Otis Rush obit

Otis Rush, Chicago's 'king of the hill' blues guitarist, dies aged 84

Key figure of the city’s 50s and 60s blues resurgence famed for I Can’t Quit You Baby and Any Place I’m Going

 He was not on the list.

Legendary Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush, whose passionate, jazz-like music influenced artists from Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton to the rock band Led Zeppelin, has died at the age of 84.

Rush on Saturday succumbed to complications from a stroke he suffered in 2003, his longtime manager Rick Bates said.

Born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, Rush settled in Chicago as an adult and began playing the local clubs, wearing a cowboy hat and sometimes playing his guitar upside down for effect.

He catapulted to international fame in 1956 with his first recording on Cobra Records of I Can’t Quit You Baby, which reached No 6 on the Billboard R&B charts. He was a key architect of the Chicago “West Side Sound” in the 1950s and 1960s, which modernised traditional blues to introduce more of a jazzy, amplified sound.

“He was one of the last great blues guitar heroes. He was an electric god,” said Gregg Parker, CEO and a founder of the Chicago Blues Museum.

Rush loved to play to live audiences, from small clubs on Chicago’s West Side to sold-out venues in Europe and Japan.

“He was king of the hill in Chicago from the late 1950s into the 1970s and even the 80s as a live artist,” Bates said.

But Rush got less national and international attention than some other blues musicians because he wasn’t a big promoter. He preferred to go out and play and go back and sleep in his own bed,” Bates said. “He was not a show business guy.”

Rush was inducted into the Blues Foundation hall of fame in 1984 and won a Grammy for best traditional blues recording in 1999 for Any Place I’m Going.

In one of his final appearances on stage at the Chicago blues festival in 2016, Rush was honoured by the city of Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune.

He is survived by his wife, Masaki Rush, eight children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to a family statement.

Wes Hopkins obit

Eagles Legendary Safety Wes Hopkins Dies at 57, Former Teammates Agent Say

He was not on the list.

Wes Hopkins, one of the greatest safeties in Eagles history and a hallmark of the great Eagles' defenses of the late 1980s and early 1990s, died Friday, according to two of his Eagles teammates and his former agent.

Hopkins was 57.

Hopkins, a ferocious hitter and fearless run stopper, was one of the NFL's most feared safeties and was named first-team All-Pro and made a Pro Bowl in 1985, when he had six interceptions.

Despite missing most of 1986 and all of 1987 with a devastating knee injury, he returned to play six more seasons at a very high level.

Hopkins had 30 interceptions in his 11 seasons with the Eagles, which still ranks fifth most in Eagles history. He also had 12 sacks and 16 fumble recoveries.

Hopkins is one of only four players in Eagles history with both 12 sacks and 12 interceptions. The others are Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, Seth Joyner and William Thomas.

Hopkins and Andre Waters, who played alongside each other in the deep secondary for nearly a decade, both played in exactly 137 games in an Eagles uniform. The only defensive backs to play more games as Eagles than No. 48 were Dawkins (183) and Randy Logan (159).

Hopkins was originally a second-round pick out of SMU in 1983 and was a full-time starter as a rookie. He blossomed in his second year, recording five interceptions and added six more in his 1985 Pro Bowl season.

But in a Week 4 game against the Rams at the Vet in 1986, Hopkins tore up his knee and missed not only the rest of the 1986 season but also the entire 1987 season.

But in 1988, after a grueling, nearly two-year rehab, he picked up where he left off, with five more interceptions for the NFC East champions and added five more INTs in each of the 1990 and 1991 seasons.

Hopkins is the only player in Eagles history with at least five interceptions in five or more seasons.

The Eagles released Hopkins after training camp in 1993 and he signed with the Chiefs. After playing in one preseason game for the Chiefs, he was released and rejoined the Eagles and played one more season before retiring after 1993.

This past March, Hopkins was inducted into the SMU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Those Eagles teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s have been struck by tragedy.

Jerome Brown was just 27 when he died before the 1992 season in a one-car crash that also claimed his young nephew. Hall of Famer Reggie White died in 2004 at 43. Waters, who manned the deep secondary alongside Hopkins for nearly a decade, was 44 when he took his own life in 2006. And Todd Bell, who spent the 1988 and 1989 seasons with the Eagles, died in 2005 at 46.

 

Margo Woode obit

Actress Margo Woode Hs Died

 She was not on the list.

Margo Woode is great proof that it’s sometimes better not to take Hollywood too seriously, and try to bend its rules to suit your needs rather than the other way around – after some minor success, Margo left Tinsel town, devoted herself to family and other pursuits but still returned to movies when she had a chance. Let’s learn more about her!

