2021 documentary about him directed by Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri. I wasn't prepared for that. I remember when he posed me with one foot against the wall, I would never stand like that. When I watch it now,  he said, I see how that son of a bitch sexualized me.

Bjorn Johan Andresen was born on Jan. 26, 1955, in Stockholm. His parents were not married, and he never knew his biological father, an artist who died in an accident two years after he was born, his mother, Barbro (Erixon) Andresen, a poet and artist, married Per Andresen, who adopted Bjorn. She died by suicide when her son was 10.

Bjorn began seriously studying the piano at 6. Not quite a decade later, he was playing in a pop-rock band when his grandmother, who had already begun pushing him into acting, took him out of a rehearsal to audition for Visconti. "All that he could think about was he would be late for his rehearsal," Ms. Roman, his daughter, said in an interview. "Music was his life. Acting just happened."

During the making of "Death in Venice," Visconti acted protectively toward Mr. Andresen. But the boy felt unprepared when Visconti took him to a gay club after the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1971. In the documentary, Mr. Andresen recalled feeling besieged by voracious looks, wet lips and rolling tongues and getting drunk to cope with the unwanted attention. He wondered if Visconti, who was gay, was testing him to see if he was also gay, which he wasn't. 

At a news conference at Cannes, where "Death in Venice" was nominated for the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, Visconti seemed ready to discard Mr. Andresen, saying that he had been more beautiful during filming, that he was at an awkward age and that he might become a handsome man. At Cannes, Mr. Andresen felt overwhelmed by the sudden spasm of fame that he faced — which was most likely inflamed by Visconti's claim, when the movie opened in London that March, that Mr. Andresen was "the most beautiful boy in the world."

After promoting "Death in Venice," he traveled to Japan, where the film had made him a teen idol; he made records and appeared in TV commercials there, and some young women carried scissors in the hope of snipping off locks of his hair. His looks also brought him a brief fling with Carrie Fisher, whom Mr. Andresen met in Paris in 1976, the year before her breakout role in "Star Wars." She approached him in a bar and asked him if he was, indeed, Bjorn Andresen.

Over the last 20 years or so, his flowing hair became gray and he obscured his face behind a beard that made him look something like Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" films.

Mr. Andresen continued to act, mostly on television in Sweden but also in films, including a memorable turn in Ari Aster's 2019 horror movie, "Midsommar." He was also a keyboard player in a dance band, a composer of jazz and bossa nova music, the arranger of the music for a Swedish production of  "The Rocky Horror Show," and the manager of a small theater in Stockholm.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Andresen is survived by two granddaughters and a sister, Annike Andresen. His marriage to Susanna Roman ended in divorce. A son, Elvin, died in 1986 of sudden infant death syndrome, while Mr. Andresen slept next to him. Mr. Petri, one of the directors of “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” said that he had known Mr. Andresen for more than 40 years and recognized him as a major cultural figure in Sweden, worthy of a documentary." He was a big thing for our generation," he said in an interview. "He was world famous and ‘the most beautiful boy.' We knew that he was not comfortable with what happened with Visconti, so we wanted to give him the chance to tell his own story.

In Memoriam: The Television Composer "Mark Snow" Dies At 78

Mark Snow, the veteran television composer who turned “The X-Files” theme into an unlikely chart hit in the 1990s, died Friday at his home in Connecticut. He was 78.

He was a 15-time Emmy nominee, he not only scored more than 200 episodes of the legendary Chris Carter's spooky Fox series, he also provided the music for another series now turned into classisc such as "Hart to Hart," "T.J. Hooker," "Smallville," "The Ghost Whisperer" and "Blue Bloods."

Six of his 15 Emmy nominations were for "The X-Files," but five others were for such high rated TV movies and miniseries, including "Something About Amelia," "An American Story," "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," "Children of the Dust" and "Helter Skelter."

He was a Juilliard-trained composer started out, like most TV composers in the 1970s, writing for full orchestra, but Snow was among the first to transition to the all-electronic milieu in the late 1980s, working alone in his home studio. All of the "X-Files" TV music sometimes as much as 40 minutes per weekly episode was created on his synthesizers, samplers and other music-making machines.

Composer Sean Callery, who considered Snow a mentor and then close friend of more than three decades, told:  "His limitless talent and boundless creativity was matched only by the generosity he bestowed upon other composers who sought his guidance. He would give the most inspiring and intelligent feedback when listening to the work of other young artists. He combined his decades of experience with the encouragement that composers cultivate: to trust in themselves, embrace their own unique voice, and learn to rely on their own instincts. And he did so with a humor and self-deprecation that made his wisdom all the more enduring."

Snow recalled coming up with an echoing rhythmic figure, then adding an eerie, whistling melody atop it, as he was scoring the pilot for "The X-Files" in 1993. He was amused when it became a top-10 hit in England, Ireland, France and across Europe in 1996, saying: Nothing really big happens in the song. It stays in A-minor, there's no singing, drums or guitars, and it was a smash hit. 

