This Week in Death brings you: Notes and news covering a week's worth of health and the absence of health. How are the Cambodian and Fijian leaders doing? Will that affect peace in the middle east? What does Keith Richards have in common with World Series MVP Mike Lowell? Is it true that two food pioneers from the 1960s died this week, and neither of them was Clarence Birdseye? Who discovered Dolly Parton? The answers to these questions, and to life itself, are answered below. We're back with this week's stellar Halloween edition of This Week in Death!
Stock up on candy, because these people can still Trick-or-Treat, but Sihanouk, at least, does not want your candy...
Jerry Lee Lewis Too Old to Dance, Still has a "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On..." in his Hands, Mostly.
Jerry Lee Lewis showed he's still got some life in him at 72, though he's lost a step or two since his last Bridge School appearance in 2005. He's still a serious boogie-woogie piano player, however, and the closing "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" brought the crowd to its feet, but his voice quavered noticeably during his country crooning and he wasn't doing the piano gymnastics he's been known for over the past 50 years.
[Mercury News]
Cambodia's Sihanouk Turns 85. Remains Bitter, Bitter Old Man
Cambodia's retired but still revered King Norodom Sihanouk said he wants no gifts, correspondence or other fanfare for his 85th birthday. Sihanouk is asking people, including members of the royal family, to heed his words "to not call on him, to not dispatch to him messages of greetings and congratulations, even on the occasion of his birthday,'' the statement said. Sihanouk hopes to avoid "gifts, fruits, cakes, culinary dishes and other things.'' Sihanouk's request also applies to Christmas, the international Jan. 1 New Year and Cambodia's traditional Khmer New Year, celebrated in April, the statement said.
[The Star]
Keith Richards was Erratic. If You Forgot How Much Coke He has Done, This is News
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards made an erratic appearance at last night's Scream Awards, sparking new concerns for his health. The musician, who takes daily medication to prevent seizures after brain surgery last year, struggled to stay upright and slurred his way through his acceptance speech. He said: "Thank you all fans for voting me in, you know. It's a first - it's not my land, usually, to do this sort of stuff, but due to enormous public pressure... I've got to say thank you very, very much and also to Johnny - who insisted that I play his father."
[Daily Mail]
Fiji Finished? Iloilo's Health not Ratu-fied
A Fiji human rights commissioner is concerned about whether the country's president is fit to be able to make his own decisions. The interim prime minister and the president's secretary maintain that President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's ill health and old age do not hamper his ability to do his job. But Shamima Ali dismisses this and says there is concern that the president is unfit to make decisions and fulfill his role. President Iloilo made no comment last year when the military commander purported to be the president for a month after the coup.
[Radio New Zealand]
Halloween costumes? They'll be going as ghouls. Except Peg bracken. She'll be going as a slutty ghoul...
If You Weren't a Porter Fan yet, It's Never to Late to Jump On His Band Wagoner
Porter Wagoner, a Grand Ole Opry institution and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died Sunday. Known as the Thin Man From West Plains, he was 80 and had been hospitalized sinceOct. 15. Wagoner was an early cast member of ABC's Ozark Jubilee (1955-56), but he left the show in 1956 and moved to Nashville, where he was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry cast the next year. Hosting The Porter Wagoner Show was a tall, thin, close-cropped young man whose solemn seriousness contrasted markedly with his sometimes silly exuberance of later years, but his voice and demeanor made him the perfect salesman for the company's products.
[Country Music Television]
Every Time the Bells Ring in the Commercial, DeDomenico Gets His Wings
Vincent M. DeDomenico Sr., who with his brothers invented Rice-A-Roni, one of the classic kitchen helpers of the 1960s, died Thursday at his home in Napa, Calif. He was 92. The DeDomenicos invented their signature product in 1958 after watching a sister-in-law mix a can of Swanson's chicken broth with rice and vermicelli. As a brand, Rice-A-Roni traded heavily on the city of its origin, calling itself "The San Francisco Treat," weaving the images of cable cars and their bells into its television advertising.
[New York Times]
Killing Joke's Bassist Suffers Ironic, Humorless Death. Quoth the Raven: Nevermore
Paul Raven, bassist with post-punk band Killing Joke, has died of a suspected heart attack aged 46. Killing Joke had hits including Love Like Blood and Pandemonium, and were covered by Metallica and Foo Fighters. Bandmates Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker described Raven as "possibly the funniest man on planet Earth and a brother to us all".
[BBC]
Bracken Knocked Down a Peg. No Longer Needs to Worry about Making Dinner
Peg Bracken, an advertising copywriter who nearly half a century ago parlayed her irreverent wit — and her passionate dislike of a traditional womanly duty — into a subversive best seller, "The I Hate to Cook Book," died on Saturday at her home in Portland, Ore. She was 89. "Some women, it is said, like to cook," Ms. Bracken's book began. "This book is not for them." In Ms. Bracken's culinary canon, ingredients should be cheap, common and above all convenient. Canned soups loomed large in her recipes. So did alcohol, though in many cases her instructions called for it to bypass the cooking process entirely and proceed straight down the cook's throat.
[New York Times]
Stern Collection for Women, Bringing His Sum to Wife
Hans Stern, a poor Jewish immigrant from Germany who used Brazilian precious stones to build a global jewelry empire, died here on Friday. He was 85. In 1945, he founded H. Stern here as a gemstone trading business, to harvest the potential he saw in marketing Brazilian gems — a trade then practically nonexistent. Today, 170 stores are franchised in
26 countries.
[New York Times]
This Week Was Somebody's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Some Death Pool Entrants' Birthdays. How Old Are They? 1,2,3... And Never been Kissed By... Death
Happy Birthday to:
October 26: Shelley Morrison (71)
October 28: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (51)
October 29: Maurice Clarett (24)
... And Many More!!!!!!!!
It's called the top 5 for a reason. That reason? They have the 5 highest scores in Death Pool.
1. El Esta Adead - 76 points (6 deaths)
2. Yiz-score - 74.3 points (5 deaths)
3. The Ex-Parrots - 62.3 points (6 deaths)
4. Kraut's Picks - 60.9 points (8 deaths)
5. Life's a Bitch - 53.9 points (8 deaths)
Sorry, if we spooked you, it's just us...
The Commissioner's Council