EARLY LIFE

Margo Ketchum was born on April 11, 1922, in Phoenix, Arizona, to Raymond Ketchum and Alma Odell Bumph. Her older brother Raymond Sr. was born on October 6, 1920 and died four days later. Her father worked as an embalmer and undertaker. Newspapers later claimed that  Margo was of royal Indian descent , the great-granddaughter of a full-blooded Cherokee princess. I didn’t go that far in the family tree to try to verify it, but it’s entirely possible.

Margo grew up like any normal, happy child in  Phoenix and attended North Phoenix High School.  Luckily for Margo, her uncle was prominent dance teacher, Gene Bumph, and she studied at his Gene Bumph School of Dancing. She was discovered when she was 18 by Fred Astaire and began her film career that year under the direction of Hermes Pan. Darryl F. Zanuck signed her to a 20th Century-Fox contract and of she went to Hollywood!

CAREER

Margo had an uncredited role in Springtime in the Rockies, a cheery musical, in 1942, and then took a hiatus until 1945, when her career really took steam (eh, it didn’t blow full steam like with Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, but it’s better than most others). She appeared in The Bullfighters, a lesser Stan Lauren/Oliver Hardy comedy, the classical musical State Fair and had all of her scenes deleted in The Spider, but fortunately for Margo, the movie turned out to be mediocre and is more or less completely forgotten today.

Then, suddenly, Margo made a string of three movies that woodlice remain her only claim to fame in any shape or form. From an uncredited glorified extra, she actually had solid roles in solid pictures.

Somewhere in the Night remains Margo’s masterpiece. The movie itself is a minor classic, and Margo gave the bets role of her career in it. Somewhere in the night is one of those rare few noir that never reached cult status, but remain stunningly good films, with a strong metaphysical undercurrent and almost archetypal storytelling. Joseph Mankiewicz took a solid story, spins it the right way and made a dark, compelling and intense movie. What starts as a story of a traumatized veteran soldier ends up a meditation on identity and consequences of war. Unfortunately, this is still a B production, and what it lacks is a top-level leading man – John Hodiak is good, but he never managed to make a lasting impression, at least to me, in any of the movies I saw. Same for the leading lady, Nancy Guild, as stunning beauty but not a smoldering femme fatale at any rate (although she does play the good girl, but these characters tended to be boring). Yet, the supporting cast is excellent. Here we see the full power of the Hollywood studio system – so many good characters actor sin one place!

Margo appeared in another B effort, It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog. This one is more of a curiosity than a particularly good movie – made right after the war ended, we have this neither here nor there period when women still stood up for men in various jobs that would, just a few years later, become forbidden fruit. It is interesting to see Carole Landis as a female police inspector. In 1947, Margo appeared in Moss Rose, a serviceable 19th century drama/action movie with the alluring Peggie Cummings in the leading role. Just when Margo gained some momentum, it all stopped. She took an acting hiatus to give birth to two children an never made a movie that topped these three.

She returned to the Hollywood fold in 1950. She had the smallest role in No Sad Songs for Me, a cry-your-eyes out soaped with Margaret Sullavan (the woman was a dynamo, that’s for sure), then in When You’re Smiling,  a cheap and so-so Columbia musical with Frankie Laine. And then Margo disappeared again, to live in Phoneix, Arizona.

She did some minor television work in 1952, and then returned to Phoenix once again. She was Hollywood bound in 1957, and appeared in two movies – Bop Girl Goes Calypsoa kitschy, tasteless, cheap calypso musical, the sole reason to watch is to see Judy Tyler on-screen (she died at the tragically young age of 23 so not a lot of her movies left), and Hell Bound, a much better  film noir – despite it’s very humble C movie roots, it’s actually a powerful mediation on the world after WW2. John Russell is very good as a mobster hell bend on getting a cargo of drugs the military want to get rid of so he can sell them and get major money pretty quick. Margo plays his girlfriend who gets up her neck in trouble. Margo had a knack for playing in film noir, but sadly this proved to be her last foray into the genre. She sis some minor Tv work, and returned to film only in 1961, with The Touchables, a low-budget nudie movie. Margo’s last movie, Iron Angel, was made in 1964.

PRIVATE LIFE

When she came to Los Angeles, Margo began studying with acting legend Maria Ouspenskaya and caught the excitement of true acting. She ducked her dancing contract and made a bid for an acting contract, and this determined the course her career took later.

There was a bit of drama in Margo’s love life. Namely, her first serious Hollywood beau was Les Clark, a former vaudeville actor who rose to become a movie actor and ultimately a dance director. He was born in 1905, making him a bit older than Margo. They kept their relationship under wraps, but the general consensus was that they were going to get hitched sooner rather than later. Here is an article about I.

