Bob Segarini obit

RIP: Bob Segarini Passes At Age 77

He was not on the list.

Bob Segarini lived life on his own terms…and he left life the same way. 

Bob died in his sleep on Monday night July 10th at Etobicoke General Hospital where he’d been for the past several months.

There was no halfway with Bob. You were either on Team Bob, or you weren’t. For the past 15 years or more, I was firmly on Team Bob.

Make no mistake, Bob was definitely a curmudgeon. In fact, he may have been the Grand Poohbah of curmudgeons, but he was our curmudgeon.

And damn it, Bob Segarini was one talented son-of-a-bitch.

He co-wrote songs with Harry Nilsson for gosh sakes. How cool is that?

He hung out with The Monkees in LA and played squirt gun with them in the lobby of the RCA building on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. RCA’s security guards were not amused.

The Grateful Dead asked him to join their merry band. He passed.

His career in the music business should have been uphill all the way, but Bob hit a few snags along the way to fame and fortune.

After a few personnel changes, his California-based band The Family Tree, signed with RCA Records and their debut album (actually, their only full-length) Miss Butters, an early concept album, was released in 1968 and produced by Rick Jarrard, who also worked with Nilsson and Jefferson Airplane. After album sales did not reach the record company’s expectations, RCA dropped them a year later.

His new band Roxy was signed to Elektra Records by founder Jac Holzman.

Then there were The Wackers (also on Elektra) and, later, The Dudes. Both bands recorded in Montreal.

Well, didn’t Bob just fall in love with that city!

He obtained landed immigrant status and became, as he put it, a proud ‘CanAmerican’. Montreal was home for a few more years, then he migrated southwest to Toronto and had a successful solo career.

Gotta Have Pop anyone?  

Also, for several shining moments, he partnered and performed with pal Greg Godovitz as the Anger Brothers.

Bob easily adapted his talents to any medium. CHUM-FM Program Director Warren Cosford turned Bob Segarini into the Iceman and put him on air from 10 PM until 2 AM. When that gig ended after 6 months, thanks to a Motorhead interview that was supposed to last 10 minutes but instead went for 3 hours, Gary Slaight hired the Iceman at Q-107, and again, a few years later, Gary gave Bob a show on the Iceberg channel on Sirius/XM Canada. 

During the mid-1980s, Moses Znaimer handed Bob the reins of CITY TV to host Late Great Movies.  If you Google ‘Late Great Movies Bob Segarini’ you’ll find several examples of Bob’s antics. Here’s one.

If you were a friend of Bob’s, you knew he could talk…and talk…and talk.

But nowhere did he talk better than on his monthly Bobcast, which was one of the earliest podcasts.

Oh, how he loved the Bobcast. Especially working with co-host Roxanne Tellier. They were like two peas in a pod. Both had the gift of gab, but both were fun and funny. Bob’s persuasive powers were such that he convinced Cherish Stevenson, the owner of Cherry Cola's in downtown Toronto to open her Bathurst Street club on a Monday night so he could produce the Bobcast with a live audience as well as a live band, known then as X-Prime, they’re now James Blonde.

I attended most of the Bobcasts and, occasionally, when a guest didn’t show up, I was shanghaied into the guest chair. One cold, stormy winter night, his announcer, Michael Tomasek couldn’t make it, so I became the announcer for that show.

It was hard to say ‘no’ to Bob Segarini. 

When I still lived north of Toronto in Aurora, I would drive into the city every month or so, pick Bob up at his apartment and treat him to lunch at the Centre Street Deli. I never knew anyone who craved smoked corned beef sandwiches more than Bob. He’d say to me, “Doug, you have got to try this sandwich” and I’d remind him that I was a vegetarian. He’d respond with “Then for the next minute, don’t be a vegetarian. Take a bite.”

As often as he tried, he was never able to convince me.

Prior to and during the early Covid years, Bob’s pride and joy was working on his daily blog, Don’t Believe A Word I Say (or DBAWIS for short) which, in addition to Bob, featured regular columnists Roxanne Tellier, Darrell Vickers, Jaimie Vernon, Gary Pig Gold, Pat Blythe, Peter Montreuil and Cam Carpenter among others, including yours truly. Bob was as excited as a kid in a candy store when he was concocting photoshopped memes or finding just the perfect photo for the various columns.

Those columns are all still available at https://bobsegarini.wordpress.com.

Just over a dozen years ago, I profiled Bob for my Hi-Fi channel series “Hi-Fi Salutes”. Naturally, we taped his interview at his favourite watering hole, Cherry Cola's. You can find that episode on YouTube.

Bob loved discovering new music and passing it along for others to enjoy. He loved his daughter Amy and his grandkids. His heart was so much bigger than he would ever let anyone see.

Bob had unending talent, infinite ideas, a wicked wit and a brain that moved faster than any supersonic jet.

What he didn’t have…was time.

Robert Joseph ‘Bob’ Segarini left us at the age of 77.

Manny Coto obit

Manny Coto Dies: Emmy-Winning ’24’ EP Who Created AI Drama ‘Next’ & Worked On ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’, ‘American Horror Story’ & ‘Dexter’ Was 62

 

He was not on the list.

Manny Coto, who won an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for 24, worked on its sequel series, co-created Fox’s AI drama neXt and was an EP on Dexter, Star Trek: Enterprise, American Horror Story and others, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Pasadena. He was 62.

A representative speaking on behalf of the family confirmed the news today, saying he had fought the disease for 13 months and passed surrounded by loved ones.

The Cuban-born Coto shared the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for 24’s fifth season in 2005. He continued on 24 through its eighth and final season, and co-created its sequel series, 24: Live Another Day and 24: Legacy. He also served as executive producer on four seasons of American Horror Story and two seasons of American Horror Stories, directing the 2021 episode “Feral” of the latter.

