Death List Members in the News
May 2007
Charles Nelson Reilly
January 2007
Bobby Hamilton
December 2006
Gerald Ford
November 2006
Jack Palance
August 2006
Fidel Castro, Kirk Douglas, John Madden
July 2006
Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Phyllis Diller,
B.B. King, Dale Jarrett, Arnold Palmer
May 2006
Keith Richards, David Blaine
April 2006
Tony Stewart, Gerald Ford, B.B. King, Queen Elizabeth, Mickey Rooney, Bob
Barker, Harry Morgan, Charlton Heston, David Blaine, Vin Scully, Muhammad
Ali, Hugh Hefner, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis
March 2006
Courtney Love, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Jerry Lewis, Osama Bin Laden,
Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford
February 2006
Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Don Knotts, Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Tony
Bennett, Courtney Love, Bob Barker
January 2006
Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, B.B. King, Walter Cronkite, William Shatner, Courtney
Love, Nick Nolte
December 2005
Richard Pryor, Ozzy Osbourne & Queen Elizabeth, Nick Nolte, Hugh Hefner,
Tony Bennett, Tony Stewart, David Blaine
November 2005
George Michael, Courtney Love, William Shatner, Muhammad Ali
October 2005
Rosa Parks, William Shatner, Joe Namath, B.B. King, Jerry Lewis, Tony Stewart,
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Jack Klugman, Michael Waltrip, Hugh Hefner,
Dale Jarrett
September 2005
Courtney Love, Ozzy Osbourne, B.B. King, Michael Waltrip, Willie Nelson, Courtney
Love, Jerry Lewis, Arnold Palmer
August 2005
William Shatner, Vin Scully, Ron Popeil, Hugh Hefner, Dale Jarrett, Keith
Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, John Madden, Courtney Love, Richard Pryor, Sterling
Marlin, Tony Stewart, Tony Bennett, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis
July 2005
Muhammad Ali, Courtney Love, Kirk Douglas, Bob Barker, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony
Stewart, Dale Jarrett, Phyllis Diller, Michael Waltrip, Gerald Ford, Mickey
Rooney, Jack Klugman, Keith Richards, Nick Nolte, Rosa Parks,
Luther Vandross
June 2005
June 30 - Jim Otto
June 29 - Jim Otto
June 29 - Vin Scully
June 27 - Tony Bennett
June 27 - Gerald Ford
June 27 - Tony Stewart
June 25 - Tony Bennett
June 21 - Queen Elizabeth
June 21 - Muhammad Ali
June 20 - Ozzy Osbourne
June 19 - Jack Klugman
June 19 - John Madden
May 2005
Michael Waltrip, Queen Elizabeth, Fidel Castro, Tony Stewart, Walter Cronkite,
Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, George Michael, Vin Scully, Keith Richards, Don
Knotts, Brian Dennehy, Michael Waltrip, Wilford Brimley, Ozzy Osbourne, Willie
Mays, Bob Barker, Nick Nolte, Jim Otto
April 2005
Larry Hagman, Richard Pryor, Willie Mays, Phyllis Diller, David Blaine, Tony
Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Muhammad Ali, Nick Nolte and William Shatner, B.B.
King, Ozzy Osbourne, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross, Pope John Paul II
March 2005
Ozzy Osbourne, Pope John Paul II, Courtney Love, Phyllis Diller, Vin Scully,
Fidel Castro, Ed Asner, Bob Barker, B.B. King, Arnold Palmer, Keith Richards,
Muhammad Ali, Jack Palance, Jack Klugman, Sterling Marlin, Joe Namath, Charlton
Heston, Jerry Lewis, Horatio Sanz
February 2005
Pope John Paul II, Wilford Brimley, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Willie
Nelson, B.B. King, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Jarrett, Fidel Castro, Phyllis Diller,
Courtney Love, Gerald Ford, Larry Hagman, Rosa Parks, Mickey Rooney, Hugh
Hefner
January 2005
Willie Mays, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, Vin Scully, John Madden,
Johnny Carson, Brian Dennehy, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Rosa Parks, Jerry
Lewis, Courtney Love, Pope John Paul II, Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Gerald
Ford, Bob Barker
December 2004
Richard Pryor, Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Keith Richards, Rosa Parks,
Nick Nolte, Don Knotts
November 2004
Kirk Douglas, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis, Larry Hagman, Johnny
Carson, Queen Elizabeth, B.B. King, Muhammad Ali
October 2004
Courtney Love, Keith Richards, Tony Bennett, Fidel Castro, Ernest Borgnine,
Mickey Rooney, Willie Nelson, Jack Klugman, Jack Palance, Pope John Paul II,
Hugh Hefner, Rodney Dangerfield
September 2004
Courtney Love, Arnold Palmer, Rosa Parks, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker,
Nick Nolte, Tony Bennett
August 2004
Arnold Palmer, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker, Brian Dennehy, Ernest Borgnine,
Rosa Parks, Walter Cronkite, Willie Mays, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro,
Julia Child, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Joe Namath, B.B. King
July 2004
Rosa Parks, Courtney Love, Fidel Castro, Nick Nolte, Don Knotts, Larry Hagman,
Kirk Douglas, William Shatner
June 30, 2005: Jim Otto cancels celebrity golf classic due to illness
Jim
Otto could have been teeing off Monday at the Auburn Valley Country Club.