Reason pretty Margo Woode won’t play ball with studio publicists is because she’s secretly engaged to Les Clark, an actor

And then, all of a sudden… On July 22, 1948, Margo married proficient manager Bill Burton. They got engaged in April 1948. Literary a few months after making the papers with Clark, she was first engaged and them married to another man. Whoa, I would love to have heard what happened behind the scenes here, what made Margo make such a 180 turn. Here is a very revealing article form the period:

Les Clark, the dance director, and Marion Marshall, the Fox Star let, are going steady. He’s the lad his pals thought would marry Margo Woode until Bill Burton moved in

So, Les was probably blinded-sided with the breakup. Poo guy, but then again, who knows what exactly happened in the background. Anyway, little is known about what Les did afterwards, except that he lived for a time in the UK and died in 1959 in London.

Margo and Bill Burton honeymooned in New York. Margo also requested from her lawyers to end her contract to 20th Century-Fox. It seems a movie career took second place to something else. Burton was Margo’s manager – he was formerly manager for Dick Haymes, Maureen O’Hara, Margaret Whiting, Ray Noble, and Piano Students.

On May 3, 1948, Margo gave birth to a son, Niles Bruce. Margo gave birth to a daughter, Karen Nini, at Santa Monica on August 31, 1949. When Karen was about one year old that they decided to give up the hectic Hollywood lifestyle for something more family friendly and laid back. Burton as an agent had an especially gruelling schedule and as he was getting older, it was deemed that for his health, he should take it easy. So they decided to move to her hometown, Phoneix, Arizona.

Margo gave up her career last year so that her children might grow up in the “friendly warmth” of Phoenix. Burton, restless as he was by nature, didn’t last long in retirement he held out six weeks. And took the reins of KPHO as an executive-producer.

Margo commuted to Hollywood when it was needed. Sadly, her husband died n the late 1950s (could not find the exact date, but I’m guessing about 1959 or 1960).

After Bill’s death, Margo continued her acting career, but she was in Hollywood only sporadically. During one visit, she met another former student of her uncle, Ron Beckett. He was dancing in “Damn Yankees,” “Silk Stockings,” and on the Guy Mitchell Show. They hit it of right away, and married not long after. After their marriage, they decided to come back to Phoenix (where it’s fun to raise children), and take over Gene Bumph’s dance school. Thus, Margo and Ron were co-partners in their dance studios. Here is a short article about their school:

Margo Woode, Dancer, Star Of Pictures And Television, Local Housewife with Betty Grable and Harry James in “Springtime in the Rockies.” And for those who’ve lived here not quite that long, she was the wife of our first television station manager, Bill Burton in the midst of all the excitement our first television caused around here. “I’ve retired from show business half a dozen times,” laughs the pretty matron, mother of Gigi, 2, Bruce, 16, and Karen, 14. “I just keep slipping back into it.” man, or any other, or you will find yourself 21 years old with TWO failures. Now she runs a dancing school with her husband, Ron. Margo and Ron believe that dancing is wonderful for children, parents, and grandparents. Their-youngest student is 3, their oldest 83.

Beckett-Bumph School of the Dance was located at the 4741 N. Central Ave. The Beckett were great professional partners, but their private life also blossomed. Their daughter Gigi was born on August 3, 1962. It seems that it was a good life, in sunny Phoneix.

 

Actress

Iron Angel (1964)

Iron Angel

3.6

Nurse Lt. Laura Fleming

1964

 

Doris Gohlke in The Touchables (1961)

The Touchables

6.4

Hilda - Miss Switzerland (as Margo Woods)

1961

 

Dragnet (1951)

Dragnet

7.5

TV Series

(as Margo Woods)

1958

1 episode

 

The Court of Last Resort (1957)

The Court of Last Resort

7.3

TV Series

1958

1 episode

 

Hell Bound (1957)

Hell Bound

6.3

Jan

1957

 

Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957)

Bop Girl Goes Calypso

4.9

Marion Hendricks

1957

 

My Hero (1952)

My Hero

7.1

TV Series

Lulubelle

1952

1 episode

 

Mr. & Mrs. North (1952)

Mr. & Mrs. North

7.4

TV Series

Hannah Wilk (as Margo Wood)

1952

1 episode

 

Racket Squad (1950)

Racket Squad

7.5

TV Series

Kay Wilson

1952

1 episode

 

Jerome Courtland and Frankie Laine in When You're Smiling (1950)

When You're Smiling

7.0

Linda Reynolds

1950

 

Margaret Sullavan in No Sad Songs for Me (1950)

No Sad Songs for Me

6.7

Doris Weldon (uncredited)

1950

 

Ethel Barrymore, Victor Mature, and Peggy Cummins in Moss Rose (1947)

Moss Rose

6.6

Daisy Arrow

1947

 

Allyn Joslyn and Carole Landis in It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (1946)

It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog

6.6

Olive Stone

1946

 

Nancy Guild, John Hodiak, and Lloyd Nolan in Somewhere in the Night (1946)

Somewhere in the Night

7.0

Phyllis

1946

 

Richard Conte and Faye Marlowe in The Spider (1945)

The Spider

6.0

Pretty Woman (scenes deleted)

1945

 

Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain, Fay Bainter, Vivian Blaine, Dick Haymes, and Charles Winninger in State Fair (1945)

State Fair

7.0

Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)

1945

 

The Bullfighters (1945)

The Bullfighters

6.2

Tangerine

1945

 

Carmen Miranda, Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, Harry James, and John Payne in Springtime in the Rockies (1942)

Springtime in the Rockies

6.7

(uncredited)

1942

Marty Balin obit

Marty Balin, Jefferson Airplane Co-Founder, Dies at 76

He was not on the list.

