Our Daily Dead

from the NY Times
SYDNEY, Australia, March 30 (Reuters) — Pro Hart, a self-taught Australian artist who became internationally known for painting sweeping landscapes of the Outback by layering and scratching paint onto canvas, died on Tuesday in Broken Hill, the mining town where he was born and where he lived. He was 77.

His death was announced by his son, Kym Hart, who said Mr. Hart had motor neurone disease, a condition in which nerve cells in the brain that control the muscles break down.

Mr. Hart’s Outback landscapes — created mainly in oils and acrylics using not just a paintbrush but any tool, even a cannon — have been exhibited all over the world. But Mr. Hart was never fully accepted by the art world in Australia. His work is not in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

Pro Hart’s Waltzing Matilda

Pro Hart’s legendary Tasmania

Pro Hart’s silver city

Technorati Tags: Pro Hart, Australian artist, Outback, motor neurone disease

from the NY Times
Denis Twitchett, a scholar of imperial China best known for his role in conceiving and creating “The Cambridge History of China,” a monumental 15-volume study widely regarded as the most comprehensive history of China in the English language, died on Feb. 24 in Cambridge, England. He was 80.

His death was announced by Princeton University, where he retired in 1994 as Gordon Wu Professor of Chinese Studies, the first academic to be appointed to that chair. His landmark work, published by Cambridge University Press, ranges from antiquity to the People’s Republic. Dr. Twitchett conceived of the project with a colleague, John K. Fairbank, of Harvard, then contributed to the writing, guided its progress and edited some of the volumes.

Before that work, English-language scholarship and historiography of China had focused mainly on the often chaotic events that gave rise to the Middle Kingdom and on the more recent past, stitched together from diplomatic correspondence, travelers’ accounts and the like. Dr. Twitchett, with Professor Fairbank and their contributors, filled the gap with a systematic study of the social, economic and political developments that have shaped the country since its formation.

Dr. Twitchett gained recognition with his early writings about medieval China, particularly its evolution in the Tang era (618-907). His “Financial Administration Under the Tang Dynasty” (1970) and “Perspectives on the Tang” (1973) were noted for the new insights they offered on that significant period. He also wrote “The Birth of Chinese Meritocracy: Bureaucrats and Examinations in Tang China” (1976), “Printing and Publishing in Medieval China” (1983), and “The Writing of Official History under the Tang” (1992).

Technorati Tags: Denis Twitchett, imperial China, The Cambridge History of China

from the NY Times
Pierre Clostermann, an ace fighter pilot who flew for de Gaulle’s Free French forces in World War II, engaging in fierce combat in the Battle of Britain and over Normandy on D-Day, died March 22 at his home in Montesquieu des Albères in southwestern France. He was 85.

After the war, Mr. Clostermann became a pillar of Gaullist politics.

French newspapers, from the national Le Monde and Le Figaro to the regional press, registered his death as the passing of one the country’s last true war heroes. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin eulogized him as a “legend and an example” to all citizens.

After France fell to the Germans in 1940, Mr. Clostermann heeded de Gaulle’s call for the French to continue the fight on the side of the Allies. He trained with the Royal Air Force and fought in the Battle of Britain and over Continental Europe. In three years he flew more than 420 combat sorties, shot down 33 enemy aircraft and possibly more, and rose to command a fighter wing.

After the war, he worked as an aeronautical engineer and became a vice president of the Cessna Aircraft Company. He also entered politics and spent 23 years as a high-profile Gaullist in the French legislature until giving up his seat in 1969.

Technorati Tags: Pierre Clostermann, ace fighter pilot, de Gaulle, Free French forces, World War II, war hero

from Fox News
“Troubled pop superstar Whitney Houston — once a bigger seller than Madonna — is running out of cash. Insiders tell Fox New’ Roger Friedman - she is literally broke, with no current income and huge expenses.

Not only that: Whitney’s life is such a dismal mess that, according to sources, her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, is living with Whitney’s brother Gary and sister-in-law, Pat, close to Houston’s home in Atlanta.”

Now come to think of it…perhaps Whitney and M.C. Hammer would have made a lovely couple. M.C., by the way, could not handle life on the outside and has thus re-cast himself as an evangalist.

Technorati Tags: Whitney Houston, Bobbi Kristina, M.C. Hammer

Now a trip to Redlands, Cali might seem just the ticket to many of you. Sun and more sun and warm temps - ah just perfect, especially for those just now sneaking out of winter’s embrace.

Now perhaps you’re saying to yourself “We’ve come all this way so we have to go to Disneyland”. Hmmm, yes. Or perhaps no. You might instead wander into the mountains using Big Bear Lake as your starting point. Maybe even stay a night somewhere such as Three Pines Lodge. Likely a day in the mountains will be less an endurance challenge than a day a Disneyland.