“Manny was an incredibly beloved member of the 20th Television and FX family for close to two decades, 20th Television and FX said in a statement. “He was brilliantly creative with a deep intellectual curiosity, and his loyalty and friendship touched many.  He will be immensely missed by all who were fortunate to have known and worked with him over the years, and our sincere condolences go out to his beautiful family at this most difficult time.”

He also was an EP on the final three seasons of Showtime’s Dexter, scoring an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nom in 2011, and EP’d the last two seasons of UPN’s Star Trek: Enterprise. The family’s representative said Coto’s lifelong love of Star Trek permeated his life and worldview — and that his impression of William Shatner as Captain Kirk left his writing staffs in stitches.

Coto created and ran the 2020 series NeXt for Fox and created Showtime’s Odyssey 5, starring Peter Weller. That drama premiered in 2002 and ran for two seasons, telling the story of a Space Shuttle crew thrown back in time five years to prevent Earth’s destruction.

NeXt starred Mad Men alum John Slattery in a fact-based thriller about the emergence of a deadly, rogue artificial intelligence and combines action with an examination of how technology is invading our lives and transforming us in ways we don’t yet understand. It lasted one season on Fox.

 

Born on June 10, 1961, in Havana, Coto and his mother fled the Castro regime and were joined later by his father. Raised near Walt Disney World in Orlando, he used his dad’s Super8 camera as a teenager to make a horror film, Flesh and later an MCU-themed pic called The Incredible Bulk, starring his wrestler friend Tico Perez in green body paint.

Coto relocated to Los Angeles in 1983, where he began working in commercials. He met actress Tippi Hedren and persuaded her to star in his murder mystery pic Twist — which, along with a 16mm-shot pic called Roommates he shot during college, got him into the American Film Institute. While there, Coto made the horror short Jack in the Box, which led him to do an episode of the syndicated series Monsters, then an episode of a re-booted Alfred Hitchcock Presents, where he wrote and directed a new version of Twist.

All that led to Coto’s first feature work: Playroom, a horror thriller about a doomed archeologist played by Christopher McDonald; Cover-Up, a political thriller starring Dolph Lundgren; and Star Kid, a family sci-fi film starring Joseph Mazzello. He also directed Zenon: The Zequel for Disney Channel.

Dr. Giggles, a horror film Coto co-wrote and directed in 1992, largely went unnoticed when it premiered, but it has since garnered cult status and a recent Blu-ray re-issue from Shout! Factory.

Coto’s family also cited The Ticking Man, an unproduced screenplay he co-wrote with partner Brian Helgeland in 1990 that was the first feature screenplay to sell for $1 million. It told the story of a bomb squad officer in pursuit of a cyborg equipped with a nuclear weapon. At a time when spec script sales were rising, Coto and Helgeland famously hatched the idea on the phone. “Let’s not hang up until we come up with an idea that we can sell for a million dollars,” Helgeland said. They stayed on, and after hashing it out, Coto suggested, “What if a nuclear bomb became sentient?”

Helgeland went on to win an Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, which premiered at Cannes in 1997, and he also scored an Oscar nom in the same category for 2003’s Mystic River.

Coto is survived by his wife, Robin, a visual effects supervisor he met on the set of Odyssey 5; their children Manny, Riley, Charlotte and Finlay; his mother, Norma; his sister, Normi; his brother, Juan Carlos; and eight nieces and nephews.

 

Filmography (as director)

 

Films

Year     Film            Notes

1989    Jack in the Box            short

1990            Playroom        

1991    Cover Up      

1992    Dr. Giggles

1997    Star Kid     

2000    The Other Me        

2001    Zenon: The Zequel      

Television

Year     Series            Episode

1989            Monsters         "Love Hurts"

1991    Tales from the Crypt            "Mournin' Mess"

2021            American Horror Stories  "Feral"

Writing credits

Production            Notes            Broadcaster

Alfred Hitchcock Presents          

"Twist" (1988)

NBC

Tales from the Crypt  

"Mournin' Mess" (also director, 1991)

HBO

Dr. Giggles      

Feature film (co-written with Graeme Whifler, 1992)

N/A

Tales from the Cryptkeeper    

"While the Cat's Away" (1993)

ABC

Dead at 21      

"Gone Daddy Gone" (1994)

"Use Your Illusion" (1994)

"Cry Baby Cry" (1994)

"Life During Wartime" (1994)

MTV

The Outer Limits  

"If These Walls Could Talk" (co-written with Eric Estrin, 1995)

Showtime

Hostile Intent   

Feature film (1997)

N/A

Star Kid          

Feature film (also director, 1997)

N/A

Strange World 

"Azrael's Breed" (1999)

"Rage" (2000)

ABC

Odyssey 5       

19 episodes (2002–2005)

Showtime

Star Trek: Enterprise        

14 episodes (2003-2005):

 

"Similitude" (2003)

"Chosen Realm" (2004)

"Harbinger" (2004)

"Azati Prime" (2004)

"The Council" (2004)

"Storm Front" (2004)

"United" (2005)

"The Aenar" (2005)

"Affliction" (2005)

"Bound" (2005)

"In a Mirror, Darkly: Part 2" (2005)

"Demons" (2005)

"Terra Prime" (co-written with André Bormanis, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, 2005)

UPN

The 1/2 Hour News Hour     

17 episodes (2007)

Fox News Channel

24       

27 episodes (2006–2007, 2009–2010)

Fox

Dexter 

10 episodes (2010-2013):

 

"Practically Perfect" (2010)