Snow also scored Carter's other series, "Millennium," "Harsh Realm" and  "The Lone Gunmen," and earned another Emmy nomination for his theme for  "Nowhere Man" in 1996.

As he explained: "It took quite a few years to get to where I felt comfortable with the electronics, trying to make something that approximated melodic music. Mostly it was used for ambient sound-effect type scores. But the technology kept changing so quickly. There was much more control, and the spectrum of sound really warmed up and started to breathe. These electronic instruments could really make something approximating music. [Now] I have my keyboard, here’s the show on the screen in front of me, and I just start playing along with it. I improvise, and then I hit on something I like, and I go over it again and again."

He also wrote the music for the final four films of acclaimed French filmmaker Alain Resnais, earning a César nomination for the first, 2007's "Private Fears in Public Places."

Born Martin Fulterman on August 26, 1946, in Brooklyn. He began piano studies at 10, later adding drums and oboe to his repertoire. He studied at New York's High School of Music and Art and soon befriended another future film composer, Michael Kamen.

The two became roommates when both went on to study at the Juilliard School of Music from 1964 to 1968. They co-founded the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble to perform both classical and innovative pop music. Immediately signed to Atlantic Records, they went on to record and perform for the next five years.

In 1974, after a brief stint as a record producer, he moved to Los Angeles, where his brother-in-law, actor Georg Stanford Brown, convinced producer Aaron Spelling to take a chance on the young composer by commissioning a score for ABC's "The Rookies."

It was on this first of six "Rookies" scores that Martin Fulterman adopted the pseudonym Mark Snow initially to dodge threats from his previous employer, it became his professional moniker. He soon became busy in episodic TV, writing scores for "Starsky & Hutch", "Gemini Man," "Family" and other series. 

It was "Hart to Hart," the Robert Wagner-Stefanie Powers romantic drama, his real first big hit, composing the theme and more than 90 scores for the ABC series. He went on to write the theme and early scores for William Shatner's "T.J. Hooker," the theme for Jack Warden's "Crazy Like a Fox,"  and scores for such other series as "The Love Boat," "Dynasty," "Cagney & Lacey" and "Falcon Crest."

In the aftermath of his 1990s success with the "X-Files" music, Snow scored the first six seasons of "Smallville" for the WB network, all five seasons of "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS (earning two more Emmy nominations) and nearly 290 episodes of the long-running Tom Selleck family police drama "Blue Bloods" on CBS.

Among his other TV movies and miniseries were "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" with John Travolta, HBO's "Vietnam War Stories," the Louis L'Amour western "Down the Long Hills," "Murder Ordained" with Keith Carradine, "Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure," "The Lost Capone," six "In the Line of Duty2 films including "Siege at Waco," "A Woman Scored: The Betty Broderick Story" with Meredith Baxter, "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" with Rob Morrow, and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" starring Michael Caine.

His other feature films included "Ernest Saves Christmas," "Cold Dog Soup" produced by George Harrison's Handmade Films," the two "X-Files" films, "The X-Files" and "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," both of which departed from the all-electronic TV style in favor of traditional orchestral scores. In addition to his Emmy nominations, Snow received ASCAP's Golden Note Award in 2005. 

Among the survivors are his wife Glynnis, plus three daughters and grandchildren.

In Memoriam: The Damned's Founding Guitarist "Brian James" Dies Aged 70

Brian James, the founding guitarist of the iconical British punk band the Damned, has died age 70. A statement posted to his official Facebook page called him: "one of the true pioneers of music". At this very moment, no cause of death was shared.

 

His Damned bandmate Captain Sensible, AKA Raymond Burns, shared a tribute on X: "We’re shocked to hear that creator of the Damned, our great chum Brian James, has sadly gone. A lovely bloke that I feel so lucky to have met all those years ago and for some reason chose me to help in his quest for the music revolution that became known as punk."

 

Brian James wrote the first official British punk single, "New Rose" – released five weeks before the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" – and was the lead songwriter on the band's debut album, Damned Damned Damned, which was released in February 1977. That November, James left the group after the release of their second album, the poorly received "Music for Pleasure," and pursued several solo groups, including the brilliants Lords of the New Church, who released three albums in the 1980s.

 

Born as Brian Robertson in Hammersmith, London, in February 1955. After playing in the proto-punk band London SS alongside future Clash member Mick Jones, he formed the Damned with singer Dave Vanian, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies in 1976. Captain Sensible expanded on his post on Facebook, recalling that when James was recruiting bandmates, he instituted short hair as a rule – a radical departure from the mid-70s hippy look – and had such a "blistering technique" on guitar that he persuaded Sensible to switch to bass. "The next couple of years were a pretty wild ride but Brian's vision of a music revolution had been absolutely spot on … and boy do I feel lucky that he chose me cos I had no plan B if the music game failed."

 

They played their first gig in July 1976, as support to the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club in London. The Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren kicked them off a subsequent support tour. After departing the group, James collaborated with Iggy Pop as a member of his touring band. Stewart Copeland of the Police performed on his first two solo singles, Ain’t That a Shame from 1979, and Why? Why? Why? from 1982.

