Melinda: What's your name?
John Coffey: John Coffey, ma'am.
Melinda: Like the drink, only not spelled the same.
John Coffey: No, ma'am. Not spelt the same at all.

what a handsome man! he walked the green mile. rest in peace.

I watched all the episodes of The Finder and was sad when I heard it wasn't renewed in part because Michael Duncan Clarke was so wonderful in it. I really enjoyed watching him. Very sad.

Joe South, Singer and Writer of Hit Songs
 

Joe South, a singer-songwriter who wove confrontational lyrics into bouncy pop hits of the late 1960s and early ’70s, including “Games People Play,” “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” and “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” died on Wednesday at home in Flowery Branch, Ga., north of Atlanta. He was 72.

Mr. South’s best-known song became a hit when it was recorded by someone else. “Rose Garden,” sung by Lynn Anderson, reached No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart in 1971, four years after Mr. South wrote it. The chorus — “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden/Along with the sunshine there’s gotta be a little rain sometime” — reflected a world-weariness characteristic of his writing.

In 1969 he targeted religion and insincerity in “Games People Play,” which thrust him toward stardom:

People walking up to you

Singing glory hallelujah,

And they’re tryin’ to sock it to you

In the name of the Lord.

It won a Grammy for song of the year in 1970.

In 1958 Mr. South had a modest novelty hit, “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor.” He played guitar for recording sessions in Nashville, Muscle Shoals, Ala., and elsewhere with a range of artists, including Bob Dylan (on his album “Blonde on Blonde”) and Aretha Franklin. Billy Joe Royal recorded several of his songs in the 1960s, including “Down in the Boondocks” and “I Knew You When,” before Mr. South established himself as a performer with some of the same songs. Elvis Presley played “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” in concert.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/ar...ies-at-72.html

Art Modell 6/23/1925 - 9/6/2012
 

BALTIMORE (AP)

Art Modell was among the most important figures in the NFL as owner of the Cleveland Browns, who became the Ravens after he took the team to Baltimore in 1996. The Ravens replaced the Baltimore Colts, who moved to Indianapolis in 1984.

During his four decades as an NFL owner, Modell helped negotiate the league's lucrative contracts with television networks, served as president of the NFL from 1967 to 1969, and chaired the negotiations for the first the collective bargaining agreement with the players in 1968.

He also was the driving force behind the 1970 contract between the NFL and ABC to televise games on Monday night.

Few people did more to help the NFL become what it is today.

Modell's Browns were among the best teams of the 1960s, led during his first few years as owner by legendary running back Jim Brown. Cleveland won the NFL championship in 1964 - Modell's only title with the Browns - and played in the title game in 1965, 1968 and 1969.

Modell wasn't the kind of owner who operated his team from an office. He mingled with the players and often watched every minute of practice.

"Art talked with me every day when I played in Baltimore," former Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe said. "He knew everything about what was going on in my life. He showed real concern. But, it wasn't just me. He knew the practice squad players' names. He treated them the same. He was out at practice when it was 100 degrees and when the December snows came. I loved playing for him."

Born June 23, 1925, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Modell dropped out of high school at age 15 and worked in the Broo klyn Navy Yard cleaning out the hulls of ships to help out his financially strapped family after the death of his father.

He completed high school in night class, joined the Air Force in 1943, and then enrolled in a television school after World War II. He used that education to produce one of the first regular daytime television programs before moving into the advertising business in 1954.

A group of friends led by Modell purchased the Browns in 1961 for $4 million - a figure he called "totally excessive."

Aside from his work with the Browns, Modell became a leader in the Cleveland community. He served on the board of directors of a number of large companies, including the Ohio Bell Telephone Co., the Higbee Co. and the 20th Century-Fox Film Corp.

Modell and his wife, Patricia, continued their charitable ways in Baltimore, donating millions of dollars to The Seed School of Maryland, a boarding school in Maryland for disadvantaged youths; Johns Hopkins Hospital; and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. The couple also gave $3.5 million to the Lyric, which was renamed the Patricia & Art Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric.

http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.as...&pid=159689056

Dorothy McGuire Williamson
 

PHOENIX (AP) - Dorothy McGuire Williamson, who teamed with sisters Christine and Phyllis for a string of hits in the 50s and 60s as the popular McGuire Sisters singing group, has died.

The McGuire Sisters earned six gold records for hits including 1954's "Sincerely" and 1957's "Sugartime." The sisters were known for their sweet harmonies and identical hairdos and outfits.

They began singing together as children at their mother's Ohio church and then performed at weddings and church revivals. They got their big break on the show "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" in 1952 where they continued to perform for seven years.