Marty Balin, a co-founder of Jefferson Airplane and a member of its later incarnation Jefferson Starship, whose high and soulful voice defined many of both groups’ songs, died Thursday, his rep confirmed. He was 76; the cause of death was not announced.

His wife, Susan Joy Balin, was “by his side,” according to the announcement.

Although Balin had his greatest impact as one of the architects of the musical counterculture during his 1965-71 tenure in Jefferson Airplane, he had his greatest commercial success when he rejoined the remnants of that group a few years later in Jefferson Starship, as the sole lead singer on both of that band’s singles to reach the top 10, “Miracles” in 1975 and “Count on Me” in 1978.

He was a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, having been inducted with other members of the Airplane in 1996. It was 20 years later that the band received the Recording Academy’s lifetime achievement award, with Patti Smith writing in the Grammy Awards’ program book about her appreciation for “the soaring combination of Grace Slick’s acerbic wit and fearless charisma and the romantic purity of Marty Balin.”

Born Martyn Jerel Buchwald, Balin was a young folksinger in San Francisco when he formed a band with fellow folkie Paul Kantner, who specialized in 12-string guitar. The pair teamed up with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casady, drummer Skip Spence and singer Signe Anderson as the Jefferson Airplane and released their debut album, “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off,” in 1966. Anderson and Spence soon left the band and were replaced by Grace Slick and Spencer Dryden, respectively, and the group’s 1967 album “Surrealistic Pillow” — featuring the Slick-sung hits “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love,” along with several songs co-written by Balin — vaulted the group into superstardom. The harmonies between Slick, Balin and Kantner became a signature of the group’s sound.

Balin was a galvanizing member of both the band and the San Francisco scene, and in 1965 helped launch a club in the city called the Matrix that hosted many groups of the era, ranging from the Airplane, the Doors and Janis Joplin to the Velvet Underground. He sold his interest in the club after the Airplane’s star began to rise.

Jefferson Airplane issued several more albums into the early 1970s and played at both Woodstock and Altamont (where he was famously knocked out by a Hell’s Angel after trying to intervene amid the violence).

The group splintered in the early 1970s but several members, including Slick and Kantner, reunited as Jefferson Starship in the mid-‘70s, and Balin was persuaded to reunite with his former partners during the recording of their debut album. His high tenor voice became a centerpiece of the group’s sound via hits like “Miracles” and “With Your Love.” That group splintered as well before reuniting without Balin several years later as a pure pop outfit under the abbreviated name Starship.

Balin went solo and enjoyed a top 10 hit of his own in 1981 with the song “Hearts.” In 1989, he joined up with a short-lived Airplane reunion tour and returned four years later to Jefferson Starship, finally leaving for good in 2008. His final solo album, “The Greatest Love,” was released in early 2016.

He underwent open-heart surgery in 2016 and later sued New York’s Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital for medical malpractice, claiming multiple injuries from the operations. Balin’s illness rendered him unable to attend the Grammys when the Airplane was awarded lifetime achievement honors, but he released a statement at the time, saying, “”I am grateful for the beautiful musical journey my life continues to take. To all my fellow Jefferson Airplane Band members, through its various metamorphoses, I thank you for a dream come true.”

In a statement, Susan and Balin’s family issued a statement that noted how Balin “also enjoyed painting all his life. He painted vibrant, large-scale portraits of many of the most influential musicians and good friends Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jerry Garcia, to name a few.”

“Marty was the one who started the San Francisco scene,” says Bill Thompson, Balin’s roommate back in the mid-’60s and former manager of both Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.

“Back in those days Marty was quite the businessman,” said Paul Kantner, who passed away in 2016. “He was the leader of the band on that level. He was the one who pushed us to do all the business stuff, orchestrating, thinking ahead, looking for managers and club opportunities. He was very good at it.”

Balin is survived by Susan, daughters Jennifer Edwards and Delaney Balin, and stepdaughters Rebekah Geier and Moriah Geier.

“Marty and I shared the deepest of love — he often called it Nirvana — and it was,” Susan Balin said in a statement. “But really, we were all touched by his love. His presence will be within my entire being forever.”