But if towards Disneyland you must travel, then consider again skipping it entirely and continuing just a short drive further all the way to the coast. Park your car anywhere in the small area known as Corona del Mar and walk around the streets. Remember to ask yourself that if the Rolls, the Porsche and the Mercedes are parked on the street, then what, exactly, is parked in the garage?

And of course make time to sit or stroll at the beach. From Pirate’s Cove you can sit and watch all the boats wandering in and out of Newport harbor - quite the spectacle. If this doesn’t get you close enough then head back to your car and drive a short distance up the PCH to the Duffy Boat Rentals. Check out one of these electric boats for a bit and tour the Newport harbor waterways.

Hustle up now and you can make the Redland’s Fool’s Day Festival Sampler. After attending you can plan the rest of your vacation year.

Oh, and if you don’t drive, then walk yourself over to the Historical Glass Museum or the Lincoln Memorial Shrine and get us a trip report will you?

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Redlands, Big Bear Lake, Three Pines Lodge, Disneyland, Corona del Mar, Duffy Boat, Newport

from AZCentral.com (and Canadia Press)

KINGSTON, Canada - A serial killer who terrorized Canada with a string of slayings of young women in Montreal and Calgary more than 30 years ago has died in prison.

Wayne Boden, whose penchant for biting the breasts of his victims earned him the nickname the “Vampire Killer,” died in hospital earlier this week at Kingston Penitentiary.

Corrections Canada attributed Boden’s death to “natural causes” and said funeral arrangements were still being made.

Boden was locked up in 1972 after four women in Montreal were found raped and strangled, all with bite marks on their breasts, between 1968 and 1970.

He confessed to three of the killings after a teacher in Calgary was found dead in 1971.

Boden, who was in his late 50s, had been ill and was transferred to Kingston from his home institution of Bath about six weeks ago.

On July 23, 1968, Norma Villancourt, a 21-year-old teacher, was found dead in her Montreal apartment, having been raped and strangled, and with bite marks on her breasts.

Victims Shirley Audette, 20, Marielle Archambault, 20, and Jean Wray, 24, followed. All were raped and murdered and found with bite marks.

Then, in 1971, teacher Elizabeth Pourteous, 33, vanished in Calgary and she was also found raped and strangled. A cufflink was found near her body.

Boden, a travelling salesman, was arrested shortly afterward. He told police that he had moved from Montreal a year earlier, admitted seeing Pourteous on the night she died, and said the cufflink was his.

A forensic orthodontist also matched Boden’s teeth with bite marks on the victim, the first time such evidence had been allowed in a Canadian trial to identify an accused.

Boden later made headlines in 1984 while on a “humanitarian” day pass from the maximum-security Laval Correctional Centre. He escaped from a guard after asking to use the washroom while eating in a Montreal hotel.

Technorati Tags: serial killer, Wayne Boden, Vampire Killer

from Medal Of Honor.com
Desmond T. Doss seemed an unlikely candidate to become a war hero. As a devout member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, he would not drill or train on Saturday because his church recognizes it as their Sabbath Day. He would not carry a gun because he believed all killing was wrong. He wouldnt even eat meat after seeing a chicken flopping around with its head cut off.

Instead he carried a pocket-size Bible on Guam, Leyte and Okinawa and when not treating the wounded, the Seventh-day Adventist from Virginia would read Scripture.

But although his religious beliefs forbade his taking of lives, Doss did what he could to save the lives of comrades.

For his heroic actions on Okinawa, including braving heavy enemy fire to single-handedly rescue 75 wounded infantrymen and lower them one by one down a cliff to safety, he received the nation’s highest military award - the Medal of Honor - and he did it without ever firing a shot.

Technorati Tags: Desmond T. Doss, war hero, Medal of Honor

from the LA Times
Cindy Walker, the prolific Texas songwriter who in every decade from the 1940s to the ’80s turned out country and pop hits, including “You Don’t Know Me,” “In the Misty Moonlight” and “Cherokee Maiden,” has died. She was 87.

Walker, called the dean of Texas songwriters, died of natural causes Thursday at a hospital in Mexia, Texas, where she had lived most of her life.

Known for her romantic, sentimental, Western-flavored works, she wrote more than 500 recorded songs for an array of artists. Among them were Gene Autry (”Blue Canadian Rockies”), Roy Orbison (”Dream Baby [How Long Must I Dream]”), Bob Wills (”Cherokee Maiden,” “Bubbles in My Beer”), Eddy Arnold, Ray Charles (”You Don’t Know Me”), the Ames Brothers (”China Doll”), Hank Snow (”The Gold Rush Is Over”) and Jim Reeves (”Distant Drums,” “This Is It”).

