Our Daily Dead

You’ve got to like the title over at the DailyRecord.com anyway: Obi: No More Kenobi. Seems not-so-young-anymore Star Wars hunk Ewan McGregor says he’s too old to strip off on screen.

“And until now, the 35-year-old has managed to fool the camera.”

“He told Radio 1 listeners: ‘I’ve found ways to cheat the ageing process. I shave my chest because having it hairy makes me look older.’” Run out and get your copy of Trainspotting for the ultimate in kenobi-less Ewan.

And perhaps when he decides enough is enough he’ll change his name Eeeew-an McGregor to alert us all.

And then again perhaps you’ll run into ol’ non-hairy chested and kenobi-less Ewan while your whiling away the hours on vacation at The Terra Cotta Inn. As an ODD public service announcement please consider the following when you are planning your next vacation:

This Year Make a “Nude Year’s” Resolution to Vacation at the Terra Cotta Inn Clothing Optional Resort in Sunny Palm Springs, CA.

The press release further informs us that “The best modern nudist resorts are actually clothing optional places, so that first timers feel comfortable easing into nude sunbathing at their own pace.” And there is more as they offer a “Complementary California breakfast and afternoon snack spread.” Remember…ease into it and try to feel comfortable. Don’t go expecting a comfortable feel, however, even with your complimentary afternoon spread.

Ok and finally, just to wrap things up, we do believe that while you are getting the all over tan with Mr. McGregor you might do a bit of reading. We suggest you try Spy: The Funny Years. Oh and a bit of a warning: have care and wear your Ultimate Panic Sunglasses if you go perusing the clothing optional vacation spot web sites. Seems to us, not that we looked of course, that everyone shown looks like your Mom’s Auntie Grace and Uncle Elbert.

And one ODDcorrection. Away back Sherman we mentioned something about “bulldart” fence posts. Fact is these little beauties are actually called a bois d’arc fence posts after the Bois d’Arc trees of Texas. You need to know these things and that is why we bring them out of hiding. Especially if you are writing songs about Oklahoma family reunions (including some thoughts on sister twistin’), Choctaw Bingo or setting about to build an Osage Bow

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Star Wars, Ewan McGregor, strip, Trainspotting, Nude, Vacation, Terra Cotta Inn, Clothing Optional, Palm Springs, nudist, spread, Spy, bois d’arc, Texas, sister twistin, Choctaw Bingo, Osage

From the LA Times…Thornton ‘Pookie’ Hudson lead singer, songwriter of the Spaniels has died at age 72 of complications from cancer of the thymus at his home in Capitol Heights, Md.

Hudson, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, who grew up in Gary, Ind., formed an R&B vocal harmony group in the early 1950s with high school classmates, including the late bass singer Gerald Gregory. The Spaniels’ first hit was “Baby It’s You” in 1953 for Vee-Jay, an early black-owned recording label.

Hudson, a tenor, wrote “Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight,” which reached No. 5 on the R&B chart in 1954, No. 24 on the pop chart.

“I was going with this girl, and I used to walk home from her house late at night,” Hudson recalled years later. “As I walked, I put the song together in my head because that’s what her mother was always telling me — ‘Well, it’s 3 in the morning, and it’s time for you to go.’ “

See also RockLibrary.com for a write up on the 2005 Doo-Wopp Hall of Fame inductees, including the Spaniels. Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels also performed at the event.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Pookie, Spaniels, died, R&B, Vee-Jay, Pookie Hudson, Spaniels

Jazz virtuoso Michael Becker is dead at age 57. Becker died of leukemia, which was an effect of his long battle with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a form of cancer that attacks bone marrow.

LiveDaily.com had this to say about Becker:

“An active studio musician, Brecker appeared on more than 900 recordings in his career, with artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa. He began his career in the late ’60s with the fusion group Dreams, then joined with his brother, trumpeter Randy Brecker, to become The Brecker Brothers for much of the ’70s.”