 

In 2000, James joined forces with Copeland, Wayne Kramer of MC5, Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses and Clem Burke of Blondie as the Racketeers for the album Mad for the Racket.

 

In 2013, he re-recorded his Damned material for a solo album, Damned If I Do, and toured the record with Rat Scabies (AKA Christopher Millar). In 1988 and 2022, the original members of the Damned reunited for a UK tour.

 

James is survived by his wife, Minna, and son Charlie.

Rocktrospectiva: The Clash Iconical Single "London Calling" Turns 45

Released on 7 December 1979 "London Calling" was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album of the same name. This apocalyptic, politically charged rant features the band's post-punk sound, electric guitar and vocals.

 

Written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. The title alludes to the BBC World Service's station identification: "This is London calling ...", which was used during World War II, often in broadcasts to occupied countries.

 

The lyrics reflect the concern felt by Strummer about world events with the reference to "a nuclear error" just like the incident at Three Mile Island, which occurred earlier in 1979. Joe Strummer has said: "We felt that we were struggling about to slip down a slope or something, grasping with our fingernails. And there was no one there to help us."

 

The line "London is drowning / And I live by the river" comes from concerns that if the River Thames flooded, most of central London would drown, something that led to the construction of the Thames Barrier. Strummer references police brutality in the lines "We ain't got no swing / Except for the ring of that truncheon thing" as the Metropolitan Police at the time had a truncheon as standard issued equipment. 

The lyrics also reflect desperation of the band's situation in 1979 struggling with high debt, without management and arguing with their record label over whether the London Calling album should be a single or double album. The lines referring to "Now don't look to us / Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust" reflects the concerns of the band over its situation after the punk rock boom in England had ended in 1977.

 

The sinlge "London Calling" was recorded at Wessex Studios located in a former church hall in Highbury in North London. This studio had already proved to be a popular location with the Sex Pistols, the Pretenders and the Tom Robinson band. The single was produced by Guy Stevens and engineered by Bill Price. 

 

London Calling" was released as the only single from the album in the UK and reached No. 11 in the charts in January 1980, and becoming at once the band's highest-charting single until "Should I Stay or Should I Go" hit No. 1 ten years later. The song did not make the U.S. charts, as "Train in Vain" was released as a single and broke the band in the United States, reaching No. 23 on the pop charts.

Also "London Calling" was the first Clash song to chart elsewhere in the world, reaching the top 40 in Australia. 

 

The success of the single and album was greatly helped by the music video shot by Don Letts showing the band playing the song on a boat (Festival Pier), next to Albert Bridge on the south side of the Thames, Battersea Park in a cold and rainy night at the beginning of December 1979.

In Memoriam: The Beloved "Teri Garr " Dies At 79

Teri Garr, que fabulous and hilarious comedy actress who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star "Tootsie," she was 79. Garr died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis surrounded by family and friends, said publicist Heidi Schaeffer. Garr battled other health problems in recent years and underwent an operation in January 2007 to repair an aneurysm.

The actor, who was sometimes credited as Terri, Terry or Terry Ann during her long career, seemed destined for show business from her childhood. Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comedian; her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dance lessons at 6 and by 14 was dancing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies. She was 16 when she joined the road company of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and as early as 1963 she began appearing in bit parts in films.

From there, Garr found steady work dancing in movies, and she appeared in the chorus of nine Presley films, including "Viva Las Vegas," "Roustabout" and "Clambake." She also appeared on numerous television shows, including "Star Trek," "Dr. Kildare" and "Batman," and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show "Shindig,2 the rock concert performance T.A.M.I. and a cast member of "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour."

Her big film break came as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in 1974’s Francis Ford Coppola thriller "The Conversation." That led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who said he would hire her for the role of Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant in 1974’s "Young Frankenstein" — if she could speak with a German accent. The film established her as a talented comedy performer, with New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael proclaiming her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.”

Her big smile and off-center appeal helped land her roles in "Oh, God!" opposite George Burns and John Denver, "Mr. Mom" as Michael Keaton's wife" and "Tootsie" in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and learns that he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career. She also lost the supporting actress Oscar at that year’s Academy Awards to Lange.

Garr showed in other films such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Black Stallion" and "The Escape Artist" that she could handle drama equally wellI would like to play "Norma Rae" and "Sophie’s Choice," but I never got the chance, she once said, adding she had become typecast as a comic actor.

Often playing David Letterman’s foil during guest appearances on NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” early in its run. Her appearances became so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing, that for a time rumors cropped up that they were romantically involved. Years later, Letterman credited those early appearances with helping make the show a hit. It was also during those years that Garr began to feel "a little beeping or ticking" in her right leg. It began in 1983 and eventually spread to her right arm as well, but she felt she could live with it. By 1999 the symptoms had become so severe that she consulted a doctor. The diagnosis: multiple sclerosis.