"Take It!" (co-written with Wendy West, 2010)

"The Big One" (co-written with Chip Johannessen, 2010)

"Smokey and the Bandit" (2011)

"Talk to the Hand" (co-written with Tim Schlattmann, 2011)

"Sunshine and Frosty Swirl" (2012)

"Chemistry" (co-written with Karen Campbell, 2012)

"Do You See What I See?" (co-written with Wendy West, 2012)

"Every Silver Lining..." (2013)

"Remember the Monsters?" (co-written with Scott Buck, 2013)

Showtime

24: Live Another Day    

Television miniseries (2014)

Fox

24: Legacy      

4 episodes (2017)

Fox

Hellfire

Television film (co-written with Evan Katz, TBA)

neXt    

"Pilot" (2020)

Fox

American Horror Stories 

"Drive In" (2021)

"The Naughty List" (2021)

"BA'AL" (co-written with Ali Adler, 2021)

"Feral" (2021)

"Dollhouse" (2022)

"Aura" (2022)

"Drive" (2022)

"Facelift" (2022)

"Lake" (2022)

FX on Hulu

American Horror Story   

"Forbidden Fruit" (2018)

"Gaslight" (2021)

"Winter Kills" (2021)

"Take Me to Your Leader" (2021)

"Inside" (2021)

"Blue Moon" (2021)

"The Future Perfect" (2021)

"Thank You for Your Service" (2022)

"Smoke Signals" (2022)

Andrea Evans obit

Andrea Evans, ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘Passions’ Star, Dies at 66

"Daytime's Diva of Dirt" famously portrayed Tina Lord on the ABC soap but had to quit when she was threatened by a stalker. 

 She was not on the list.

Andrea Evans, the popular soap opera star known for her turns as Tina Lord on ABC’s One Life to Live and Rebecca Hotchkiss on NBC/DirecTV’s Passions, has died. She was 66.

Evans died Sunday at her home in Pasadena after a battle with breast cancer, casting director Don Carroll told The Hollywood Reporter.

Evans came to fame by playing Tina — People magazine nicknamed her “Daytime’s Diva of Dirt” — on One Life to Live from 1979-81 and from 1985-90. However, she had to abruptly quit the soap after a stalker accosted her in the lobby of the show’s Manhattan studio in 1987 and later sent her death threats, some of them written in blood.

The fear “forever changed me. There’s no way it could not,” she told People in 2008.

Evans returned to the world of daytime as Tawny Moore on CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful in 1999-2000, then spent the next eight years as Rebecca on Passions through its 2008 conclusion.

She followed with two other brief stints as Tina on One Life to Live in 2008 and 2011 — when her character remarried John Loprieno’s Cord Roberts — and came back as Tawney, too, for a 2010 episode of The Bold and the Beautiful.

On CBS’ The Young and the Restless, she played Patty Williams from 1983-84 and Tawny for an installment in 2010.

At the Daytime Emmys, Evans was nominated for outstanding ingenue in a drama series in 1988 for One Life to Live and outstanding performer in a “new approaches” drama series in 2015 for playing Vivian Price on DeVanity, an internet series.

Her last acting credit came on the Prime Video series The Bay; she was on that show from 2017-2020.

Born on June 18, 1957, in Aurora, Illinois, Evans attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While still in college, she was hired as an extra on Brian De Palma film The Fury (1978).

She later appeared in such features as A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994), Ice Cream Man (1995) and Hit List (2012) and on game shows including The $10,000 Pyramid and Hollywood Squares.

Evans worked for the City of Hope and various animal rescue organizations and recently completed a memoir, My One Life to Live, Carroll said.

Survivors include her husband, Steve, and their daughter, Kylie.

 

Filmography

 

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1978    The Awakening Land    Fay Morrison Wheeler            Miniseries; Episode: "Part III: The Town"

1978–1981, 1985–1990, 2008, 2011            One Life to Live            Tina Lord     July 1978–December 1981; February 1985–January 1990; June–November 2008; September–November 2011

In 1985, Evans also portrayed a younger version of her character's mother, Irene Manning, in flashbacks.

1982    CHiPs            Julie            Episode: "Meet the New Guy" (as Andrea Evans Massey)

1983–1984            The Young and the Restless            Patty Williams            July 1983–October 1984

1984    Arch of Triumph            Nurse Eugenie            TV movie

1985    Jenny's War            Receptionist            Miniseries

1985            Florence Nightingale            Mrs. Brent    TV movie

1990    Capital News   Andrea Schaffer            Episode: "Finished? Not Dunne"

1994    A Low Down Dirty Shame  Denise            Feature film

1995    Ice Cream Man            Wanda            Feature film

1999–2000, 2010–2011            The Bold and the Beautiful            Tawny Moore  March 1999–June 2000; December 2010–June 2011

2000–2008            Passions            Rebecca Hotchkiss            September 2000–August 2008

2010    The Young and the Restless            Tawny Moore  May 12, 2010 (1 episode)

2012    Hit List            Diane Murphy            Feature film

2012            Imaginary Friend            Angela            TV movie

2014            DeVanity         Vivian Price    Web series

Tara Heiss obit

Maryland Mourns the Passing of Hall of Famer Tara Heiss

 

She was not on the list.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Maryland Women's Basketball Family mourns the passing of all-time Terrapin great and Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, Tara Heiss, who passed away Friday, July 7.

Heiss played for the Terrapins from 1975-78 and led Maryland to its first ACC championship and the 1978 AIAW Final Four. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Maryland State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.

Heiss was named Most Valuable Player of the first ACC Tournament (1978). She set the program record for assists with 504 and scored 1,350 career points. Heiss was the first Terrapin to score 1,000 career points. Her No. 44  jersey was retired and now hangs in the rafters of XFINITY Center.