She also wrote “Barstool Cowboy From Old Barstow” for Spike Jones and the City Slickers.

Over the years, Walker, who typed her lyrics on a pink-trimmed manual typewriter, saw her songs recorded by artists as varied as Bette Midler and Michael Bublé. By the late 1980s, “You Don’t Know Me,” one of her best-known songs, had been recorded by more than 75 singers, including Arnold, Elvis Presley, Jerry Vale and Mickey Gilley.

This month, Willie Nelson, a fellow Texan, released “You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker,” a tribute album of her songs.

Technorati Tags: Cindy Walker, Texas, songwriter

from the LA Times
Nikki Sudden, 49, a British punk rocker and cult favorite since the late 1970s as a solo act and as part of influential bands such as Swell Maps and the Jacobites, died Sunday in New York, one day after playing a show at Manhattan’s Knitting Factory, his record label said.

According to a posting on Sudden’s website, there was no word on the cause of death.

His solo album 2004’s “Treasure Island” featured guest appearances by ex-Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan. The Stones were Sudden’s favorite band, and he was working on a book about Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood, according to Sudden’s website.

Nine of Sudden’s solo and Jacobites albums were re-released by Indiana-based Secretly Canadian, which also re-issued a pair of Swell Maps records.

Born Nicholas Godfrey in London, Sudden wrote hundreds of songs and released more than 20 albums over the course of his career.

Technorati Tags: Nikki Sudden, punk rocker, Swell Maps, Jacobites, Knitting Factory

from the LA Times
Ian Hamilton Finlay, 80, one of Scotland’s best-known artists whose work included sculpture, poetry and philosophy, died Monday at a nursing home in Scotland after a long illness, said Victoria Miro, a spokeswoman for his gallery in London.

The artist’s relationship with nature lay at the heart of his work, and his most famous is “Little Sparta,” the garden of his farmhouse at Stonypath in Dunsyre, southwest of Edinburgh.

Born in 1925 in Nassau, Bahamas, Finlay moved to Edinburgh in 1950.

In 1966 he moved to Stonypath and set about transforming the plot into a neoclassical sculpture garden.

Every surface, from benches to headstones and obelisks, is inscribed with his words. Stonypath was recently voted Scotland’s greatest artwork.

Technorati Tags: Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scotland, artist, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, Little Sparta

from the LA Times
Rocio Durcal, the Spanish actress and singer who evolved from a spunky teen idol in the 1960s to become one of Latin music’s most sophisticated and distinctive song stylists in a recording career that spanned four decades, died Saturday at her home outside Madrid. She was 61.

Durcal, whose real name was Maria de los Angeles de las Heras Ortiz, had been battling cancer for the last five years. At a Sunday service in Spain, a mariachi performed in tribute to her work as a unique interpreter of Mexico’s traditional music, in particular songs written by composer Juan Gabriel.

News of her death brought an outpouring of public condolences from artists and celebrities across the Spanish-speaking world, where she was respected like pop royalty.

“She suffered very much and for a long, long time with that illness, but without bothering anybody and without calling attention to herself,” Spanish actress and singer Sara Montiel told a Spanish news agency. “She died with a lot of dignity. This is a great, great loss.”

Her loss was also felt in Los Angeles, where the diminutive singer became the first Latina to headline the Universal Amphitheatre in 1984. She performed at least seven times at the venue (now the Gibson Amphitheatre), including her last concert in Los Angeles in October 2002, a vital tour de force coming a year after her initial cancer surgery.

Technorati Tags: Rocio Durcal, actress, singer, teen idol, Latin music, Juan Gabriel

From al.com comes this On Deck prelude:

“How’s this for depressing?'’ he asked, and then listed the ages of a number of famous ladies from the stage and screen. If you’re a certain age and you haven’t seen this already, brace yourself.

Elizabeth Taylor is 73. Jane Russell is 84. Shirley Temple is 77. Doris Day is 81. Brigitte “And God Created Woman'’ Bardot is 71. Lena Horne is 88. Gina Lollobrigida is 78. Ursula Andress, the first “Bond girl,'’ is 70. Jean Simmons, Spartacus’ wife and Elmer Gantry’s evangelist ladyfriend, is 76.

Angie Dickinson - no, not Angie Dickinson - is 74, the same age as Rita Moreno and Carroll Baker and Mamie Van Doren. Elke Sommer and Jill St. John are 65. Barbara Eden is 71. Julie Christie and Ann-Margaret are 64. Annette Funicello - Annette from the Mickey Mouse Club! - is 63.

Wear the fox hat!!!