For three years Garr didn’t reveal her illness."I was afraid that I wouldn’t get work," she explained in a 2003 interview. After going public, she became a spokesperson for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, making humorous speeches to gatherings in the U.S. and Canada. She also continued to act, appearing on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Greetings From Tucson," "Life With Bonnie" and other TV shows. She also had a brief recurring role on "Friends" in the 1990s as Lisa Kudrow’s mother. Garr married contractor John O’Neil in 1993. They adopted a daughter, Molly, before divorcing in 1996.

Garr is survived by her daughter, Molly O’Neil, and a grandson, Tyryn.

In Memoriam: The Iconic Dutch Player "Johan Neeskens" Has Died Aged 73

Johan Neeskens, the iconic Dutch player who scored the first-minute penalty to put the Netherlands ahead in the 1974 World Cup final against West Germany, has died at the age of 73. Neeskens was taken ill while working for the Dutch football association’s World Coaches programme in Algeria. 

According to the KNVB said in a statement that he died on October 6th., after medical intervention was unable to save him. A truly magnificent midfielder with Ajax and Barcelona, Neeskens was renowned for his ferocious shooting and equally ferocious tackling, as well as his stamina and versatility. Ajax team-mate Sjaak Swart once said he was "worth two men in midfield".

He moved to Barcelona in 1974 after winning three European Cups with Ajax, shadowing Johan Cruyff and earning himself the nickname Johan Segundo (Johan the second). But he was far from a second fiddle, playing in two World Cup finals for the Netherlands and scoring 17 international goals in 49 appearances.

His penalty in the first minute of the 1974 final in Munich was famously scored before a single German player had touched the ball, but Oranje eventually lost the match 2-1. Neeskens was also in the team that lost the 1978 final 3-1 to another host nation, Argentina. The player spent five years at Barcelona and then followed in Cruyff’s footsteps again, this time to the United States where he spent five seasons with the New York Cosmos. He finished his career in Switzerland, which became his home for the rest of his life.

He spent the second part of his career as a coach, working as Guus Hiddink’s assistant in the Dutch team that reached the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup.Two years later he took charge of NEC Nijmegen, leading them to their first European appearances in 20 years in 2003, but the following year he was sacked for poor results.

Even if you finish second, you can still win over the world with the way you play," he said. "That was our legacy, the fact that people still talk about it today. We should be proud of that."

In Memoriam: James Earl Jones Legendary Actor And Voice Of Darth Vader Dies At 93

James Earl Jones, the Hollywood actor and voice of Darth Vader, has died aged 93, his agent has said. The actor died early on Monday morning surrounded by his family. Jones died at his home in Dutchess county, New York, according to an announcement from his representatives. No cause of death was provided.

Jones starred in dozens of films including Field of Dreams, Coming To America and Conan the Barbarian. He was best known for giving the Star Wars supervillain Darth Vader his distinctive gravelly voice. Jones was also the voice of Mufasa in Disney's 1994 film The Lion King, and CNN's "This is CNN" tagline. He won a host of awards including Emmys, Tony Awards, a Grammy and an honorary Oscar.

Jones voiced Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film, which came out in 1977, and follow-ups The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He reprised the role in later film releases such as the first instalment of the Star Wars anthology series, Rogue One, and the third instalment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - both released in the later 2010s.

 

Jones was not the original choice for the role of Vader: the British bodybuilder David Prowse was cast in the first film, released in 1977, for his imposing physique, but the film’s director George Lucas was unhappy with Prowse’s pronounced West Country accent. Jones was given the job of revoicing Vader’s menacing dialogue, creating an instantly immortal evildoer in the process. 

 

By this time, Jones had already won considerable renown, and a substantial career, as a stage actor. Born in Mississippi in 1931, Jones grew up in Michigan after his family moved there during the Great Migration. Jones’s father was actor Robert Earl Jones, although he abandoned his family before Jones was born, and they had little contact until the 1950s.

 

Jones was affected by a stammer as a child, which he overcame with the help of a teacher. After studying drama at the University of Michigan and a spell in the military after the Korean war, Jones quickly established himself a stage performer, making his Broadway debut in 1958 with a small role in Sunrise at Campobello, Dore Schary’s play about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s polio diagnosis.

Jones would perform in a series of major productions in the 1960s, including Jean Genet’s The Blacks, Bertolt Brecht’s Baal and Georg Büchner’s Danton’s Death. Jones also appeared in a string of Shakespeare plays on Broadway, among them The Merchant of Venice, Coriolanus, The Winter’s Tale and – most famously – Othello in 1964, a role he would play again in 1982. At the same time, Jones began to find work on screen: his film debut was as airman Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick’s nuclear war satire Dr Strangelove.

 

In 1967, Jones earned arguably his defining role on the stage: boxer Jack Jefferson, modelled on real-life great Jack Johnson, in Howard Sackler’s play The Great White Hope. Jones won a Tony award for best actor in 1969, and then went on to star in the 1970 film adaptation, directed by Martin Ritt; he received an Oscar nomination for best actor, the second black actor to be nominated for the award. The film gave Jones a platform as a leading man in Hollywood, and he was able to take advantage of the new opportunities afforded to African American actors at the time. He appeared in The Man, as a senator who becomes the first black president.