She went on to play for USA Basketball in 1979 and 1980 and was named to the 1980 US Olympic Team. She also played on USA teams that competed in the R. William Jones Cup, World Championship, Pan American Games, and World University Games in 1979, garnering three gold medals and one silver medal.

A Maryland native, Heiss went to Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda before coming to University of Maryland.

-Terps-

After nearly making the 1976 US Olympic team, she played on the US national team in 1979 and the team won gold at the 1979 FIBA World Championship for Women. She postponed professional play after college to maintain amateur status and became a member of the 1980 US Olympic women's basketball team. However, due to the United States boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, American athletes like Heiss were unable to complete.

Heiss played for the Allentown Crestettes in the Amateur Athletic Union and the New Jersey Gems in the short-lived Women's Professional Basketball League.

Following her playing career, she was an assistant coach at Maryland and Towson University and worked for twenty years for FedEx.

Heiss was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, the University of Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.

Mark Seiler obit

Mark Seiler, Former President of RKO Pictures and CEO of Capella Films, Dies at 75

Seiler also ran Hemdale Films for a period and worked for the anti-piracy company Geocodex. 

He was not on the list.

Mark Seiler, the former president of RKO Pictures and Hemdale Films and CEO of Capella Films, died on July 7 after a long battle with Parkinson’s and complications from COVID-19. He was 75.

A veteran studio executive, Seiler’s long career at the helm of three significant film financing and production companies included the release of a slew of successful and critically acclaimed films including Meryl Streep’s Plenty, Sigourney Weaver’s Half Moon Street, and the war movie Hamburger Hill at RKO and the comedies Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery at Capella.

Mark Edwin Seiler was born in Glen Cove, New York on May 2, 1948, to Carl Seiler and Madelyn (née Hughes) Seiler. He was raised in Sands Point, Long Island, where he attended Buckley Day School, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Paul D. Schreiber High School, before graduating from Tulane University with a BS in Economics.

After graduating, Seiler found himself in Hollywood and went to work for RKO Pictures, a revival of the storied Hollywood studio brand and the movie and video subsidiary of RKO General Inc., which itself was a unit of Gencorp Inc.

Having spent some time as president of RKO Film Group, a 37-year-old Seiler was named RKO Pictures president in July 1985, replacing C. Robert Manby. Seiler convinced his friend, the attorney Jerry Offsay, to quit as a partner at the Los Angeles law firm Loeb & Loeb to come to RKO and take over the film group. “He gave me that shot to go from law to creative on faith. I hope he always knew how grateful I was for changing my life [by] taking me to RKO,” Offsay said in a statement. Offsay would later become president of programming for Showtime Networks and now runs his own company, Parkchester Pictures.

Seiler was well known for his talent-spotting abilities, both creative and executive talent. As a young exec at RKO, Seiler had a major role in the casting of Denzel Washington in the George Segal dramedy Carbon Copy, after seeing the young actor’s theater work. The 1981 film would become Washington’s feature debut. In another notable example, Seiler, along with Offsay, personally picked the young Don Cheadle, Dylan McDermott, Courtney B. Vance and Steven Weber for the cast of Hamburger Hill.

As well as spotting Offsay’s talents, Seiler also saw the promise of Marc Platt early on. Platt would go on to produce the films Legally Blonde, Girl on a Train, Bridge of Spies, La La Land and Campus Man and a host of wildly successful theatrical productions including the Wicked musical. “He was such an influence on me in my early days in Hollywood — he saw things in me that I’m not sure if I saw in myself. He guided me with his wisdom and instilled a confidence in me and a strong sense of self. I will forever be grateful to him for his mentorship and friendship during those early years,” said Platt in a statement.

After working for RKO for much of the 1980s, Seiler became CEO of Capella Films in the early 1990s. The German-backed film financing company had a run of success backing comedies during the decade Seiler was at the helm including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), The Mask (1994) and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). But there was also more critically acclaimed dramatic fare that the company was involved in, including The Shadow (1994) with Alec Baldwin and Paul Newman’s Nobody’s Fool (1995).

In the late 1990s, Seiler moved away from film financing and production and became deeply involved with anti-piracy technology. He formed a partnership called Geocodex that specialized in geo-encryption, first in the film business, and then in other fields.

Seiler is survived by his fiancée, the actress Morgan Fairchild, his sisters Carolyn Seiler Hehir and Amy Seiler and his brother Scott Seiler.

A memorial is being planned for early December. In lieu of flowers, the family request that people consider a donation to The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Nikki McCray-Penson obit

Former Lady Vols basketball star, Mississippi State coach Nikki McCray-Penson dies at 51

 

She was not on the list.

Nikki McCray-Penson, the former Lady Vols basketball star and Mississippi State coach, died Thursday while reportedly battling cancer and a bout of pneumonia. She was 51.

South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley mourned McCray-Penson's death Friday, saying she was heartbroken that "cancer has taken that light from us." Multiple sources also confirmed to the USA TODAY Sports Network that the former Rutgers and South Carolina assistant was battling pneumonia.

"It's hard to think about Nikki's passing because all I can see is how fully she lived," Staley wrote in a statement. "From her days as a brash rookie in USA Basketball to becoming my friend and colleague to the way she mentored young players, Nikki did everything with her whole heart. Every teammate, every coach, every player who spent time with her knew first that she cared about them as a person, and everything else came from that place. Her presence was something you could feel before you saw her because she had such light, such positive energy inside her no matter what was going on."

