Archive - 2011

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"It is with great sadness that the staff and crew of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' mourn the loss of 'Uncle Frank' Potenza," ABC said in a statement.

Aunt Chippy and Uncle Frank learn to draw

** As a team, they wrote about 200 songs.

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Jerry Leiber, the lyricist who, with his partner, Mike Stoller, wrote some of the most enduring classics in the history of rock ’n’ roll, including “Hound Dog,” “Yakety Yak,” “Stand By Me” and “On Broadway,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 78.

The cause was cardio-pulmonary failure...

Nickolas Ashford (? - August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946 in The Bronx) were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists. They met at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church in 1963. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Josie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap ("Never Had It So Good"), Maxine Brown ("One Step At A Time"), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. Another of the trio's songs "Let's Go Get Stoned" gave Ray Charles a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966. That same year Ashford & Simpson joined Motown where their best-known songs included "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)". As performers, Ashford and Simpson's best-known song is "Solid" (1984 US and 1985 UK). The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.

Nick Ashford  Cause of Death
Nick Ashford died August 22, 2011, from complications of throat cancer

Ashford & Simpson - Solid

The Four Freshmen is a multiple (six) Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires (Glenn Miller), The Pied Pipers (Tommy Dorsey), and The Mel-Tones (Artie Shaw), founded in the barbershop tradition. The Four Freshmen is considered a vocal band because the singers accompany themselves on guitar, trumpet, bass, and drums, among other instrumental configurations.

The group tours internationally to sold-out audiences and records jazz harmonies since its late '40s founding in the halls of the Jordan School of Music at Butler University (Indianapolis).

Ross Barbour cause of death
The last surviving founding member Ross Barbour died on August 20, 2011 from lung cancer in Simi Valley, California.  Ross Barbour was 82 years old at the time of his death

Related Blog
Bob Flanigan, Four Freshmen Founder, Dies 84 (May 15, 2011)

Gerard Depardieu urinates in plane cabin

On August 16, 2011, a French actor Gerard Depardieu was refused access to the toilet on a plane and urinated on the floor of a plane less than 15 minutes after departure

Christine O'Donnell bails on "Piers Morgan" to avoid gay questions

Gualtiero Jacopetti (September 4, 1919 – August 17, 2011) was an Italian director of documentary films.

Gualtiero Jacopetti was born in Barga, in northern Tuscany. With Paolo Cavara and Franco Prosperi is the originator of Mondo films, also called shockumentaries.

The movie's theme song, "More," was nominated for an Oscar.

Mondo Cane - Movie Trailer

 Mondo Cane(1962) - More. (Ti guardero nel cuore)
Originally instrumental - lyrics were added later

The body of a 33-year-old Brooklyn rapper was found torched and abandoned in the back of an SUV in New Jersey early yesterday. The remains of Rhian "Kampane" Stoute had been charred in multiple places in such a way that it took the Bergen County Medical Examiner most of the day to identify it.

KAMPANE - What You Drinking On (TEASER) feat Pebbelz Da Model

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Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong's estranged husband, Russell, was found dead of an apparent suicide Monday night at his Los Angeles home.

He was 47. 

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High winds caused the collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair on Sunday just before country duo Sugarland was set to take the stage for their headline performance, killing four and injuring 40, according to reports.

Update:

• 5th person died a few days later. 
• 6th person died almost a week later.
• 7th person died Sunday 21st.

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Vic Dunlop started out as a prop comic and gained national attention on TV's 'Make Me Laugh,' where he was said to have set a record for making a contestant laugh the fastest.

Vic Dunlop died of complications of diabetes

Vic Dunlop - Clean Comedy

Robert Breer (1926 – August 12, 2011)

Robert Breer, an animator whose use of novel techniques to set lines and forms scrambling across the screen opened up a new language for film, died on Aug. 11 at his home in Tucson. He was 84.

 Swiss Army Knife with Rats and Pigeons - Robert Breer (1980)

REcreation (Robert Breer)

Jani Lane (born John Kennedy Oswald, February 1, 1964 – August 11, 2011) was an American recording artist and the lead vocalist, frontman, lyricist and main songwriter for the glam metal band Warrant.

As lead vocalist with Warrant, Lane wrote three Top 40 hit singles: "Heaven," "Down Boys" and "Sometimes She Cries" for Warrant's debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich which peaked at number 10 on the billboard 200. and another three Top 40 hit singles: "Cherry Pie," "I Saw Red," and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (the intro to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was performed by Lane's older brother Eric Oswald; see Warrant) for the second album Cherry Pie which peaked at number 7 on The Billboard 200. Lane also co-wrote and performed with Warrant the song "The Power" in the 1992 movie "The Gladiator." Lane also had an unreleased project titled "Jabberwocky" which has become an underground fan favorite world wide.

Lane was featured on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club 2

Jani Lane cause of death
Jani Lane was found dead at a Comfort Inn hotel in Woodland Hills, California on August 11, 2011. The official cause of death has not yet been released.

Warrant - Heaven
Jani Lane is the lead singer

Warrant - Cherry Pie
Jani Lane is the singer

Warrant is an American glam metal band from Hollywood, California, that experienced success from 1989-1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. The band first came into the national spotlight with their debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, and one of its singles, "Heaven," reached #1 in Rolling Stone and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band continued its success in the early 1990s with the 2x Platinum album Cherry Pie and the gold album Dog Eat Dog, both albums providing more charted singles. The band continued performing and recording albums throughout the 1990s and the 2000s despite several changes to their line up.

Billie Wayne Grammar (August 28, 1925 – August 10, 2011), known professionally as Billy Grammar, was an American country music singer and noted guitar player. He is best known for the million-selling "Gotta Travel On", which made it onto both the country and pop music charts in 1959. It was Grammar's first hit record, and his most enduring.

In 1990, Grammar was inducted into the Illinois Country Music Hall of Fame, along with Tex Williams, Lulu Belle and Scotty, and Patsy Montana. Grammar suffers from a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. He became completely blind. On February 27, 2009, he was honored by the Grand Ole Opry for his 50 years as a member.

Billy Grammer cause of death
Grammar died on August 10, 2011, at 12:20 a.m. He was in Benton Hospital being treated for a long-term illness, which included suffering a heart attack in January.
Billy Grammer was 85 years old at the time of his death.  He was eighteen days short of his 86th birthday.

Gotta Travel On - Billy Grammer

On August 8th, 2011 DeGraw was hospitalized after being assaulted by several persons in New York City. Police say a group of men attacked DeGraw on a city street in New York City at 4:30am late Sunday night. He reportedly received a broken nose and cut to his face. After the attack DeGraw was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in an ambulance and his status is currently being monitored.

Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is probably most well-known for his songs "Chariot", "Follow Through", "I Don't Want to Be" (which is featured as the theme song for the TV drama One Tree Hill), and "In Love with a Girl."

Gavin DeGraw - Chariot