Instead, he was lying in a hospital bed.
Reoccurring problems with a knee infection floored the former Oakland Raiders center and led to canceling Monday's third annual Jim Otto's Celebrity Golf Classic "Tackles Cancer," benefiting the Auburn Community Cancer Endowment Fund.
"Three weeks ago, I was almost dead," he said Wednesday by phone from his hospital bed at Stanford University.
Two infections have plagued his right knee recently, attacking the bone and artificial plate 15 seasons in the NFL left him with.
"Monday I was lying in bed sweating profusely and thinking, did you really think you could run this tournament, smart guy?" he said. "I thought I could do it, but I'm glad the doctors tied me down and said no."
The event is close to his heart. Otto beat prostate cancer and has been in
remission for three years.
Virgil Traynor, one of the founders of the Auburn Community Cancer Endowment
Fund, said the event has raised $350,000 for cancer research in its two years.
It was a blow to the community that it didn't happen.
The tournament was one of the largest money-raisers for the fund, which recently hit $1 million.
"The good news is we're still going, still raising money at other positive events," Traynor said.
Dave Geschke, chairman and coordinator of the tournament, said the event was cancelled just two weeks prior. Organizers called the 30 registered foursomes, which included celebrity Raiders like Marv Hubbard, Lincoln Kennedy and Cliff Branch, and many community sponsors to say the event was a no-go.
"It wasn't an easy thing to do," he said. "It's almost as hard to put it on as it is to cancel it."
There was also to be a cocktail party and auction the night before the tournament.
"They were disappointed, it's a good tournament and people really enjoy playing in it, but they certainly understood Jim's health problems come first," he said.
Otto should be checking out of the hospital today, and will be under doctor's orders to not walk for three months.
"It's a very special event to the community, myself and my wife. I love to do the event and donate the money to cancer research, but I had to be real. I've very seldom been real in my life, I've always lived a step above reality," Otto said.
He said it wouldn't be fair to players to put on a sub-par tournament and he appreciates the community and many sponsors, including Thunder Valley Casino, Coors and Budweiser, for understanding.
"The people of Auburn and the surrounding area have been so gracious and wonderful in giving. It's been difficult to pass on this year," he said. "You think the money going to cancer research and giving that up. But I've been a cancer survivor and I'll be a survivor of this infection."
From the Auburn Journal, Michelle Miller
June 29, 2005: Ex-Raider Otto leaves hospital
Otto's out of hospital, defying odds
Jim
Otto has defied the odds once again. He will be released from Stanford Medical
Center today and return to his home in Auburn.
"It's a miracle," Sally Otto, the former Oakland Raiders center's wife, said Tuesday. "The choices last week were really awful. He was getting weaker and weaker. It must be all the prayers that were said for him."
Doctors feared for Otto's infected leg as well as his life. But his fever was reduced by antibiotics, which meant the doctors didn't have to rush into surgery to remove his infected knee. And that proved to be a blessing.
"Jim was suffering from malnutrition," his wife noted, "and his heart started racing Friday night. They had to take him to cardiology."
By Monday, the Hall of Famer's heartbeat had returned to normal, and he was put back in orthopedics. It was then decided he could go home, but only under the care of nurses, and with IV feedings over the next six weeks.
"They've got the infection under control, but it's not gone," Sally Otto said. "The good thing would be, doctors said, if they could keep Jim under antibiotics the rest of his life."