McCray-Penson battled breast cancer in 2013. When she resigned at Mississippi State in 2021, less than a month before the beginning of her second season, she said it was to address "health concerns I had hoped were behind me." McCray-Penson told Knox News in 2022 that her previous cancer battle wasn’t related to her resignation and said it was because of mental and personal health concerns and the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was "mentally draining" for herself, her staff and her players.

"It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the passing of Nikki McCray-Penson," Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell said in a tweet Friday. "She was an incredible basketball coach and a true leader of women, but more importantly, she was a loving Mother and Wife. Nikki and her family will continue to be in our hearts & in our prayers."

McCray-Penson was a two-time SEC Player of the Year at Tennessee in 1994 and 1995 after a decorated career at Collierville High School near Memphis. She led Tennessee to three SEC regular-season championships, two SEC Tournament titles and a 1995 Final Four appearance in her four-year career. She was a two-time All-American and who was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

 

"Our hearts are broken as we mourn the loss of a beloved Lady Vol. We also offer our love and sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues across the country," Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said in a statement. "Nikki had a bright and loving personality and touched the lives of everyone she met. Her kind and genuine spirit will be missed."

 

McCray-Penson spent 16 years coaching after her playing career, which landed her in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Her coaching career began in 2006 at Western Kentucky, where she spent two seasons. She was hired by Staley at South Carolina and stayed there from 2008-17, helping lead the Gamecocks to their first NCAA championship in her final season. Her two head-coaching stops were at Old Dominion (2017-20) and Mississippi State (2020-21). She spent last season as an assistant at Rutgers.

Nikki McCray was a two-time SEC Player of the Year at Tennessee in 1994 and 1995.

McCray-Penson finished 10-9 in her lone season at Mississippi State. She was 53-39 during her tenure at Old Dominion.

"One of the most beautiful souls I've ever met," Tennessee senior forward Rickea Jackson, who started her career at MSU under McCray-Penson, said Friday. "The one who genuinely went out their way to understand me when I was so misunderstood. The one who was always there. You fought so long and hard and I am grateful to have known you. I love you. Rest easy."

Staley and McCray-Penson were teammates on the famous 1996 U.S. Olympic team that led to the creation of the WNBA. McCray-Penson was recently featured on the ESPN 30-for-30 documentary about that 1996 team, and McCray-Penson returned to Team USA in 2000 and added another Olympic gold medal to her resume.

McCray-Penson spent nine seasons in the WNBA and was a three-time all-star who scored 2,550 career points. She averaged 14.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She also played two seasons in the ABL before the WNBA was formed, where she won league MVP and an ABL championship with the Columbus Quest.

"Nikki touched the lives of many because she made it her mission to uplift others and help them achieve whatever dreams and goals they expressed," Coquese Washington, McCray-Penson's former teammate with the Indiana Fever, said in a statement Friday. "She was so devoted to her husband and son, and still gave all of herself to everyone in the program. We will miss her dearly but will keep Nikki's memory alive in our hearts."

McCray-Penson is survived by her husband, Thomas Penson, and her son, Thomas Jr. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.

Career history

As player:

1996–1997            Columbus Quest

1998–2001            Washington Mystics

2002–2003            Indiana Fever

2004    Phoenix Mercury

2005    San Antonio Stars

2006            Chicago Sky

 

As coach:

2006–2008            Western Kentucky (assistant)

2008–2017            South Carolina (assistant)

2017–2020            Old Dominion

2020–2021            Mississippi State

2022–2023            Rutgers (assistant)

 

Career highlights and awards

As coach:

C-USA Coach of the Year (2020)

As player:

 

3x WNBA All-Star (1999–2001)

ABL MVP (1997)

2x SEC Player of the Year (1994, 1995)

2x Kodak All-American (1994, 1995)

Jimmy Weldon obit

 

Jimmy Weldon, age 99, of Paso Robles, California passed away on Thursday, July 6, 2023.

He was not on the list.

He was a voice actor, ventriloquist, and television host. He was best known as the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yakky Doodle and the host and ventriloquist in the locally produced television series The Webster Webfoot Show. He also had a YouTube channel titled Jimmy's Lecture, where he documented stories of his time in World War II.

Born Ivy Laverne Shinn on September 23, 1923 in Dale, Texas, he began his career in 1946 as a disc jockey at KWCO, the radio station which began its operations shortly after he returned home following WWII. He was the first announcer hired at this new radio station.

While there, he developed a character named Webster Webfoot, a little duck who visited him while he was playing record requests from listeners calling in. Often they just wanted to talk to little Webster. They thought Webster was someone other than Weldon, and so he became an important part of Weldon's disc jockey presentations.

n 1948, Weldon (and Webster Webfoot) moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, where they performed on another 250-watt AM station, KRHD, for two more years. The big 50,000-watt radio station WFAA in Dallas, Texas, recruited Webster and Weldon as entertainers, and Webster became a real person on television on April 4, 1950, on The Webster Webfoot Show, produced locally by station WFAA-TV.

They moved to California on September 5, 1952, joining KCOP-TV, Channel 13, in Hollywood and continued their television careers. During an appearance at a middle school in Brentwood, Jeff Chandler and Randolph Scott collected the tickets from the children and parents who came to see the show. These two movie stars made Weldon feel very lucky indeed when they commented, "Our children think more of little Webster than they do OUR movie careers." Also, Ralph Edwards was there, and he later gave Webster and Weldon the positions as co-hosts of a new children's game show titled Funny Boners, a junior version of his famous Truth or Consequences radio and television shows, which aired on ABC.

In 1956, Weldon and Webster moved to Fresno, California, which began a career in the San Joaquin Valley at KFRE-TV, Channel 12. This was interrupted, however, when NBC executives called them to New York to replace Shari Lewis on the Hi, Mom show on NBC flagship station, WRCA-TV, Channel 4.