The group made numerous appearances on television and toured into the late 1960s, making a last performance together on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1968. Dorothy stepped back to raise her two sons. Christine also raised a family while Phyllis pursued a solo career, according to a 1986 profile in People Magazine after the trio reunited and began doing nightclub and Las Vegas performances again.

The sisters last performed together in the mid-2000s, and are featured on a 2004 PBS show called "Magic Moments - Best of 50s Pop."

The group performed for five presidents and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. They were inducted into the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.

9/11: It's hard to rest in peace when....
 

New Yorkers and people who volunteered during the WTC attacks are dying with cancer linked to exposure to the scene of the crime that happened that day. I share in their grief that still today, people can hardly move on with life due to extensive factors linked to that day.

:candle::candle::candle::candle::candle::candle:

By NBC News and wire services
September 11, 2012, 6:44 am
NBCNews.com


Updated at 5:15 p.m. ET: The federal government on Monday added 14 categories of cancer to the list of illnesses linked to the 9/11 terror attacks, which brings added coverage to rescue workers and people living near ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health approved the additions to the list of illnesses covered in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which were proposed in June. The updated regulations take effect 30 days after the ruling is published in the Federal Register.

The decision "marks an important step in the effort to provide needed treatment and care to 9/11 responders and survivors," said Dr. John Howard, administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program established by the Zadroga law.

The Zadroga Act — named after NYPD Detective James Zadroga, who died at age 34 after working at ground zero — was signed into law nearly two years ago. Despite the hundreds of sick responders, the act did not cover cancer because of a supposed lack of scientific evidence linking cancer to ground zero toxins.

"We are getting sick in record numbers," said Ray Pfeiffer, a first responder who was diagnosed three years ago with kidney cancer. He said it has been a struggle to pay for expensive medications not fully covered by his insurance.

"It's fantastic news," he said of the expanded list of covered illnesses.
About 400 residents and rescue workers have died from cancer since 9/11, according to the New York Post.

With cancer included in the program more victims are likely to seek compensation, which could cause individual awards to be reduced as officials divide up the $2.77 billion fund.

"They’re going to add cancers, but are they going to add more money to the fund?" Thomas "T.J." Gilmartin, who suffers from lung disease and sleep apnea, said to the Post. "It’s crazy. Every time, we gotta fight. It’s two years since Obama signed that bill, and nobody’s got 10 cents."
"We fought long and hard to make sure that our 9/11 heroes suffering from cancers obtained from their work at ground zero get the help they deserve," U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer, both of New York, said in a statement. "Today's announcement is a huge step forward that will provide justice and support to so many who are now suffering from cancer and other illnesses. We will press on - with advocates, the community, and our partners in government - to ensure that all those who suffered harm from 9/11 and its aftermath get the access to the program they so desperately need."
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Co...380;7;70;0.jpgFamily photo via NY Daily News / AP File In this undated file photo, New York City Police Det. James Zadroga, left, holds his daughter Tylerann. Fifty cancers will be added to the Zadroga Act, which was named after the detective--who died of respiratory failure in Jan. 2006 after working at ground zero.



Last week, the New York City Fire Department added nine names to the 55 already etched on a wall honoring members who have died of illnesses related to ground zero rescue and recovery work, Reuters reported.
Some estimates put the overall death toll from 9/11-related illness at more than 1,000, according to Reuters. At least 20,000 ground zero workers are being treated across the country and 40,000 are being monitored by the World Trade Center Health Program, Reuters reported.

Tuesday marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Last fall, the September 11 Memorial at ground zero finally opened in the footprints of the original towers. Since then, more than 4 million people have visited.

Financial, security and design setbacks have delayed the redevelopment of the World Trade Center in the past decade. A recent project audit indicates that overall site redevelopment costs have grown to nearly $15 billion.

One World Trade Center is nearing completion and is expected to open in 2014.

NBCNewYork.com's Brynn Gingras and Reuters contributed to this report.

A Day That Will Never Be Forgotten...
 

To those who innocently lost their lives. Rest In Peace.


http://www.britishrose.synthasite.co...=1235594020229

J. Christopher Stevens Ambassador to Libya killed
 

J. Christopher Stevens was the American ambassador to Libya when he was killed on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, when an armed mob attacked and burned the American Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Three of his staff members were also killed.

The violence appeared to be part of riots that had broken out in Benghazi and Cairo that day over a short American-made video mocking Islam’s founding prophet.

But the next day, American officials said they suspected the Benghazi attack may have been planned rather than a spontaneous mob getting out of control.