But if the antibiotics wear off and the fever returns, then surgery likely will occur, because Otto hasn't the immunity without medication to fight off infection. In the interim, he has a chance to build his strength.
"That will get him healthy, and then we can keep him alive during (possible) surgery," Sally Otto said.
Another factor is Jim Otto's incredible will to live.
"The doctors said they've never had anybody like Jim," his wife said.
From The Willits News, Dave Newhouse
June 29, 2005: Dodgers fan sadly know it: Vin Scully won't be around forever
LOS
ANGELES - It hits you now as you sit there, alone in a room except for the
sound of his voice, that warm, distinctive, almost lyrical voice.
Although Vin Scully, at age 77, is still going strong, his play-by-play calls as velvety smooth as ever, the rich storytelling and wonderful descriptive phrases spilling out as easily as your morning orange juice, he might actuallyretire one of these years.
As much as Farmer John, as well as the rest of us in sports-happy Southern California, hate to consider the possibility, it will happen eventually.
That's why you're silly if you don't take the time now to listen as much as you can. You have to understand, this is a piece of history we're being treated to here.
This is the Babe Ruth of baseball broadcasting.
Some day, you'll want to tell your grandkids. They'll be all excited about some new announcer they like, and you'll smile and shake your head and give them the only answer you can:
"Ah, but you should have heard Vin Scully. He was as much a poet as a broadcaster ..."
To fully appreciate Scully, you had to be growing up in the greater Los Angeles area in 1958, when he and the Dodgers first came to town.
Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Gil Hodges arrived like heroes from another era, their fading skills leading to a new wave of bright, young stars in a town that wasn't sure what to make of this sport played in a facility built for anything but major-league baseball.
The Coliseum was a joke, but Scully wasn't. He bridged the gap from Brooklyn to L.A., from Ebbets Field faithful to movie-star cool, from New York hotshots to Los Angeles Moon Shots.
He was as much professor as he was announcer in those days, patiently teaching the nightly nuances of the game to a town that had been only mildly interested in the old Pacific Coast League.
"Pull up a chair and stick around a while," he would say, and millions were glad to comply.
Radio was king then. The games weren't televised on a regular basis as they are now, so everybody had their trusty transistor.
How many people have told you they used to go to bed listening to Scully on their tiny radios, hidden under the pillow so their parents wouldn't know?
I was one of those kids. So was everyone I knew.
Scully defined those summers in the late 1950s and into the '60s.
His crackling voice was the backdrop of your life. In your back yard, under the stars. In Dad's garage, amid all his equipment. On the beach, between dips in the foamy Pacific. In your car, whizzing along on freeways that weren't always snarled by traffic.
Best of all was at the ballpark, at the Coliseum and later Dodger Stadium, where Scully had so transfixed the average fan that everyone brought his transistor to the game. It was almost as if he were being piped in over the public-address system.
Scully would crack a joke, and the whole ballpark would erupt in laughter, often startling the players on the field.
It was great. You'd go to get a Dodger Dog, and you'd never have to miss a beat, because Scully's voice was echoing throughout the place, describing every pitch.
It is 3:45 Monday afternoon, and the man who has been doing this for a remarkable 56 years has arrived as he usually does, settling into his booth in the Vin Scully Press Box, his computerized homework in hand, about to prepare for another night of the job he does better than anyone in history.
"How do you do it?" he is asked. "How do you manage to stay so fresh and on top of things after all this time?"
Scully smiles.
"You know, I really, truly love the game," he says. "I've done football and golf and even a little tennis. But I really believe this is an incredible game.
"The other thing, I think, is the roar of the crowd. It still stirs the adrenaline in me. It still gives me goosebumps."
He talks of his days as a young boy growing up in New York, where his family had what he describes as a four- pillar radio.
"I used to sit directly underneath it, with a glass of milk and saltine crackers and listen to games, and the cheers of the crowd felt like they were right above me," Scully says.
"To this day, the crowd still affects me."
The Scully of today does a few innings of simulcast, but mostly television. No loyal partner. No Jerry Doggett or Ross Porter. Just him. Just Vin.
For the full nine innings.
Anyone else might sound monotonous. But not Scully. Not even after all these years and all those innings.
He can be plugging one of the team's many giveaway nights, this time for free Dodgers noisemakers for kids, then pause and say: "There's something redundant about giving noisemakers to youngsters under 14 years of age."