In 1959, Channel 13 in Hollywood once again became their television home.

In 1961, Weldon and Webster were called back to the San Joaquin Valley. They continued performing their show on KJEO-TV, Channel 47, in Fresno, California, throughout the 1960s. During this time, Weldon and Webster also did TV shows in Salinas and Bakersfield, California, flying their airplane from city to city for those shows.

It was thanks to Webster's voice that Weldon earned the voice-over for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, Yakky Doodle. He also was the voice of Solomon Grundy on Hanna-Barbera's series Challenge of the Superfriends, and made appearances in acting on shows such as Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Waltons, Dallas, and Diff'rent Strokes.

Weldon also played some supporting characters on the popular radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, and was a member of the Premiere Speakers Bureau.

 

Filmography

 

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1950            Webster Webfoot Show   Uncle Jimmy  

1955    The Halls of Ivy                   Episode: "Calhoun Gaddy"

Alfred Hitchcock Presents            Guard            Episode: "Breakdown"

1956-1957            Dragnet            Hotel Clerk    2 episodes

1959            Cartooneroony            Uncle Jimmy  

1961    The Phantom Planet            Lt. Webb  

1961-1962            The Yogi Bear Show   Yakky Doodle Voice, 33 episodes

1975    The Waltons            Railroad Clerk            Episode: "The Runaway"

S.W.A.T.            Diner Owner            Episode: "Kill S.W.A.T."

The Family Holvak            Auctioneer            Episode: "First Love: Part 1"

1976    The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe             Television film

1977    Fred Flintstone and Friends             Voice

The Oregon Trail     Ludlow            Episode: "Hard Ride Home"

1978            Challenge of the Superfriends            Solomon Grundy            Voice, 16 episodes

1979    B.J. and the Bear            Crockett            Episode: "Lobo's Revenge"

Americathon            Big Jim, VP Research   

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo            Additional voices        

Dallas   Sy Stevens            Episode: "Ellie Saves the Day"

The Rockford Files     John Rockfield            Episode: "The Big Cheese"

1981    Diff'rent Strokes            Ben            Episode: "Drummond's Fair Lady"

1982    The Little Rascals            Additional voices            Episode: "Rascal's Revenge"

Father Murphy            Official            Episode: "Happiness Is..."

Knight Rider            Announcer            Episode: "Slammin' Sammy's Stunt Show Spectacular"

Ri¢hie Ri¢h            Additional voices            Episode: "Dollar's Exercise"/"Richie's Cube"/"The Maltese Monkey"/"Everybody's Doing It"

Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper   Yakky Doodle Voice, television film

1983    The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show                    Voice

Shirt Tales            Additional voices            10 Episodes

Super Friends            Solomon Grundy            Voice, episode: "The Revenge of Doom"

1984            Chattanooga Choo Choo    Rev. Norbert Puckett            Uncredited

Challenge of the GoBots            Additional Voices       

1985    CBS Storybreak                   Voice, episode: "Robbut A Tale Of Tails"

Yogi's Treasure Hunt     Yakky Doodle, additional voices   2 episodes

1987    Popeye and Son            Additional voices            13 episodes

1988    The Wrong Guys            Scoutmaster    

1988-1991            Fantastic Max            Additional voices            3 episodes

1989    It's a Living   Billy Lee Lord            Episode: "Wedding, Wedding"

1992    Tom & Jerry Kids Show            Additional voices            Episode: "Penthouse Mouse"/"12 Angry Sheep"/"The Ant Attack"

2015    The 7D            Beansie McBean-Bean            Voice, episode: "Bing Bong Bean!"

Dick Sheridan obit

 

NC State Announces Former Longtime Football Coach Has Died

He was not on the list.

Former NC State head football coach Dick Sheridan has passed away.

Sheridan passed away on Thursday at the age of 81. The news was confirmed by the school via Twitter.

"NC State football and all of Wolfpack Nation mourn the loss of Hall of Fame Coach Dick Sheridan. You were a true diamond, Coach Sheridan," a statement from the school read.

Sheridan coached the Wolfpack from 1986-92 and finished with a 52-29-3 overall record. During his tenure, he led them to eight or more wins in four of the seven seasons.

He was even named the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year and ACC Coach of the Year after he led the Wolfpack to an 8-3-1 campaign in 1986. That season also included a berth in the Peach Bowl.

Outside of coaching at NC State, Sheridan coached at Furman for four seasons (1978-81) and finished with a 30-13-1 record.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Sheridan's family and friends.

He served as the head football coach at Furman University from 1978 to 1985 and North Carolina State University from 1986 to 1992, compiling a career college football record of 121–52–5. A 1964 graduate of the University of South Carolina, Sheridan coached the Furman Paladins to a 69–23–2 record over eight seasons. His Furman teams won six Southern Conference championships and scored two wins over NC State. In 1985, he was named the AFCA Division I-AA Coach of the Year. His record at NC State was 52–29–3 over seven seasons. He led the Wolfpack to six bowl games. Sheridan was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2020.

A native of Augusta, Georgia, Sheridan graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1964. He began his coaching career in the high school football ranks in the state of South Carolina. Sheridan compiled a record of 37–8–1 as a high school head coach and led Orangeburg-Wilkinson Senior High School to the Class AAAA state title in 1971. He joined the staff at Furman in 1973 as quarterbacks and receivers coach.

Sheridan died on July 6, 2023 near Garden City, SC at the age of 81

Peter Nero obit

Famed pianist and Pops legend Peter Nero has died at 89

The musical auteur and longtime director of the Philadelphia Pops died Thursday, but his winning charm and graceful pianism will be remembered beyond the scores he conducted and concert stages he graced. 

