Dead Stars: Whitney Houston and Davy Jones

Two very different vocalists from two very different eras have past on within the past month. Neither ever meant too much to me at any point in my life though I can say my life has been touched because of their saturation into pop culture. These are both people who brought much joy to people around the world with their music and that's what matters.

I recall watching Davy Jones in The Monkees as a kid and being amused and liking the show and enjoying the songs even though Day Dream Believer wasn't my favorite song by the group. I think he was more of a teen heart throb for the girls who watched the show, even in the 80s when the band had a small rebirth. Davy reportedly passed on a massive heart attack at the age of 66.

RIP Davy

Whitney Houston's death was a bit more troublesome as it appears to have been alcohol and prescription drug oriented. You've heard all the clamor about the dangers of these over the counter drugs when they are mixed with booze, it's been all over the news. It's sad she found solace in so much drug abuse from crack to all that other stuff. Whitney is the queen of the Grammy's, winning ore than anybody else in history. She had huge songs all over the radio like The Greatest Love of All, Saving All My Love For You and I will Always Love You which were all tremendously well sung power pop ballads. It's hard to imagine a pop music world before her and it's difficult to imagine what the pop world have been without her.

RIP Whitney

Dead Stars Clarence Clemons

The Big Man as he was known in The E Street Band passed away on June 19th from complications due to a stroke. My memories of him are going to be of him wailing away at on his saxophone for Bruce Springsteen but he definitely did his solo thing as well in grand 80s fashion. I'll remember his smile from videos and what seemed to be a joy of life.

He will be missed in that odd way we miss entertainers, Rest In Piece.

Dead Stars: Lesie Nielsen

 RIP Leslie

Cinematic comic classic, Leslie Nielsen passed away on Sunday November 28 from Pneumonia complications. He will be remembered for his off the wall portrayals of the Naked Gun cop Frank Drebin and the ridiculous doctor from the Airplane! movies.
Picking one moment , one joke is really too tough as there were so many hilarious so enjoy this!

Dead Stars: Tom Bosley

Actor Tom Bosley passed away on October 19th at age 83. He played the iconic role of Mr. Cunningham on Happy Days, an old school dad who was constantly being tested by the subversive 1950s. Coming along in the 1970s he wasn't the innovator of TV fathers but he did have staying power, 11 seasons worth.

RIP Tom Bosley

 TV Guide ranked him number 9 on the all time TV father list which isn't bad. In comparison to how TV fathers have recently been portrayed recently (Homer Simpson, Don Draper, Peter Griffin) his traditional character is a breath of fresh air as he doesn't destroy the house, he doesn't bone all the girls at the office, endanger his families lives or come up with hair brained schemes to get rich quick. Howard Cunningham was a no bull, hardware store owner who just wanted to come home from work to an appreciative family and a steak.

In addition Mr. Bosley also won a Tony award in 1959 and co starred on Murder She Wrote.

Dead Stars: Barbara Billingsley

Barbara Billingsley died Saturday at the age of 94. If nothing else she set the standard for TV house wives in the 1950s and 1960s on the hit show Leave It To Beaver. High heels and pearls were the look all the time, very impressive for a stay at home mom who has degenerated since then.

RIP Barbara

Here's the deevolution of housewives for those of you who don't see it. If we start with Mrs. Cleaver out next step would be:

  Carrol Brady: She started off like Mrs. Cleaver but along with the rest of her family got a little groovy at the 1970s shook their peaceful Californian living. This house mother wore pants and did a lot less house work as she had her live in servant/carpet muncher Alice.

Next we took a weird lateral move in the 70s and 80s where the housewife was replaced with a servant lie Mrs. Garrett so her feelings and sexuality didn't need to be addressed unless we were faced with a very uncomfortable very special episode. There was no Mr. Garrett so we must assume she was either a widow or a liar. The possibility that Mr. Garret left her ass for a sexy french maid is also up for deabte.

Suddenly when things looked hopeless Claire Huxtable popped up! She was a Lawyer or a Doctor or something that netted a lot of money; she had a lot of children and seemed to take good care of that big house. I don't recall a servant ever getting shown out the back door.  Kudos to the 80s, right?

Wrong! We then got slapped with the reality of the typical housewife who was angry, bitter and not a very good housekeeper. In addition she couldn't even keep her ass thin for her man. The appearance of Rosanne caused men all over to balk at the prospect of getting hitched and having kids as this bite of reality was a bit too much.