Or he can be reciting one of the team's weird batting orders of late, full of Repkos and Bakos and Rosses, then quickly mention: "It's a far cry from the lineup that opened the season."
Honesty always has been as much his trademark as those natty blazers and color-coordinated ties. If the Dodgers stink, he'll tell you, but not in the sardonic way the late, great Chick Hearn would in commenting on the Lakers. Scully is more subtle.
Hearn, the only one who came close to Scully's popularity in L.A., was creative and entertaining, more rat-tat-tat in his delivery.
Scully, with his perfect phrasing and precise imagery that lends itself so well to baseball's conversational style, is more soothing. The game might go extra innings, but you never tire of listening to him.
These days, the "R" word comes up a lot in his conversations.
"I know eventually retirement will happen," Scully says. "But I don't want to set a timetable. I've got another year on this contract, then Frank McCourt and I will probably sit down and talk.
"The thought (of retiring) is frightening. Some day I'll have to face it. But as long as I'm happy, healthy and still thrilled about this game, why walk away?"
Scully has friends who have warned him not to retire.
"But at the same time," he says, "I don't want to work until I drop."
In the end, he falls back on one of his favorite sayings.
"If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans," he says, grinning.
So even with a team most people can't recognize anymore, even with a club that will need some breaks to hang in the division race until August, Scully continues to ply the trade that has made him the most famous Dodger of them all.
"I've been so blessed," he says. "It's scary how blessed I've been."
No, Vin. You've got it wrong.
It's those of us who've had the pleasure of listening all these years who have been truly blessed.
From The Orange County Register, Steve Bisheff
June 27, 2005: Tony Bennett to be Honored on June 29th at Art & Design High School Graduation Ceremony
Singer
Tony Bennett, who is also an accomplished painter, will receive an honorary
diploma from the high school he attended more than 60 years ago.
Singer Tony Bennett will be awarded an honorary diploma at the High School of Art and Design graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 29th.
The ceremony will take place at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and will begin promptly at 12:00pm. Mr. Bennett is scheduled to arrive on stage at 12:15pm to receive his diploma. The presentation will be made by principal John Lachky and alumni president Yvonne Fitzner, who lobbied for the award to be bestowed.
Mr. Bennett, who is also an accomplished painter, attended the High School of Art and Design when it was known as the School of Industrial Art. He would have graduated in 1945 but left the school to support his family by working as a singing waiter.
Tony Bennett has often spoken with great appreciation about his former high school in his interviews and in his autobiography, The Good Life. In a 2001 interview with writer Mira Tweti, he stated, "I had a wonderful experience. They taught you the basics and techniques of all the art genres and I soon knew this was the real deal for becoming an artist. I owe my singing career to my music teacher, Mr. Jesse Sonberg. At the time I was torn between my two passions of singing and painting, and he encouraged me to stick with the singing, so I did. But I have been fortunate enough to continue painting and it has become a wonderful second career for me as well."
The ceremony's keynote speaker will be former judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, who is a candidate for Manhattan District Attorney.
Alice Tully Hall is located at 1941 Broadway at 65th Street, New York City. Admission to the graduation ceremony is by invitation only. To be placed on the guest list, contact Mr. Hal Mason, Assistant Principal of Administration, High School of Art & Design, by phone: 212-752-4340 or by email: e-mail protected from spam bots.
From PR Web
June 27, 2005: Would-be Ford assassin up for parole
WASHINGTON
- The infamous "lady in red" who tried to assassinate President
Gerald Ford in 1975 faces her first and last parole hearing next month after
serving 30 years of a life sentence in federal prisons.
Even if she is granted parole, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, once a devoted member of mass murderer Charles Manson's "Family," will have to serve an additional 13 months because of a 1988 prison escape. If she's turned down, she will die in prison.
Fromme, 56, has rejected parole hearings since she first became eligible in 1985. But by law a hearing is mandatory, and she must be freed if a parole board finds she is not likely to commit another crime and has not seriously violated prison rules.
Tom Hutchinson, chief of staff for the U.S. Parole Commission, said his office will begin proceedings next month and announce the results in early September.
She is incarcerated at Carswell Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Barbara Young, a unit manager at Carswell, said Fromme has not said whether she plans to appear at her hearing.
Officially known as prisoner 06075-180, Fromme refused a written request from the New York Daily News for an interview.