 

Star Wars and its sequels solidified Jones’s presence in mainstream cinema, and he benefited from a regular stream of supporting roles in big films, becoming one of the most high-profile black American actors of the 1980s and 90s. He played the villainous Thulsa Doom opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian, Eddie Murphy’s father in Coming to America, author Terence Mann in Field of Dreams, and the CIA deputy director in The Hunt for Red October.ones continued to appear on stage whenever possible: he starred in the premiere production of August Wilson’s Fences, winning a second Tony award in 1987 for his role as refuse collector Troy Maxson, and as chauffeur Hoke Colburn in the 2010 touring revival of Driving Miss Daisy. In 2013 he played Benedick opposite Vanessa Redgrave’s Beatrice in a Mark Rylance directed production of Much Ado About Nothing.

 

Jones was married twice: to the actor and singer Julienne Marie between 1968 and 1972, and to Cecilia Hart, who died in 2016. He is survived by his son Flynn, also an actor.

In Memoriam: French Diva "Françoise Hardy" Dies At 80

Françoise Hardy, the famous French singer and actress has died at 80. Hardy had numerous Top 10 albums and singles in Europe and appeared in several films, one of those was the iconical "Grand Prix" directed by John Frankenheimer and released in 1966. Her son, Thomas DuTronc, revealed the news on social media but did not provide details, only a statement in French, "Maman est partie" (mom is gone).

Unfortunately, Hardy was diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago and had been in declining health. Born on January 17, 1944 during the Nazi-occupied Paris, she had a career in music and also a film career in the 1960's and 1970s, highlighted by the famous film "Grand Prix" John Frankenheimer’s road-racing drama starring James Garner, Antonio Sabato Jr., Yves Montand and Eva Marie Saint, and several famous drivers in active back then such as Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Jo Siffert, Jim Clark & Bruce McLaren amognst others, the film eventually won three Oscars, for Sound, Sound Effects and Editing. 

Hardy broke out with the 1962 hit "Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles" (All The Boys Y Las Hijas) which topped the singles charts in her homeland and several other countries. She followed that with a second French No. 1, single "C’est à L’amour Auquel Je Pense" (That Love Is What I Think). She was well-known for her melancholic style, she epitomized the “yé-yé” wave style, achieving nearly a dozen Top 10 singles in France through the 1960s, and scored nine Top 10 albums there, her most recent in 2018. She remains among the best-selling French recording artists.

Hardy also had success in Belgium, Germany and French-speaking Canada, along with three mid-’60s Top 30 singles in the UK, but curiously she never charted in the U.S. even thought, she ranked No. 162 on Rolling Stone‘s 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. 

She also was a writter authored several fiction and non-fiction books and alos had a curious side career in astrology, she was married to French singer-songwriter Jacques Dutronc in the 1980s and had one child, named Thomas. 

In Memoriam: Ha Muerto El Destacado Actor "Louis Gossett Jr." A Los 87 Años

El legendario actor Estadounidense Louis Gossett Jr., a muerto a los 87 años este Viernes, la noticia ha sido dada a conocer en un comunicado hecho por su familia: "Con mucho pesar queremos confirmar la muerte de nuestro querido padre quien ha muerto esta mañana, queremos agradecer a todos por sus condolencias, y por favor pedimos privacidad en estos difíciles momentos". 

El primer primo Neal L. Gossett le dijo a la AP que el actor falleció en Santa Monica, sin causa aun confirmada aunque en el 2010 el actor comentó que tenía cáncer de prostata. A menudo asociado a una figura seria e intimidante, que le hizo ganar un Oscar por su encarnación del aguerrido y duro Sargento en el filme "An Officer And A Gentleman" además de un Emmy por su encarnación de un esclavo compasivo en la serie "Roots".

De un cuerpo atlético y una figura más que intimidante, tuvo mucho roles a lo largo de su carrera, uno de los más notables fue el del Sgt. Emil Foley donde ataca sin tregua alguna al personaje de Richard Gere y tienen un memorable combate al final del mismo, fue el segundo actor negro en ganar un Oscar seguido de Sidney Poitier en 1964.

Pero también destaco en otros papeles de acción como "The Punisher" en 1989, siendo el némesis de Dolph Lundgren, otro memorable rol fue el del Coronel Charles "Chappy" Sinclair en el filme de 1986 "Iron Eagle" y lo encarno en sus otras dos secuelas, en donde fue el líder de varias misiones de rescate internacional pero fue la primera la que más quedo en la psique de los fans.

Gossett nació el 27 de Mayo de 1936, en Brooklyn, era el hijo de un portero, fue el presidente de su clase y estuvo en el equipo de baseball, pista y basketball y sería invitado al campamento de novatos de los New York Knicks, una lesión le hizo retirarse y es aquí cuando desarrolla interés en la actuación, fue recomendado por un profesor a los productores en un show de 1953, "Take a Giant Step" donde se llevo el rol a los 17 años frente a 400 contendientes, luego recibió una beca en al NYU donde fue amigo de James Dean, y tuvo su debut en la televisión en 1957 en la serie de "The Big Story".

