Our Daily Dead

Her son was stuck on the lyrics as he sat at the family piano in Detroit. Lula Mae Hardaway sang back, “Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours.” Lula Mae, mother of Stevland “Little Stevie Wonder” Judkins, is dead at age 88. The family has not release details.

So, when the barista does not put the lid on tight enough at Starbucks, the waitperson at Outback Steak House brings you a meal at a temperature less than his IQ, the latest “security upgrade” from Microsoft crashes your computer, the price at the pump goes up another 3 cents, you have 300 channels and can’t find anything to watch, you “just don’t have a thing to wear,” and somebody at work decides to throw down a dog barf attitude, think about Lula Mae. As an infant she was abandoned by her teenage mother, then raised by her sharecropper aunt and uncle. She married a man 30 years older who abused her and forced her into prostitution. She had to steal coal to keep her family warm in Detroit. Then Stevie, born prematurely, became blind, probably due to too high a concentration of oxygen in his incubator.

You are the sunshine of my life
That’s why I’ll always be around,
You are the apple of my eye,
Forever you’ll stay in my heart,

You are the Sunshine of My Life
Little Stevie Wonder

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Little Stevie Wonder

Okay, we don’t want to go political on you—particularly those who think it’s okay that woman are for children, boys are for fun, and beheadings make for great reality TV—we think the world is a teensy weensy better place this weekend. Go team.

But there are those that will be missed:

Eddie Malone, dead at 85 years from lung disease, played serious baseball. Maybe you haven’t heard of him, but if you are serious about baseball, you’ll know about the Hillerick & Bradsby’s Louisville Sugger M 110. “M” stands for “Malone,” and “110” stands for Malone being the 110th player to design his own bat. Think it was good? Well, it was the bat used by Mickey Mantle. ‘Nuff said. We ODDfellows aspire to “Louisville Slugger ODD 1.”

Then we have Margaret Heinz Karcher who has died of liver cancer at age 91. Margaret was the wife of the founder of Carl Jr. restaurants. When you’re complaining about your lot in life, and how someone should do something to help you, think about the Karchers who borrowed $311, using their Plymouth as collateral, to buy an L.A. hotdog stand. Now there are over 1000 Carl Jr. restaurants.

If you watched the original American Bandstand, you saw the work of director Edward Yates, now dead at 87. Strong work Ed; Keep on rockin’.

Finally, we are ODDfully saddened by word of the death of Sam Arnold. Sam founded the legendary The Fort Restaurant outside of Denver. He fed buffalo and gun powder-laced concoctions to presidents, prime ministers, the rich, famous, and the multitudes who loved his passion for good eats and the American West. Waugh! Sam, Waugh!

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Eddie Malone, Louisville Sugger, Margaret Heinz Karcher, Carl Jr., American Bandstand, Edward Yates, Sam Arnold, The Fort Restaurant

We all know (don’t we all know?) that bad things happen in threes (except for Presidential terms which happen in twos). Thus, with today’s news of the death of Billy (“Fifth Beatle”) Preston, on top of yesterday’s report of Vince Welnick’s death, we now have two dead rock keyboardists. Don’t climb on any airplanes with Sir Elton.

Come to think of it, maybe Elton’s in the clear—has anyone heard anything from Billy Joel lately?

Billy Preston played with the Beatles (Get Back, Let It Be) as well as the Stones (Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?). Preston had solo hits, Outta Space and Nothing From Nothing (the latter adopted as the unofficial campaign song of John Kerry.) Here’s today’s ODDtrivia:, Billy Preston wrote Joe Cocker’s hit You Are So Beautiful (number one, we are told, on Katie Couric’s iTune playlist.) Preston died of kidney failure at age 59.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Billy (“Fifth Beatle”) Preston, Beatles, Stones, Joe Cocker