Dressed completely in red with a red turban covering her red hair, Fromme approached Ford on Sept. 5, 1975, with a .45-caliber handgun as he was walking from his hotel to the state Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. There was no bullet in the chamber when Fromme fired at Ford, and she later claimed she never intended to kill him. Nevertheless, she was convicted in November 1975 of trying to assassinate the president.
Hutchinson said federal law requires a mandatory parole hearing for inmates who have completed two-thirds of a life sentence, considered 30 years. If the parole board concludes Fromme is no longer a danger to society, the government will be required to release her.
"She'll never get out. Never," said Stephen Kay, the Los Angeles deputy district attorney who helped prosecute Manson. Kay attended 60 parole hearings for Manson Family members before he retired earlier this year.
Fromme attacked a fellow inmate with a hammer in 1979 and was moved from Dublin, Calif., to a West Virginia prison. She escaped in 1987, reportedly trying to reach Manson. She was recaptured two days later, on Christmas Day, and transferred soon after to the Federal Correctional Institution in Lexington. When the high security unit in Kentucky closed in 1988, Fromme was transferred to a new high-security unit of the Marianna Federal Correctional Institution in Florida.
Todd Clear, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said that although parole board members might normally look favorably on a middle-aged woman who had served so many years, they probably would not overlook violations in this case.
Seventeen days after Fromme's assassination attempt, Sara Jane Moore also tried to shoot Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.
Moore also is serving a life sentence at a California prison and will be eligible for parole in 2007.
From the New York Daily News, Janet McLaren
June 27, 2005: Tony Stewart breaks 29-race losing streak
SONOMA,
Calif. -- Tony Stewart celebrated. Jeff Gordon seethed. And Greg Biffle left
Infineon Raceway thrilled with his new standing in NASCAR Nextel Cup.
Their emotions Sunday centered on transmissions, those that failed and those that didn't during a grinding race on a breezy Northern California day.
Stewart lost fourth gear, but still won the race. He drove the last 30 laps on the winding road course with one hand clutched to the steering wheel and the other hand holding the gear shift, keeping it in third gear. Performing that cockpit juggling act, Stewart passed Ricky Rudd for the lead with 11 laps left to earn his first Cup victory of the season.
Rudd finished a season-best second. Defending series champion Kurt Busch, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett completed the top five. Greg Biffle placed 14th but took the points lead from Jimmie Johnson, who had transmission woes.
Stewart clearly had one of the best cars all weekend but his chances improved when Gordon suffered transmission problems. Gordon led the first 32 laps from the pole before he pitted and gave Stewart the lead. Troubles soon ensued for Gordon.
"It was kind of a sick feeling in your stomach when I saw Jeff have his problems, as much as it really helped us," Stewart said after his 20th career Cup victory. "It puts an asterisk besides (the victory) because I really wanted to race him for the win.
"Jeff is a guy that if you look at his history, he's won a lot of road course races. There's guys that would be just content to win today, but I'm more competitive than that. I want to beat the guys because I outraced them. I don't want to beat them because of ... mechanical failure."
Gordon, the series all-time winner on road courses, wasn't alone at Hendrick Motorsports in his transmission troubles. The team switched transmissions recently only to see Gordon, Johnson and Kyle Busch all have problems with the new device.
"I'm really upset about the transmission having trouble," Gordon said after finishing 33rd. "I just want to get out of here and got to the next (race) and put this one behind us."
This is the seventh time this season he's finished 30th or worse. He fell two spots to 14th in the season standings.
"I'm getting to the point where I don't care about points," Gordon said. "I don't even care about the championship. All I care about is getting our stuff going ... where we can put ourselves in contention to win."
Johnson's transmission troubles relegated him to 36th, ending his 12-race run as the series leader. He trails Biffle by 22 points heading into Saturday night's race at Daytona.
This is the first time Biffle, a former truck and Busch series champion, has led the Cup points standings.
"Even if I only lead it for a week, I wanted to be the points leader," Biffle said. "This team has worked really hard toward being the points leader. We've had two or three bad races and we've been able to bounce back from them."
Stewart hasn't been as fortunate this season. Three times this season Stewart has led the most laps in a race only to see a Hendrick or Roush car win. Stewart led 97 of 200 laps last week at Michigan but finished second to Biffle.
"It's just frustrating when you know that there's two teams that are really dominant and you have a day that you feel like winning and you can't capitalize on it," said Stewart, who snapped a 29-race winless streak. "It was just nice to finish one off period."
