Richard Arnold Roundtree (July 9, 1942 – October 24, 2023) was an American actor and model, who was best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft.
ok, wikipedia:
Considered as "the first Black action hero",[3][5] Roundtree was credited with having an impact on the rise of African American leading actors in Hollywood projects, thanks to his successful performances in the blaxploitation genre.[3][4][6] His portrayal of Shaft as a bold, confident, and charismatic figure also influenced cinematic depictions of Black men and Black masculinity, a contrast to Black men in films prior to Shaft having often been portrayed as mild-mannered or servile.
Edited by xongsmith, : fix name spelling
"I'm the Grim Reaper now, Mitch. Step aside." Death to #TzarVladimirtheCondemned! Enjoy every sandwich!
quote:Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a passionate champion of mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights, passed away Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2:10 p.m. at her home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96. She died peacefully, with family by her side.
Mrs. Carter was married for 77 years to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, who is now 99 years old.
Washington Post:Henry Kissinger, who shaped world affairs under two presidents, dies at 100 The diplomat exercised an unparalleled control over U.S. international affairs and policymaking. He was also the target of relentless critics, who deemed him unprincipled and amoral.
In my studies, I remember him for Vietnam diplomacy and for the creation of the Petro Dollar with Saudi Arabia.
I remember him as an at times controversial figure of the Nixon (then Ford) administration whose world hopping diplomatic efforts created the term "shuttle diplomacy."
My favorite Kissinger story was in the early seventies when he was seen in a number of high-profile glitzy party venues always accompanied by a beautiful woman clinging to his arm. And the press reports always mentioned how unkempt and ragged-tired he appeared the late late morning after. Sleepy-eyed enjoyment.
Then it broke. He had been slipping out of the parties flying to Beijing for negotiations for months setting the stage for Nixon’s big China opening visit. He would take the red-eye back home to arrive looking like he had just pulled an all-nighter, which he had but not with a pretty girl but with a room full of old Chinese guys.
Kissinger the faux playboy. I was impressed but disappointed the girls were just a prop.
Almost no one remembers the original Smothers brothers' show. I think it only lasted one season. Tommy dies and comes back as an angel.
I loved their variety show. Pat Paulsen made his name there and I saw him in person once. I still remember one of the shows, the one where Nancy and Frank Sinatra Jr. sing "Something Stupid". At the break Dickie said they had a special guest coming up and that people should be able to guess who it was. After the break someone appeared in silhouette with a coat over their shoulder while the song "When I was 17" began. Then the lights came up and it was Tommy who said (paraphrasing since it's been a few years), "You didn't think a show like this could have a big star like Frank Sinatra, did you?"
I didn't see a lot of their shows because I was in college.
I didn't know anything about their comedy records until sometime later, maybe in grad school, someone introduced me to them.
Re: Peter Schickele - July 17, 1935–January 16, 2024, 88
My music appreciation prof in the early 70's played us his "New Horizons in Music Appreciation -- Beethovan's Fifth Symphony" in which the first movement was covered like a baseball game: "And there's not a cloud in the ceiling." If my grandsons acquire their father's love for baseball, I'll play it for them some day.
His whole PDQ Bach schtick was a parody and inside jokes about classical music. PDQ was the last and oddest of Johann Sebastian Bach's twenty-odd children. His works were lost and rediscovered (by Schickele) when his sheet music was being used as filter paper for a coffee percolator (story is that JS Bach was rediscovered when Mendelsohn found his music being used to wrap fish). That turned out to be his "Sanka Sonata" (JS Bach had written a cantata for a friend's new coffee shop, Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (AKA Kaffeekantata) ). One of PDQ's pieces was "Concerto for Piano versus Orchestra" (S 88) -- we saw Schickele perform it in concert and between movements he went back to his corner as if he were in a boxing match. And so on.
A friend at university checked out the score for PDQ's Fugue in C minor, (Fuga Vulgaris) for Calliope Four Hands, from the Toot Suite S. 3.14. Where the hands would cross each other, the treble and bass staffs of the grand staff would twist around each other.
He presented himself as a musicology professor from the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. However, Hoople, ND, is in the northeastern part of the state; I know because I was stationed at Grand Forks AFB, a third of the way down the eastern edge of the state, and Hoople was north of us. I seem to recall that Schickele had lived in Fargo, a third of the way up the state from South Dakota, don'cha know?
Schickele had a radio show on Public Radio which I listened to late Sunday afternoons once a month as I drove from my weekend of reserve duty in San Diego back up to Orange County. The line I remember from those shows was:
quote:Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach become musicologists.
ABE:
Just listened to "New Horizons in Music Appreciation -- Beethovan's Fifth Symphony" again. That album, The Wurst of PDQ Bach, which I bought in the mid-70's includes the Concerto for Horn and Hardart. I never understood that one, which included an apparatus with doors from which to extract food, until a few months ago when I saw a documentary about Horn & Hardart's automats which were popular in New York City from 1910 to the 1960's -- the founders' names were Horn and Hardart. Duh!
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