Bob Hoskins

Posted in Highgate Cemetery with tags , on September 9, 2024 by Cade

October 26, 1942 – April 29, 2014

Iconic character actor, tough-guy-with-a-heart, and all-around beloved personality, Bob Hoskins, quite accidentally stumbled into show business. A mediocre student, Hoskins worked a number of odd jobs in his native London (and abroad) before giving a go at a small part in a production of Romeo and Juliet. The bug hadn’t fully bitten yet, but when Bob accompanied an actor friend to an audition and – while waiting – was handed a script and told “You’re next!” He complied, auditioned, and got the part.

A lauded 40 year career followed.

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Jim Seals

Posted in Woodlawn Memorial Park (TN) with tags , , on August 26, 2024 by Cade

October 17, 1942 – June 6, 2022

Jim Seals grew up in the rough and tumble west Texas oil fields. Born into a family of musical talent, “Jimmy” learned to play the fiddle and the saxophone alongside his brother, Dan. He played in some local bands as a youth, meeting drummer, Dash Crofts, and before too long, the two were off to Los Angeles. Seals – still a teenager at this point – found some success in the LA rock scene of the late 1950s. He played with acts like Eddie Cochran and the Champs (along with Crofts) and wrote songs.

Seals and Crofts soon left the Champs along with guitarist, Glen Campbell, to form a new band with Campbell at the lead. After a couple of years, this group broke up and Seals and Crofts went their separate ways. They would not be apart for long.

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Samuel Johnson

Posted in Westminster Abbey with tags , , on August 19, 2024 by Cade

September 18, 1709 – December 13, 1784

Samuel Johnson was – and remains – one of the most influential English writers of all time. With works ranging from poems to a literal dictionary, Johnson’s contributions to British literature ran far, wide and very, very deep. Sometimes referred to as “Dr. Johnson”, he wrote in a number of genres including, drama, essays, biographies, literary criticism and sermons. He is widely regarded as “the most distinguished man of letters in English history.”

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Grandpa Jones

Posted in Luton's United Methodist Church Cemetery with tags , , , on August 5, 2024 by Cade

October 20, 1913 – February 19, 1998

Banjo player and country music icon, Louis Jones, earned the nickname “Grandpa” at the unlikely age of 22 when he was performing on early-morning radio shows in Boston. A guitar player and singer, the young Jones had made his way to Massachusetts by way of his home in Kentucky and a stint in Ohio. His pre-dawn grumpiness led to the nickname…which Jones not only accepted, but made his entire on-stage persona going forward.

Grandpa Jones delighted audiences for nearly 7 decades with his rousing banjo playing, old-timey ballads and affable stage presence. He mastered the banjo and became a popular performer. Early in his career, he bounced from town to town playing live radio shows. He briefly served in the U.S. Army during World War II and, in his mid 30s, he found his way to Nashville. Continue reading →

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Tito Puente

Posted in Saint Anthony's Catholic Cemetery with tags , , on July 29, 2024 by Cade

April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000

Like most latter-day Gen Xers, I formed most of my pop-culture knowledgebase throughout the 1990s watching The Simpsons. The writers of the iconic show were clearly of a generation previous to mine and would pepper in references to things from their youth, and thereby introduce them to us youngins.

So, it should come as no surprise that my first introduction to percussionist Tito Puente was from the 1995 cliffhanger episode “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part 1” in which Lisa Simpson wanted to use the city’s newfound riches to hire Puente as the music teacher. To this day, I can’t hear the name “Tito Puente” without uttering to myself “He robbed the school of TITO!”

But, I digress.

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Charles Baudelaire

Posted in Montparnasse Cemetery with tags , , on July 15, 2024 by Cade

April 09, 1821 – August 31, 1867

To call Charles Baudelaire a “Romantic” poet would be a significant undersell. For sure, he was one of the preeminent French poets of the 19th century and drew heavily on his Romantic forebears, but one does not take the beauty, imagination and natural ideals of the Romantic movement and forge a new movement based on exoticism and excess by resting on the laurels of the past. Largely credited with helping found the Decadent literary movement, Baudelaire was as widely regarded for his poems as he was for his lavish lifestyle.

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Jean Shepard

Posted in Hendersonville Memory Gardens with tags , , , , on July 8, 2024 by Cade

shepard1November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016

One of the pioneering female voices in country music, Jean Shepard rose to fame in the early 1950s with the hit duet “A Dear John Letter” with Ferlin Husky. The song reached number 1 on the country charts and the duo recorded a follow-up single later the same year. Jean would go on to record more than two dozen albums and chart more than 40 singles over the course of her 60 year career.

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Herb Reed

Posted in Puritan Lawn Memorial Park with tags , , on July 1, 2024 by Cade

August 7, 1928 – June 4, 2012

A “Platter” by any other name…

Herb Reed was the bass vocalist and a founding member of the American vocal group, The Platters. Claiming to have come up with the name, Reed joined the fledgling group in Los Angeles in 1953 and would become the last surviving original member and the only member to appear on every Platters’ recording from 1953 to 1969.

After 1969, well…it gets a little…litigious.

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Molière

Posted in Père Lachaise Cemetery with tags , on June 24, 2024 by Cade

January 15, 16221 – February 17, 1673

Arguably the greatest and most prolific playwright in the history of the French language, Molière (née Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) wrote more than 30 comedies, farces and tragicomedies. At the height of his popularity, he was the toast of Paris and had major fans in the Duke of Orléans and the Duke’s older brother…a guy named Louis XIV.

Molière satirized everything (except the monarchy) and drew ire from those he poked fun at. But, he rarely got in trouble for his works (thanks to the monarchy) and enjoyed a fair amount of success later in his life. His plays have been thoroughly translated into every major language and his master works like The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, The School for Wives and The Miser are still being produced today

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Marc Bolan

Posted in Golders Green Crematorium with tags , , on June 17, 2024 by Cade

September 30, 1947 – September 16, 1977

Little Mark Feld grew up in the boroughs of London idolizing rock and roll pioneers like Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran. At the age of 9, he was given his first guitar and by the time he was 17 was already on his way to “Rock Star Legend” status.

By 1965, he had changed his name to “Marc Bolan” and was recording with the likes of Jimmy Page and the Ladybirds. Failing to make any sort of breakthrough success, Bolan leaned heavily on the ideas in his imagination. Fantasy and mythology filled his mind. If he could somehow find a way to translate that into music, he would probably be on to something.

In 1967, he founded the band Tyrannosaurus Rex.

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