He did it by leading the most laps. Taking the lead for good wasn't easy.
As Stewart chased Rudd, he pursued a driver who hadn't won since this race in 2002. Rudd didn't make it easy, doing all he could to deny Stewart.
"He kept coming and coming and inching up," Rudd said of Stewart. "I tried to hold him off trying to out-brake him going into turn 11, but it was just a matter of time. Then I started making mistakes. You can only run over your head for so many laps and then the tires take a lot of abuse, and the brakes won't take it, so he was able to just drive by."
Stewart made his move in the turn 11 hairpin, diving under Rudd for the lead. Then it was matter of holding on -- to the lead, gear shift and steering wheel -- so he could return to victory lane for the first time in more than 10 months and complete what he called "an awesome day."
From the Greensboro News & Record, Dustin Long
June 25, 2005: Singing with heart, Bennett is going strong
Halfway
through his show at the Bank of America Pavilion last night, Tony Bennett
informed his audience that he'd been singing for 60 years, then added ''I'd
love to sing for another 60 years."
Bennett may be a few months shy of his 79th birthday, yet it wouldn't be smart to bet against his continued longevity. Age has mostly spared his voice, and whatever he may lack in vocal nimbleness, he more than makes up for in his warm, inviting stage presence.
Here's a bit of advice for younger performers -- you won't last for six decades by treating your audience with contempt. To wit, Bennett ended every song with a huge smile, deeply appreciative of every ovation. Still, the true key to Bennett's perseverance is that he remains one of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook.
Bennett often engaged the crowd with stories and jokes -- ''When I was young, I had so many hits, I was the Madonna of my day," he quipped at one point. He also said it was Bob Hope who Americanized his name from Anthony Dominick Benedetto to Tony Bennett.
Still Bennett was at his best when he was singing, offering such evergreen tunes as ''The Best is Yet to Come," ''Speak Low," ''All of Me," and of course, his signature song, ''I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Especially moving was his rendition of ''Maybe This Time." Beginning with just a piano accompaniment, Bennett built the song's natural tension into a thrilling coda, proving he can still reach for -- and grasp -- the big notes.
The only lull came with a nepotism interlude featuring Bennett's daughter, Antonia, who sang two songs, including ''Sail Away," written by Noel Coward. No disrespect meant toward a father's pride, but Antonia's voice was just too shaky and uncertain to add much to the evening.
Opening the show was the Artie Shaw Orchestra, under the direction of clarinetist Dick Johnson. Performing such songs as ''Moonglow," ''Tangerine," and Shaw's haunting theme, ''Nightmare," they proved that while bandleaders may die -- Shaw passed away last year -- their bands never do.
From the Boston Globe, Renée Graham
June 21, 2005: Queen Elizabeth stays home with cold
LONDON-
Britain's Queen Elizabeth canceled three public events, including a visit
to Sandhurst where her grandson is a cadet, because of a bad cold.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said that the queen also decided not to attend a polo match over the weekend, Sky News reports.
At Sandhurst, the British military academy, she had been scheduled to watch Prince Harry and other cadets on parade.
The sore throat is now a cold, and to help her recover she's not attending these particular engagements the spokesman said. The cold has affected her voice. She didn't want to pass on her cold to those she was meeting.
Queen Elizabeth is now 79 but generally remains in robust health. She has not canceled any events for health reasons since a knee operation in December 2003.
This week, she plans to fly to Scotland on Thursday to attend Prince William's graduation from St. Andrew's University.
From WebIndia123
June 21, 2005: In this corner, representing New York, Muhammad Ali
Sure,
he can float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, but can he schmooze for the
Olympics?
New York is bringing out its biggest gun yet in the campaign for the 2012 Olympics: Muhammad Ali.
Ali will be part of the U.S. delegation in Singapore when the International Olympic Committee picks the 2012 host city July 6, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.
Ali, the former world heavyweight champion, won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Ali, 63, who has Parkinson’s disease, also provided one of the Olympics’ most memorable moments when he lit the torch at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“When I look back and remember my greatest, most exciting moments as a boxer, competing in New York and competing in the Olympics are at the top of that list,” Ali said.
“To bring them together and hold the Games in New York City would be unforgettable for everyone involved, including myself.”
New York is competing against Paris, Madrid, London and Moscow. London has already announced that England soccer captain David Beckham will be in Singapore.
NBA player Pau Gasol will be part of Madrid’s delegation.