Somehow our housewife suddenly took all the laziness and bitterness of Roseanne and decided she was a prostitute. Peg Bundy the horny, inappropriately dressed stay at home mom set the bar for the girls who teenagers when they first saw her and is many ways responsible for the rash of Real Housewives.

The Horror, the horror, the horror!

Dead Stars: Tony Curtis

Born Bernard Schwartz in 1925, Mr. Curtis became a Hollywood star in the 1950's. Starting in 1949 he appeared in over 100 films with highlights including The Defiant Ones, Some Like It Hot and Sparticus. He never one the Oscar but was wildly popular in his day.

RIP Tony

Dead Stars: Dennis Hopper

Dead at 74 from Cancer, Dennis Hopper was a mad man of an actor. he pushed counter culture in his films but probably can't recall any of in. Did you know he was born in Dodge City, KS?
Top 5 Dennis Hopper Roles (no order)
Easy Rider: Billy
Blue Velvet" Frank Booth
Basquiat: Bruno Bischofberger
Speed: Howard Payne
Apocalypse Now: Photojournalist

Here's to you're fuck, Frank!

Dead Stars: Gary Coleman

Gary Coleman became a TV icon as his show Diff'rent Strokes was a massive hit in the the late 70s and early 80s. If you grew up in this era his character Arnold was the funniest guy on TV!

RIP Gary

Mr. Coleman unfortunately didn't do very well after the show as he had money and health problems until his death on May 28th 2010. I'm not going to lie his TV work made me laugh a lot as a boy.

Dead Stars: Ronnie James Dio

RIP DIO

Singer of Rainbow, second singer of Black Sabbath and Solo Heavy metal god , Ronnie James Dio is dead at 67 from a battle with stomach cancer. The man with one of the hugest voices in Rock left us with at least a couple of gems most notably, Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark" which added to the mysticism and aura of heavy metal music in the early 80s. What I liked about the man was that he seemed to have a good sense of humor to him whenever interviewed even to go as far as saying his Italian grandmother was responsible for the devil horns hand gesture many fans throw up at rock shows. He was pint sized but that voice was gigantic and will live on on in the rock ether forevaw and evaw, Dio, YOU ARE A HOLY DIVAW!

Dead Stars: Lena Horne

RIP Lena

Dead Stars: Malcolm McLaren

The man behind the Sex Pistols is dead. He was kind of a twit but very smart and made punk possible so I will give incredible props for that. I'm sure he would wish his death was much more dramatic but it was not meant to be he was 64 which isn't too old but certainly not young.

RIP Malcolm McLaren

Dead Stars: John Forsyth

You were a great handsome, rich, old white guy in Dynasty! You were the voice of Charlie in Charlie's Angels . . . Awesome! RIP John.

Dead Stars: Peter graves

Peter, with you comedy would never have been the same, the tough questions would never have been asked. Thanks for the entertainment!

Dead Stars: Corey Haim

Corey Haim is dead and so do the fantasies of millions of middle aged housewives trying to hang on to their youth. Mr. never meant more to me than that guy who all the girls liked instead of me, some Hollywood pretty boy that my junior high coed classmates thought was an attainable goal while I sulked in the hallway wondering if I should frost my hair. Because of that I was darkly apreciative to see his career go down the tubes and find out he was addicted to . . . I don't know, heroin?
Corey gave us one half of the Corey team along with fellow freak Corey Feldman. To be a sport I will say that Corey Haim was in, "The Lost Boys" which was a high point in vampires as homosexuals metaphor.

I actually saw him in person once at a comic book convention; he looked like somebody wearing burlap after they'd been wearing silk. He looked like an old boy, not a man.

RIP Corey Haim

Singer Down

Mark Linkous, the man behind Sparklehorse, shot himself in the chest with a riffle in Tennessee. He was 47. Honestly I don't know much about the man and though I own a couple Sparklehorse CD's I'm really only familiar with two of the songs, "Some Day I will Treat you Good" and "It's A Wonderful Life", the latter appeared as the # 10 song of the 00s on my countdown. So for at very least I am grateful for those two bits of music.
So what killed Mr. Linkous, the music or the gun?

RIP Mark

Dead Stars: Brittany Murphy Addition

Starlets die; it is a sad fact of life. My favorite Brittany Murphy moment would be some of the voice work she did on "King of the Hill" as Luanne, as well as her vocals on "Faster Pussycat" a track on a Paul Olkenfold album. As far as her films were concerned I can't say that I have a favorite roll butu she will always be known for being Clueless.