He was  not on the list.

Peter Nero, 89, the legendary pianist, longtime player-conductor of the Philly Pops, and jazz maestro, died Thursday.

His daughter, Beverly Nero, said he died of natural causes at Home Care Assisted Living Facility in Eustis, Florida. Services will be private.

“We are saddened today to hear of Peter Nero’s passing,” the Philly Pops wrote in a statement. “There are countless unforgettable moments which Peter brought to Philadelphia. The Philly Pops has always been inspired by his vision, his talent, and his artistry.”

The former child prodigy, born Bernard Nierow on May 22, 1934, began his musical journey on the New York children’s talent-show circuit. Equipped with nimble fingers and a winning charm that endeared the crowds, he rose from smoky piano lounges to concert stages at the summit of his musical powers.

The revered pianist, who worked with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Johnny Mathis and Mel Tormé, carved his path by releasing acclaimed albums and taking up club dates and talk show appearances. That all led to his repute as a musical treasure and beloved showman who could program a two-hour concert that blended pop, classic and jazz genres.

“I enjoy showing how the lines blur,” Mr. Nero said in a 2007 interview with The Inquirer.

Mr. Nero knew no musical bounds, and as much as he delighted his listeners and patrons who basked in his artistic glory for decades at the Kimmel Center, he dared to explore the freedom of his artistry by simply playing the music he liked. “It has to be a combination of things you put in their laps and things that are a challenge because if it’s not a challenge, they’re going to get bored,” Mr. Nero told The Inquirer.

His recordings started in 1961, when the young musician signed with RCA to a 24-album deal over eight years, which in today’s industry is a deal more likely found in a trash bin than sealed and signed in a manila folder.

Before landing his first deal, Mr. Nero studied at New York’s High School of Music and Art, now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and studied part time at Juilliard on Saturdays. And while earning a bachelor of arts degree at Brooklyn College, he studied privately with esteemed piano pedagogues Abram Chasins and Chasins’ wife, Constance Keene.

Although Mr. Nero said his parents weren’t musically inclined, they splurged by buying him a $1,100 piano, quite pricey for the era. “It was the only time they borrowed money,” Mr. Nero said.

Mr. Nero played the children’s talent shows during the 1950s and eventually garnered the attention of Paul Whiteman, whom he toured with for several years.

After playing with his own trio at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Mr. Nero returned to New York and was eventually hired by Jilly’s, a 52nd Street saloon that served as a hangout for Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, and a troupe of musicians.

Under owner Jilly Rizzo, Mr. Nero developed his jazz chops, and the deal with RCA and his eventual move to Columbia Records sealed his fate as a long-standing musical titan. In the 1970s, the “Summer of ‘42″ single helped him land sales of $1 million.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Nero released upward of 70 albums and conducted the Philly Pops often with one hand while the other gilded over the piano keys.

Mr. Nero’s talents were acknowledged among his peers. Ray Charles marveled at Mr. Nero’s abilities in an interview with Keyboard Magazine: “Art Tatum could play anything he wanted to. ... Of course, Oscar [Peterson] is my man. ... I probably feel closest to Hank Jones after Oscar. ... And Peter Nero plays his buns off!”

Mr. Nero took his final stand as Philadelphia Pops director in 2013.

The crowd rose in a standing ovation before he graced the keyboard, and Mr. Nero gave his last directorial signal before closing out that concert in Verizon Hall.

“The board, musicians, and administration of the No Name Pops are saddened to learn of the passing of our musical hero, Peter Nero,” the group wrote in a statement, using the name that the group has been going by lately. “We remember years of playing in front of Independence Hall, on the Steps of the Art Museum, the Academy of Music, and of course, Verizon Hall on the Kimmel Cultural Campus. Words cannot describe the joy he brought to Philadelphia and the world. The No Name Pops will do everything in our power to honor Peter’s Legacy as we move forward.”

Mr. Nero was married and divorced three times. His first wife was childhood sweetheart Marcia Dunner, with whom he had two children, Jedd and Beverly. His second was Peggy Altman, a flight attendant from Alabama, and the third, former Philly Pops pianist Rebecca Edie.

Along with his daughter, Mr. Nero is survived by his son, Jedd; three grandchildren; and his brother, Alan.

Jeffrey Carlson obit

Trailblazing Stage and Screen Star Jeffrey Carlson Dies at 48

Carlson made history playing one of the first transgender characters on daytime television in the series All My Children.

 He was not on the list.

Actor Jeffrey Carlson has passed away at the age of 48. The stage and screen star notably played the one of the first trans characters on daytime television in the series All My Children. Carlson's death was announced by his close friend and colleague Susan Hart, who shared that he passed July 6.

Born in 1975, Carlson's future in acting was immediately foreshadowed, being given the first name "Jeffrey" because his mother was a fan of the character Jeff Martin on the daytime television series All My Children. Carlson grew up in Long Beach, California, and first studied dramatic acting at the University of California Davis. After graduating in 1997, he moved to New York City to train at Julliard as a member of their Drama Division's Group 30. He completed his training in 2001, and it wasn't long before he made his Broadway debut.

In 2002, Carlson appeared on the Broadway stage for the first time in Edward Albee's The Goat or Who is Sylvia?. The next year, he starred in the Broadway revival of Molière's Tartuffe. Shortly after, he played the role of Marilyn in Boy George's Broadway musical Taboo, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination. He then began his television and film career with a role in the romantic comedy Hitch starring Will Smith.