En 1959 protagonizó la obra de Broadway "A Raisin In The Sun", que fue lo que finalmente lanzaría su carrera, y luego vendrían otras producciones como la miniserie "Roots" en donde ganó la admiración de la crítica por su rol tan significativo, se dice que la serie fue vista por más de 100 millones de televidentes en 1977 y el era uno de los actores negros del momento y con el rol más destacado, también estuvo en el aclamado filme "Sadat" de 1983, donde protagonizo al asesinado líder Egipcion Sadat, además del beisbolista Leroy "Satchel" Paige en un telefilm de 1981.

Su carrera se extendió durante una carrera de más de 60 años, protagonizando varios roles como el profesor de antropología Gideon Oliver en el ABC Mystery Movies, también como el guardián en la serie "The Powers Of Matthew Star", o Gerak en "Stargate SG-1", un director en el film "Toy Soldiers" de 1991,, además de otros filmes siendo uno de los últimos "The Color Purple" del 2023, le sobreviven su hijos Sharron y Satie,

In Memoriam: Ha Muerto El Multifacetico "Carl Weathers" A Los 76 Años

 

Carl Weathers, un ex-jugador de la NFL que termino volviéndose en un reconocido actor de Hollywood y hasta comediante, ha muerto a los 76 años, famoso por sus roles de Apollo Creed en "Rocky", el compañero de Arnold Schawarzenegger en "Predator", el profesor de golf en "Happy Gilrmore" y el personaje que interpreto en "The Mandalorian" apareciendo en las tres temporadas. 

 

De acuerdo a su mánager Matt Luber, Weathers murío en paz mientras dormía el pasado Jueves,toda una leyenda, un actor y atleta extraordinario además de ser una gran persona, fueron las palabras de Schwarzenegger, otro filme por el cual será recordado es sin duda "Action Jackson" en donde aparecía flexionando sus músculos, no digamos ese papel icónico como Apollo junto a Rocky en 1976 que fue el rol que lo puso en el mapa, y por tales motivos, su colega Stallone publicó un video tributo diciendo "Sigue pegando Apollo". 

En 1988 hizo otro rol legendario en "Action Jackson" fue famoso por aquella escena en donde con un lanzallamas queda al villano diciéndole: ¿como te gustan las costillas?., seguiría activo y luego vendrían otros roles clave como en "Happy Gilmore" que era el opuesto de Sandler, y luego en las series "Chicago Justice" y finalmente trascendiendo en "The Mandalorian" donde fue nominado al Emmy en el 2021 y también le dio la voz a "Combat Carl" en "Toy Story".

 

Weathers creció admirando actores como Woody Strole, cuya combinación de psíquica y actuación fueron elementales en "Spartacus", también idolatraba a Sidney Poitier y Harry Belafonte entre otros y atletas como Jim Brown y Muhammad Ali por que rompieron los moldes y las barreras raciales,  creció en New Orleans, y durante su época escolar participo en obras de teatro y luego el deporte lo llamo y se decantaría por eso de primero, jugo en San Diego State University, y luego se matriculo en Teatro, llegó a jugar una sola temporada en la NFL para los Raiders en 1970, luego se unió a la liga Canadiense de Football y jugo dos años más hasta terminar sus estudio en el San Francisco State University, obtuvo un B.A. en drama en 1974 y comenzó aparecer en los primeros shows como "Good Times" y "The Six Million Dollar Man, además de "In The Heat Of The Night" y "Starsky & Hutch", y filmes como "Force 10 From Navarone", pero fue el rol de Apollo Creed lo que lo elevo. 

Comentó que leyó el guion pero no muy le gusto y decidió hacerlo a su manera y ese es el resultado que se ve en el filme, además de mentir diciendo que tenía experiencia como boxeador, más adelante tendría su crédito como director en episodios de "Silk Stalkings" y en "Renegade", y finalmente un episodio de la 3era., temporada de "The Mandalorian".

In Memoriam: Ha Muerto El Icónico "David Soul" A Los 80 Años

El legendario actor David Soul que encarno al famoso detective rubio en el exitoso show setentero "Starsky And Hutch" y que también haría carrera en la música, ha muerto a los 80 años. 

 

La noticia fue confirmada por su familia en donde comunicaron que Soul era un amado marido, padre, abuelo y hermano, murió ayer tras librar una valerosa batalla por la vida en compañía de su familia, el compartió muchos regalos extraordinarios en el mundo como actor, cantante, cuenta cuentos, artista creativo y amigo, su sonrisa, risa y pasión por la vida será recordada de por vida por todos aquellos que su vida toco. 

Nacido como David Richard Solberg el 28 de Agosto de 1943, en Chicago, hijo de un pastor Luterano y una maestra, comenzó su carrera como miembro fundador del Firehouse Theatre Company en Minneapolis, pero no comenzaría a llamar la atención sino hasta una presentación en 1967 cuando apareció en el The Merv Griffin Show como el hombre encubierto, en donde tocaba la guitarra y cantaba usando un pasamontañas, parecía más un asaltante de bancos que un cantante de blues.