Mr. Stevens, a career diplomat, previously served in Iraq, Canada and the Netherlands. A veteran of American diplomatic missions in Libya, he had served in Benghazi during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi, and he was widely admired by the Libyan rebels for his support of their struggle.

Mr. Stevens, a fluent Arabic speaker, knew better than most diplomats in the American Foreign Service the opportunities and travails facing Libya after the fall of Colonel Qaddafi.

Having served as the deputy ambassador during Colonel Qaddafi’s rule, he acted as the Obama administration’s main interlocutor to the rebels based in Benghazi who ultimately overthrew him while NATO conducted airstrike missions. Mr. Obama rewarded him with the nomination to become the first ambassador in a post-Qaddafi Libya, and he arrived in May with indefatigable enthusiasm for the country’s prospects as a free, Western-friendly democracy.

For those who knew him, Mr. Stevens was an easygoing, accessible, candid and at times irreverent diplomat, with a deep understanding of Arab culture and politics that began when he was a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Mr. Stevens, a native of California and graduate of Berkeley, joined the Foreign Service in 1991 after working as a trade lawyer. He spent much of his career in the Middle East, serving in Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel, where he focused on the Palestinian territories, and in State Department offices overseeing policy in the region. He served as the deputy chief of mission in the capital, Tripoli, from 2007 to 2009 during the relatively brief easing of tensions with Colonel Qaddafi’s government.

After the Arab Spring uprisings spread, first to Benghazi, then across Libya, he came back to the country in circumstances that would challenge any diplomat. Then, as he prepared to return this year as ambassador, he appeared in an introductory video, subtitled in Arabic, earnestly recalling the United States’ own Civil War as an example of overcoming internal strife.

“We know that Libya is still recovering from an intense period of conflict,” he said. “And there are many courageous Libyans who bear the scars of that battle.”

He developed a reputation as a keen observer of Libya’s politics, and, as Ms. Kwiram noted, a patient listener who eagerly sought out Libyan activists, diplomats and journalists to meet in his offices in a hotel and later in a rented villa on the edge of Tripoli. He also kept up his routine of daily runs through goat farms, olive groves and vineyards nearby. In his e-mail to family in friends, he joked about the Embassy’s Fourth of July party.

“Somehow our clever staff located a Libyan band that specializes in 1980s soft rock,” he wrote, “so I felt very much at home.”

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/refere...tml?ref=topics

Who knew? Miss Monitor was a lesbian. Last line in the obit: "She is survived by her longtime companion, Elke Schliwa."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/ar...ef=todayspaper


Tedi Thurman Dies at 89; Radio’s Miss Monitor
By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: September 20, 2012

At 5-foot-7, with sea-blue eyes, flowing red hair, chiseled cheeks and a shapely figure, Tedi Thurman was a stunner. But it was her breathy, alluring voice that brought her fame.

Tedi Thurman, who, in one writer's estimation, very shortly had "the most recognizable female voice in the country."

The “weather girl” on the long-running NBC radio show “Monitor” in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Ms. Thurman would take over the mike and in soft, sultry tones — with lush music in the background — virtually drawl, “Cleveland, 34, snow; Boston, 41, cloudy; Phoenix, 62, fair; New York City, 43, sunny; Paris, 38, cloudy.”

But she would always lead with Atlanta, “because Georgia was her home state,” said Dennis Hart, the author of “Monitor: The Last Great Radio Show” (2002), a history of the program, which Pat Weaver, the president of NBC, created in 1955. Starting at 8 a.m. on Saturdays, it originally stayed on the air till midnight on Sundays.

Ms. Thurman, who died on Monday at 89, made the forecasts “sound like an irresistible invitation to an unforgettable evening,” Jack Gould wrote in The New York Times shortly after the show’s premiere.

In Mr. Hart’s estimation, Ms. Thurman “probably became the most recognizable female voice in the country within a few short months.”

With hosts like Dave Garroway, Hugh Downs, Frank Blair, Gene Rayburn, Henry Morgan and Bill Cullen, “Monitor” was a hit, offering an array of news, sports, comedy, variety, music and live remote pickups from around the nation and the world. It lasted 20 years, the first six of which featured Ms. Thurman as the so-called Miss Monitor, updating the weather hour after hour.

In 1957, while working virtually around the weekend clock on radio, Ms. Thurman was also a television regular, spoofing herself on Jack Paar’s “Tonight Show.” In sleek dresses and high heels, she would saucily deliver lines like: “I know what you want. You want me to tell you about the weather. In New York it’s 74. And me, I’m 36-26-36.”

Dorothy Ruth Thurman (she later took the name Tedi) was born in Midville, Ga., on June 23, 1923, one of four children of Ben and Para Thurman. Her father was president of the local bank.