From the Kansas City Star
June 20, 2005: Ozzy’s gig ‘did not cause power cut’
ROCKER
Ozzy Osbourne played an intimate gig thrilling Bucks fans with his brand of
70s heavy metal.
The Chalfont St Peter-based star played with his band Black Sabbath at Aylesbury Civic Centre as a warm up concert before his appearance at the Download festival in Donnington Park.
The set list for the show, limited to 1,000 tickets and for one night only, comprised of Sabbath classics, such as War Pigs and Paranoid.
There had been rumours that the show had caused a power cut at the centre the following day when Aylesbury Grammar School pupils were about to sit their exams.
However, Aylesbury Civic Centre has quashed this, claiming that all the equipment had been stringently tested, and was not capable of causing a blackout.
Mr Osbourne, of Welders Lane, was also preparing for a tour of the United States.
The Ozzfest series of festivals are organised by Ozzy and his wife Sharon, and are taking place at venues across America from July 15 to the beginning of September.
Mr Osbourne will be performing with Black Sabbath and topping the bill.
Music press reports suggest Mr Osbourne is undertaking the concerts to shake the image he has gained in recent years due to his antics on the cult US TV show, The Osbournes.
From the Bucks Free Press
June 19, 2005: Klugman Goes Solo
He's
worked with Humphrey Bogart, Henry Fonda, Ethel Merman, Judy Garland and Tony
Randall. He's battled and recovered from throat cancer. He's won three Emmys.
And now, he's going to share it all.
"An Afternoon With Jack Klugman" is an intimate performance in which Klugman will have a dialogue between himself and the audience about his 50-plus years in show business. It's at 4 this afternoon at the Lycian Centre for Performing Arts, Kings Highway, Sugar Loaf.
Tickets are $36, $27 age 17 and younger. In honor of Father's Day, there will also be a preshow barbecue from 1-3 p.m. Cost is $20. Call 469-2287.
From the Times-Herald Record
June 19, 2005: CHAT ROOM: JOHN MADDEN, NFL analyst
John
Madden has been everywhere. Since his NFL coaching career ended in 1978, he's
traveled across the country to help bring a very colorful analysis of the
NFL to television audiences. And he's done it on three major networks.
Now he's joining NBC for the 2006 season, when he'll be an analyst for Sunday Night Football. Madden, who started with CBS, moved to Fox and is about to finish his final season with ABC's Monday Night Football, said he couldn't imagine his life without football.
When you started broadcasting, did you imagine still doing it now?
I didn't even imagine that I would do it the next year. When I first got out
of coaching, I was going to take a year off and do nothing. I decided to do
a few games. The first contract I had at CBS was for four games, and I did
it with different broadcasters and production groups. I really enjoyed it,
and because I enjoyed it so much, it's the reason I never went back to coaching.
How much work do you do to prepare for the season?
I work every day on it. I'm not saying there's a lot of heavy lifting, but
I talk to players and coaches. My friend John Robinson was just in town, and
I just had dinner with [Raiders coach] Norv Turner. We talk about what's going
on, what's new, how's Randy Moss fitting in, those type of things. I read
papers every day, watch tapes of the draft. I think the way football is today
with free agency, you have to keep up with it. You can't let it go and then
cram and say you're going to learn everything.
How much longer do you think you'll be working?
Forever. It's something that's never crossed my mind, that I'm not going to
be doing this. It's something that I love, and I've loved it all my life.
It's part of me. What I do, who I am and my whole life is based around six
months of football -- six months on the road -- and then six months away from
football. Right about now is when I say I can't wait for it to start again.
Have you talked with Al Michaels about this?
He had heard about it and called me to congratulate me. It's just a great
experience. I said earlier that I'm lucky to have been doing this all my life
and working with great people. I worked over 20 years with Pat Summerall,
and now Al Michaels. It doesn't get any better than that.
Are you a fan of flexible scheduling?
It's so important in today's football with free agency. There was a time when
you used to do a schedule, you knew who the best teams were and what the best
games were, and you were right 90 percent of the time. [Now] you kind of have
to use the first half of the season to see who are going to be the good teams,
or who's going to be a power, in the second half.
Would you like to do other work for NBC?
I would love to be doing golf. NBC [had] the U.S. Open this week, and I'm
a lot bigger fan of [watching] golf than I am a player. But I've been told
I talk too loud.
From the Star-Telegram, Tracey Myers