In 2006, he first appeared on the very television show for which he received his name: All My Children. His groundbreaking onscreen character was a British rockstar named Zarf, who discovered though an arc on the series that she was a transgender woman, transitioning as Zoe. She also falls in love with a lesbian character, Bianca. Zoe's journey throughout the television series showed her attending support group sessions and meeting with an endocrinologist for gender-affirming healthcare.

Zoe is believed to be the first transgender character on daytime television to come out and go on a transition journey, whereas many other early instances of transgender representation on television were characters who were already out, or had already begun their journey. All My Children received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Daily Drama in 2007 due to Zoe's storyline and Carlson's performance.

Carlson went on to have a prolific career with classical works, particularly those by Shakespeare. At the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., he performed in several productions, including the titular roles in Lorenzaccio and Hamlet. At the Goodman Theatre, he performed in Measure for Measure. And at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, he starred in a number of productions, including Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Christopher Marlowe's Edward II.

Carlson was most recently living and teaching in Chicago, and was beloved within the Shakespeare community. Broadway's Patrick Page reflected on Carlson's passing in a Facebook post, describing him as a "great classical actor and a sensitive, luminous human being." He wrote: "I was fortunate to be Claudius to Jeffrey Carlson’s Hamlet, and experience his quicksilver talent at close range. It was, as Coleridge said of Kean, 'like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.' There was no one like him."

In a Facebook post, Shakespeare Theatre Company also expressed their condolences and grief for Carlson's passing, and shared a quote from Hamlet's fifth act: "Good night, sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

 

Actor

Susan Lucci, Debbi Morgan, Rebecca Budig, Cameron Mathison, and Darnell Williams in All My Children (1970)

All My Children

Zoe LuperZoeZarf

TV Series

2006–2007

59 episodes

 

Marc Blucas in The Killing Floor (2007)

The Killing Floor

Jared Thurber

2007

 

Backseat (2005)

Backseat

Jason

2005

 

Will Smith in Hitch (2005)

Hitch

Egon

2005

 

Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Justin Wexler

TV Series

2004

1 episode

 

Aidan Quinn and Rachel Griffiths in Plainsong (2004)

Plainsong

Dwayne

TV Movie

2004

 

Happy End (2003)

Happy End

Luke

2003

 

Stuart Frank in Revenge of the Whale (2001)

Revenge of the Whale

Thomas Nickerson (voice)

TV Movie

2001

George Tickner obit

"Former Journey Guitarist + Co-Founder George Tickner Dead at 76

 He was not on the list.

One of the key members of Journey's early days, rhythm guitarist George Tickner, has died at the age of 76.

The news was delivered by Journey's lone remaining original member, guitarist Neal Schon, who commented, "RIP George, you now fly with the angels," while also sharing a Journey News video on the passing of Tickner, as seen below.

Prior to Journey, Tickner performed with Faun on their 1972 self-titled set and was part of the band Frumious Bandersnatch that also included future Journey bassist Ross Valory. In 1973, he was also played as part of the band on a Jerry Garcia / Mel Saunders collaborative project. It was during 1973 that Tickner and Valory would join Santana's Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie and The Tubes' Prairie Prince in the initial Journey lineup, playing their first public performance at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year's Eve 1973.

Tickner's tenure was brief, as he left the band after the release of their debut album allowing Schon to take on all guitar duties, but his imprint on the band would actually be felt in the group's first three records. He received writing or co-writing credits on "Of a Lifetime," "Topaz" and "Mystery Mountain" off their 1975 debut, "You're on Your Own" and "I'm Gonna Leave You" off the Look Into the Future album and "Nickel and Dime" off of Next.

After leaving the band, Tickner pursued a career in medicine, attending Stanford Medical School on a full scholarship. Tickner didn't leave music totally behind however, creating The Hive recording studio with Valory. He would also partner with Valory and keyboardist Stevie "Keys" Roseman to form the band VTR, releasing their lone album Cinema in 2005. That same year, Tickner would reunite with several of his Journey bandmates as they received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Coco Lee obit

Coco Lee Dies: ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ & ‘Mulan’ Singer Was 48

 

She was not on the list.

Hong Kong singer-songwriter Coco Lee died Wednesday after trying to take her own life at the weekend, according to a Facebook post by her sisters.

Lee sang the Mandarin version of the theme song “Reflection” from 1998 Disney movie Mulan, and also became the first Chinese American to perform at the Oscars, singing the Best Original Song-nominated “A Love Before Time” from Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Lee’s sisters, Carol and Nancy, said she had been in a coma since making the suicide attempt over the weekend. “With great sadness, we are here to break the most devastating news: Coco had been suffering from depression for a few years but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months,” the Facebook post stated.

“Although, Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her,” they continued. The sisters said she had attempted suicide at home July 2 and had been rushed to hospital, where she had remained in a coma until her death.

Lee was born in Hong Kong in 1975, then moved to the U.S. where she attended middle school and high school, before embarking on a successful career in Asia as a pop singer. Initially a Mando-pop singer, she also released albums in Cantonese and English over her 30-year career.

She was the first Chinese singer to be signed by Sony Music globally and voiced the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Disney’s Mulan, on which she also sang the theme.

In 2001, Lee sang “A Love Before Time,” the end-credit title song of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Music, Original Song. She performed the song, which was composed by Jorge Callandelli and Tan Dun with lyrics by James Schamus, at the ceremony.

Lee also acted in three films – Stanley Kwan’s No Tobacco (2002), Lee Xin’s Master of Everything (2004) and He Jiong’s Forever Young (2015) – and appeared regularly as a judge on mainland Chinese talent shows including Chinese Idol and Come Sing With Me.

In 2011, Lee married Canadian businessman Bruce Rockowitz, the former CEO of supply chain company Li & Fung, and had two stepdaughters from the marriage.