She wanted to be an artist and studied at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Design in Washington. But, she told Mr. Hart, “People were always painting me, telling me I should become a model.” Soon after moving to New York, she was on the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan and appearing on television shows like “Studio One.” That led to her audition for “Monitor.”

If Ms. Thurman’s fame was brief, it had a long afterlife. “Tedi told me,” Mr. Hart said, “that decades after she’d left the show, people at parties and gatherings would still ask her to do the weather in that sexy Miss Monitor voice.”

She died at her home in Palm Springs, Calif., after a brief illness, Mr. Hart said. She is survived by her longtime companion, Elke Schliwa.

I know this is totally for famous folk but I just wanted to say r.i.p grandma

Actress, teacher, author Dorothy Carter, 94
 

NEW YORK (AP) — Dorothy Carter, a former stage actress who starred in the adaptation of the groundbreaking novel ‘‘Strange Fruit’’ on Broadway and later became an educator and a children’s book author, died Sept 14th.

Carter, born in 1918 in Kissimee, Fla., studied drama at Spelman College and later was taught by Stella Adler in New York. She made her Broadway debut in 1945 in Lillian Smith’s adaptation of her novel ‘‘Strange Fruit,’’ an interracial love story.

The show, directed by Jose Ferrer and starring Jane White and Earl Jones, closed after 60 performances but got a positive write-up by then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in her syndicated column.

Carter, who was black, became part of the American Negro Theater under the direction of Abe Hill and played Ruth Lawson in its 1946 Broadway production of ‘‘Walk Hard.’’ She also appeared in Lou Peterson’s ‘‘Take a Giant Step’’ in 1953.

After moving to Milwaukee, she enrolled in the Wisconsin State Teachers College and later earned her master’s degree. She taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and became the first female African-American professor at Bank Street College of Education in New York City in 1981.

In her 80s, she wrote three children’s books inspired by her childhood: ‘‘Bye, Mis’ Lela’’, ‘‘Wilhe'mina Miles: After the Stork Night’’ and ‘‘Grandma’s General Store — the Ark.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/education...2jK/story.html

Andy Williams, 84
 

ST. LOUIS (AP) - With a string of gold albums, a hit TV series and the signature "Moon River," Andy Williams was a voice of the 1960s, although not the '60s we usually hear about.

Williams' plaintive tenor, boyish features and easy demeanor helped him outlast many of the rock stars who had displaced him and such fellow crooners as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. He remained on the charts into the 1970s, and continued to perform in his 80s at the Moon River Theatre he built in Branson, Mo. In November 2011, when Williams announced that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer, he vowed to return to performing the following year: His 75th in show business.

He became a major star the same year as Elvis Presley, 1956, with the Sinatra-like swing "Canadian Sunset," and for a time he was pushed into such Presley imitations as "Lips of Wine" and the No. 1 smash "Butterfly." But he mostly stuck to what he called his "natural style," and kept it up throughout his career. In 1970, when even Sinatra had given up and (temporarily) retired, Williams was in the top 10 with the theme from "Love Story," the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records and three platinum, was nominated for five Grammy awards and hosted the Grammy ceremonies for several years.

Movie songs became a specialty, from "Love Story" and "Days of Wine and Roses" to "Moon River." The longing Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini ballad was his most famous song, even though he never released it as a single because his record company feare d such lines as "my huckleberry friend" were too confusing and old-fashioned for teens. The song was first performed by Audrey Hepburn in the beloved 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's," but Mancini thought "Moon River" ideal for Williams, who recorded it in "pretty much one take" and also sang it at the 1962 Academy Awards. Although "Moon River" was covered by countless artists and became a hit single for Jerry Butler, Williams made the song his personal brand. In fact, he insisted on it.

The Andy Williams Show," which lasted in various formats through the 1960s and into 1971, won three Emmys and featured Williams alternately performing his stable of hits and bantering casually with his guest stars. It was on that show that Williams - who launched his own care er as part of an all-brother quartet - introduced the world to another clean-cut act - the original four singing Osmond Brothers of Utah. Their younger sibling Donny also made his debut on Williams' show, in 1963 when he was 6 years old. Four decades later, the Osmonds and Williams would find themselves in close proximity again, sharing Williams' theater in Branson, Mo.

Pink Panther star Herbert Lom, 95
 

LONDON (Reuters) - Czech-born film star Herbert Lom, best known as the deranged Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the "Pink Panther" comedies, has died, according to British media.

He portrayed Napoleon Bonaparte twice, including in "War and Peace" in 1956 alongside Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn, and the King of Siam in the first London production of the stage musical "The King and I" in 1953.