“Brecker’s commercial breakthrough came in 1972, when the tenor-sax virtuoso performed a solo on James Taylor’s hit ‘Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight.’ Throughout the decade that followed, Brecker found himself in demand by pop artists.”

“Surprisingly, Brecker didn’t release an album under his own name until 1987. The self-titled disc won jazz album of the year awards in many publications.”

“Brecker went on to release several more solo albums, including his most recent, 2003’s ‘Wide Angles,’ on which the saxophonist leads a 15-piece ensemble in performing his own compositions. The album took home Grammy Awards the following year for Best Large Jazz Ensemble and Best Instrumental Arrangement.”

You may read more over at the Michael Brecker official website.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Michael Becker, dead, myelodysplastic syndrome, Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Randy Brecker, The Brecker Brothers, James Taylor, Grammy

From HarpMagazine.com comes that pianist Alice Coltrane has died at age 69. She had been in frail health for some time and died of respiratory failure.

“Though known to many for her contributions to jazz and early New Age music, Coltrane, a convert to Hinduism, was also a significant spiritual leader and founded the Vedantic Center, a spiritual commune now located in Agoura Hills. A guru of growing repute, she also served as the swami of the San Fernando Valley’s first Hindu temple, in Chatsworth.”

“For much of the last nearly 40 years, she was also the keeper of her husband’s musical legacy, managing his archive and estate. Her husband, one of the pivotal figures in the history of jazz, died of liver disease July 17, 1967, at the age of 40.”

“A pianist and organist, Alice Coltrane was noted for her astral compositions and for bringing the harp onto the jazz bandstand. Her last performances came in the fall, when she participated in an abbreviated tour that included stops in New York and San Francisco, playing with her saxophonist son, Ravi.”

In 2001 she helped found the John Coltrane Foundation to encourage jazz performances and award scholarships to young musicians.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Alice Coltrane, died, New Age, Hinduism, Vedantic Center, guru, swami, John Coltrane

Doyle Holly, bass guitarist for Buck Owens’ band the Buckaroos, is dead at age 70.

From the LA Times: “Doyle Holly, the bass guitarist for Buck Owens’ band the Buckaroos during its hit-making heyday in the 1960s, has died in Nashville. He was 70.”

“Holly, who died Saturday after a battle with prostate cancer, had been hospitalized Dec. 17.”

“He took over the bassist’s spot in the Buckaroos after Owens had said farewell to another band member who was starting a career of his own: Merle Haggard.”

“Holly spent 1963 to 1971 in one of the anchor positions in the Buckaroos’ rhythm section, a period in which Owens recorded most of his biggest hits, including ‘Act Naturally,’ ‘Together Again’ and ‘I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail.’ Another hit, ‘Love’s Gonna Live Here,’ topped the country singles chart for 16 weeks at the end of 1963. Owens even went to No. 1 with ‘Buckaroo,’ a 1965 instrumental that featured the band widely considered one of the best and most influential ensembles in country music history.”

And Rockabillyhall.com had this to say: ‘”Carnegie Hall Concert,” in some respects, represented the high water mark for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos. Owens and his crew were only the second country band to record a live album there (following Flatt & Scruggs’ lead in 1962, and the album captures a flawless performance from the group. ‘

‘Although Holly says - perhaps surprisingly - that the album is a little more laid back than a typical Buckaroos show of that era, he says that the group pulled back a bit on the reins for the Carnegie Hall shows since they knew that the performances were being taped. ‘

‘”We were nervous about being recorded,” says Holly. “When you’re doing a tape, you don’t want to make any mistakes. We were probably more concerned with making the record than with entertaining the audience. I asked Buck if he wanted to do comedy and he said, ‘No, just play everything straight.’ Then it got back into the groove of a regular show, and we started doing the comedy and the impressions.”‘

‘And Holly took some pride in the fact that the records he played on have had such a lasting influence on later performers including The Eagles, the Desert Rose Band and The Derailers.’

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Doyle Holly, Buck Owens, Buckaroos, dead, Merle Haggard, Flatt & Scruggs, Carnegie Hall, The Eagles, Desert Rose Band, The Derailers