 

Eso le dio su primer rol televisivo en la serie "Flipper", pero su gran momento vendría con la serie "Starsky And Hutch" que duro de 1975 a 1979 el show se volvería en uno de los más icónicos de todos los tiempos y lanzaría al estrellato global a Soul y su compañero Glaser, durante esa época se anotó un hit con el tema de 1977 "Don't Give Up On Us" y su siguiente single "Silver Lady" fue No. 1 en el Reino Unido. 

 

Siguió trabajando en la televisión, hasta que en 1990s se mudo al Reino Unido donde comenzó una carrera como actor en el West End, eventualmente se hizo ciudadano Británico y tuvo presentaciones regulares en la TV de aquel país, se caso cinco veces según varias biografías y es el padre de cinco hijos y una hija.

In Memoriam: Ha Muerto La Icónica Actriz "Suzanne Somers" A Los 76 Años

 

Mejor conocida por sus roles televisivos en las series "Three's Company" y "Step By Step", Suzanne Somers ha muertos a los 76 años, la mañana de este Domingo en paz en su hogar rodeada de su familia, la actriz había sobrevivido a un cáncer agresivo por 23 años. 

 

Rodeada de su esposo, su hijo y su familia más inmediata según la declaración dada por su publicista, su familia se había reunido para celebrar las vísperas de su 77avo., aniversario, en vez de ello celebraron su extraordinaria vida y agradecieron a los miles de fans y seguidores por las muestras de cariño. 

 

Una ceremonia privada tendrá lugar esta semana además de un servicio especial el próximo mes de Noviembre, previo a su fallecimiento, Somers en una entrevista dada a una revista, dijo que deseaba estar con su familia más cercana y querida para su cumpleaños. 

 

Actriz y emprendedora, fue diagnosticada por primera vez de cáncer de seno en el 2000 y estuvo peleando todo este tiempo, unas dos décadas y de pronto resurgió de nuevo, uso las mejores alternativas y tratamientos para combatirlo pero al final sucumbió.

 

Somers se volvió icono televisivo en el rol de Chrissy Snow, en la serie Three's Company" que corrió entre 1977 y 1981, además de su otro memorable rol como Carol Lambert en la serie "Step By Step" de 1991 a 1998, y finamente como la Comisario Hildy Granger en "She's The Sheriff" entre 1987-1989, además de publicar libros, se aventuro en el negocio de la belleza y salud donde logró ser también exitosa.

In Memoriam: El Legendario Director "William Friedkin" Ha Muerto A Los 87 Años

William Friedkin, el laureado director de los icónicos filmes "El Exorcista" y "Contacto En Francia", ha muerto a los 87 años, en Los Ángeles según acaba de confirmar el decano de la Universidad Chapman Stephen Galloway, amigo de su esposa y ex productor Sherry Lansing. 

 

Uno de los más atrevidos e influyentes directores de su generación, llegó a ganar un Oscar por mejor dirección del filme, "The French Connection" de 1972, también sería nominado en 1974 para el filme "The Exorcist", los cuales ademas fueron nominados como "Mejor Película". 

 

Su carrera comenzó en 1965 con la comedia "Good Times" que tenía como estrellas a Sonny y Cher, aunque el filme recibió críticas negativas, el diría después, he dirigido mejores filmes pero con esa me divertí muchísimo, entonces llegó 1971 el año que cambiaría todo para el director "The French Connection" su primer gran hit comercial y con el apoyo de la crítica, considerado hasta el día de hoy, uno de los mejores filmes en la historia, aunque le tenía poca fe al mismo, le sorprendio el éxito que este llegó a tener, un filme influyente para directores como David Fincher, Steven Spielberg y Akira Kurosawa. 

 

Y entonces se vino otro hit, la adaptación de la novela de terror de Peter Blatty "The Exorcist", el cual se volvería un hit aun mayor a nivel internacional engrosando 425$ en todo el mundo con un presupuesto de 12$ para realizarlo, aunque no fue fácil, fue despedido unas cinco veces durante la producción que tuvo muchos problemas, y aun así el filme llegaría a ser el primero dentro del cine de terror que sería nominado a mejor película 

Para muchos, ese fue el mejor filme de la historia, a menudo llamada totalmente horripilante desde el día que salio, e impulsaría otras secuelas y hasta un serie de TV, aunque el mismo dijo que no miró nunca nada de lo que salio después de su filme original, su próxima gran entrega fue "Sorcerer" de 1977 que en un principio fue vista como un desastre comercial y de crítica, aunque con los años ha sido revaluada, fue la adaptación de la novela "The Wages Of Fear" de "George Arnauld", y a menudo la citaba como uno de sus filmes preferido, quizás el título fue engañoso ya que la gente pensaba que era una cinta de terror similar al "Exorcista" pero no fue así, además fue estrenada la misma semana en que salio "Star Wars" y eso pudo haber influido.