Two years later he collaborated with Peter Sellers in the dark comedy "The Ladykillers", and they would work together again in the 1960s and 1970s on the Pink Panther series.

In them Lom played the increasingly crazed Dreyfus alongside Seller's hapless Inspector Clouseau, and the success of his character owed much to Lom's own improvisations.

He also wrote two novels, "Enter A Spy" published in 1971 and "Dr Guillotine" in 1993.

----------


Never really understood the popularity of the Pink Panther films.

This is a favorite clip of mine....made all the dearer since the death of Andy Williams

Tereska Torres
 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...88286899_n.jpg Tereska Torres, a convent-educated French writer who quite by accident wrote America's first lesbian pulp novel, and is best known for her 1950's Women's Barracks, died on Thursday at her home in Paris...She was 92.

Sahara Davenport - Antoine Ashley
 

The Logo TV channel says that a contestant who competed on "RuPaul's Drag Race" as Sahara Davenport has died. Antoine Ashley was 27.

A channel spokesman says the cause of Ashley's death Monday was not immediately released. His manager, David Charpentier, says a statement is being planned by his family.

He was a contestant on "RuPaul's Drag Race" in 2010. The classically trained dancer also released a dance single, "Go Off," this year.

NY ballet star Yvonne Mounsey dies
 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yvonne Mounsey, who danced major roles for George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins with the New York City Ballet in the 1950s and went on to found an influential West Coast ballet school, has died. She was 93.

Mounsey danced with the City Ballet from 1948 to 1958, rising from soloist to principal dancer.

She was the Dark Angel in Balanchine's "Serenade" and Siren in his 1950 revival of "Prodigal Son," which were among her favorite roles, her daughter said.

For Robbins, she originated the roles of the Queen in "The Cage," the Harp in "Fanfare" and the Wife in "The Concert."

In 1966, Mounsey moved to Los Angeles and opened the Westside School of Ballet, teaching the neoclassical Balanchine technique, which has become a signature style of ballet in America. The Santa Monica school became influential and its students have included former City Ballet star Jock Soto and current company principal dancers Andrew Veyette and Tiler Peck. The school also counts Joy Womack, the first American woman to dance with the Bolshoi Ballet, among the world-class dancers it has trained.

http://news.yahoo.com/ny-ballet-star...195815752.html

Legendary Motown Producer Frank Wilson
 

Frank Wilson, the legendary producer for Motown who worked on music for The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and more recently John Legend, died Thursday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 71.

He churned out several hits, writing and producing songs such as Stevie Wonder's "Castles In the Sand;" Diana Ross and The Supremes' "Love Child," "I'm Living in Shame," "Up the Ladder to the Roof," and "Stone Love;" The Temptations' "All I Need;" Marvin Gaye's "Chained;" and Four Tops' "Still Water (Love)."

Wilson also helped write "You've Made Me So Very Happy," a 1967 Top 40 single for Motown's Brenda Holloway that soon became an even bigger hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears.

In 1976, Wilson left Motown to become a born-again Christian, according to AllMusic.com, though his song credits have continued up until present day, the most prominent of his recent music work being John Legend's "Each Day Gets Better."

Instead of music, Wilson began writing books. Before his death, Wilson became ordained as a minister and wrote two books: The Master's Degree--Majoring in Your Marriage and Unmasking the Lone Ranger. He also appeared on numerous talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, and spoke at several churches and conferences worldwide.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...in-gaye-375190

R. B. Greaves, Pop Singer, Dies at 68
 

R. B. Greaves, an R&B singer whose 1969 hit “Take a Letter, Maria” reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 68.

Ronald Bertram Aloysius Greaves was born on Nov. 28, 1943, at an Air Force base in Georgetown in what was then British Guyana. He was raised on a Seminole reservation in California. In 1963 Mr. Greaves moved to England to perform and record as the frontman for Sonny Childe and the TNT’s.

He returned to America to record “Take a Letter, Maria” on Atco Records and “Always Something There to Remind Me,” both of which appeared on his album “R.B. Greaves.”

Mr. Greaves’s 1970 version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me” reached No. 27 on the Billboard chart. (A version by the synth-pop group Naked Eyes hit No. 8 on the chart in 1983.) Among his other recordings were covers of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale.”

Mr. Greaves moved to Los Angeles and began to work in the technology industry after a failed attempt to revive his recording career in the late 1970s.

Nguyen Chi Thien -- Vietnamese poet
 

He sure paid the price for freedom of speech. Another reason to treasure it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...,3519449.story