 

Otros filme recordado del director fue "Cruising" de 1980, en donde Al Pacino protagonizada a un policía infiltrado en la escena sado masoquista gay de New York con tal de dar con un asesino en serie que buscaba homosexuales para asesinarlos, claro que el filme fue motivo de controversias y fríamente recibido en su tiempo, aunque con los años fue re apreciado, ya que el mismo dijo que no la hizo como una especie de declaración de la vida gay sino que le parecía interesante por el hecho que mostraba una serie de asesinatos en un entorno exótico, cosa que no se había visto en ningún filme mainstream.

 

Cabe destacar otros filmes y episodios de TV del director tales como "To Live And Die In L.A.", "Jade", "Rules Of Engagement", "Bug And Killer Joe", episodios para shows de TV como "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", "Twighlight Zone" y "Tales From The Crypt" y su más reciente que fue el documental del 2017 "The Devil And  Father Amorth", su último trabajo fue "The Caine Mutiny Court-martial", protagonizado por Kiefer Sutherland y Jason Clarke y estaba basado en una obra de teatro de 1953 de Herman Wouk. 

 

A menudo hablaba sobre el declive del cine Estadounidense, criticando mucho a los filmes de super héroes y otros blockbusters, ya que creía que toda la idea de un film de arte y experimental en donde se recibían a las audiencias en los teatros había desaparecido de casi todo el mundo con algunas excepciones.

In Memoriam: El Vocalista Del Anime "Mizuki Ichiro" Ha Muerto A Los 74 Años

El legendario y pionero vocalista del anime "Mizuki Ichiro", conocido por ser el interprete de varios temas musicales relacionados al anime, ha muerto como consecuencia de un cáncer de pulmón el pasado Martes 6 de Diciembre, tenía 74 años. 

 

Ichiro nacido en Tokyo en 1948, debuto como cantante pop a los 20 años, tres años después se embarcó como vocalista de temas de anime, siendo todo un pionero del género, es famoso por ser el vocalista del tema principal de Mazinger Z, el cual llegó a vender 700 mil copias volviéndose un hit mayor, pero también participó en otros temas de series de anime como Babel Nisei, y Space Pirate Captain Harlock. 

Los fans lo llamaron el "Rey De Las Canciones de Anime" o "Aniki" que significa "Gran Hermano", el Japonés se robó el corazón de multitudes hasta en el extranjero, incluyendo audiencia exigentes como en Francia y China, donde contribuyó al intercambio cultural. 

 

En el 2020 tuvo un show en Shanghai durante la Expo mundial, lamentablemente hace un año en Abril del 2021, fue diagnosticado de cáncer de pulmón, entonces entró a tratamiento y rehabilitación con el propósito de continuar trabajando, su última presentación fue en Noviembre, pero desgraciadamente su salud empeoró y el pasado 6 de Diciembre fue llevado al hospital donde murió unas horas después. 

In Memoriam: El Legendario "Jules Bass" Ha Muerto A Los 87 Años

Ha muerto a los 87 años, Juless Bass, famoso productor y director detrás los especiales navideños que marcaron una época tales como "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Render" ó "Frosty The Snowman", la noticia fue publicada por su publicista, Jennifer Fisherman-Ruff a Entertainment Weekly, aunque la causa no fue revelada.

 

Bass también fue animador y compositor, dejando huella por aquellos programas animados en stop-motion usando marionetas que causaron furor en los 60's y 70's, de la mano de su socio y director de arte de la cadena ABC, Arthur Rankin Jr., se unieron para crear Rankin/Bass con quien desarrollaría programas exitosos en las décadas por venir. 

Su primera producción fue "Las Nuevas Aventuras de Pinocho" estrenada en 1960, luego vendrían adaptaciones de "El Hobbit", "El Regreso Del Rey", "El Show De King Kong" y por supuesto en los 80's harían época con "El Último Unicornio" de 1982, y luego "Thundercats" de 1985 y "Silverhawks" en 1986. 

Sus proyectos claves generalmente navideños fueron: "Rudolph el reno de nariz roja", "Nieve helada", "El año sin Papá Noel", "Brillante Año Nuevo Rudolph", "Santa Claus viene al pueblo", basados a menudo en canciones navideñas que alternaban con animaciones muy realistas que gustaron al espectador, en 1976 con "The Little Drummer Boy" lograrían una nominación al Emmy, y con "The Hobbit" ganaron el Premio Peabody.

 

Y es que el tandem con Rankin era único, solía decir que el tenía talentos que el otro no tenía y viceversa y por eso funcionaban tan bien, Rankin falleció en el 2014 a los 89 años. Oriundo de Filadelfía, nació en 1935, luego de la Universidad trabajó en publicidad antes de asociarse con Rankin, pero sus años de producción y dirección terminaron en 1987, aunque siguió en la literatura escribiendo varios libros para niños. 

 

No cabe duda que su legado marcó una época para los niños durante generaciones, en los años 80's., sus filmes navideños eran esenciales durante los especiales navideños de canales locales, si a eso le agregamos la película "El Último Unicornio" que la transmitió el Canal 5 local, y por supuesto, "Los Halcones Galácticos" y "Los Thundercats" que marcarían la infancia ochentera de muchos.