RIP – ROBERT DICKEY

EXPIRED: 12/29/11 – Robert Dickey, 72, was half of the singing duo James & Bobby Purify, along with cousin James. Once signed to a record label in 1966, they immediately had a hit with “I’m Your Puppet”, which spent 14 weeks in the U.S. chart and sold an over a million copies.

Although “I’m Your Puppet” was their biggest hit, they had hit the Hot 100 throughout the decade with “Shake a Tail Feather” and “Let Love Come Between Us.”

Dickey quit the music business in 1971 and moved to his hometown of Tallahassee, where he worked as a city maintenance supervisor.

He HATED “I’m Your Puppet.”

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RIP – DANNY DEGENNARO

EXPIRED: 12/28/11  – Danny DeGennaro, 56, also known as Danny Rio, seemed to have returned to his Bucks County, Pennsylvania, home only to confront a burglar.  He was shot and left for dead.

DeGennaro, who fronted the Philly-based Danny DeGennaro Band, is best known for being a guitarist and singer for Kingfish, a band that included former Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir among its early members. Although the two were never in the band at the same time, they certainly shared an audience and gave DeGennaro great networking opportunities he used throughout his career.

That career included performing with Bo Diddley, Billy Squier, Clarence Clemons and some of Philadelphia’s great blues artists including T.J. Tindall and Parliament Funkadelic’s Michael Hampton.

DeGennaro last played with Kingfish in 2010 on their Live and Kicking tour.

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RIP – JAMES RIZZI

EXPIRED: 12/26/11  - James Rizzi, 61, was one of the most fun pop artists of all time. You couldn’t help but smile at his playful paintings and childlike 3D sculptures.

Born in Brooklyn, Rizzi studied at the University of Florida. But in 1974 he returned to NYC and took a studio in SoHo – back before it became a shopping mall and could actually house struggling artists. And struggling he was. At age 24 Rizzi was a renegade street artist.

Known for his bright, cartoon-like drawings he gained fans quickly. In 1981 he was commissioned by Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth to create the album cover for their first release as Tom Tom Club. It was so popular, they also asked him to create the video for their first single Genius of Love.

In 1996 Lufthansa commissioned him to decorate a jet with pastel stars, birds and travelers. In 2011, he created the BamBoo, an electric-powered concept car with an inflatable roof for automaker Rinspeed. Needless to say, Rizzi was loved around the world, especially in Germany, where a school in Duisburg was named for him.

He died in his sleep in the same studio he has been living and working in for decades.

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RIP – JIM “MOTORHEAD” SHERWOOD

EXPIRED: 12/25/11 –  Jim “Motorhead” Sherwood, 69,  played saxophone, tambourine, and created sound effects in Frank Zappa’s band, the Mothers of Invention. He was an integral part of the albums 200 Motels, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Uncle Meat and We’re Only In It For The Money.

Sherwood and Zappa met as children, and the saxophonist played in Zappa’s first band, a R&B unit called The Black-Outs, that they formed in high-school.  He later joined the Mothers of Invention as a roadie, adding some vocal effects to their first album Freak Out before being recruited to be a full-time member.

Later Sherwood and Zappa were roomates in Zappa’s bizarre recording studio, “Studio Z.” Often during live shows, Sherwood would just walk up to the mike and talk about fixing his car, while the band performed free-form psychadelic jazz-rock in the background.

After the Mothers broke up, Sherwood stayed around to contribute to solo Zappa recordings including the last album Zappa completed before his death, Civilization Phaze III.

More recently, Sherwood added to various musical projects alongside his fellow Mothers alumni, including records by The Grandmothers.

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RIP – ANDREW GELLER

EXPIRED: 12/25/11 – Andrew Geller, 86, knew what American’s wanted: easy to build and easy to maintain versions of the American Dream.

As an post-World-War-Two architect, Geller planned and developed uninhibited, sculptural beach houses in the coastal regions of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut during the 1950s and 60s. He is credited as the inventor of the A-frame, a weekend getaway house that was marketed towards bachelors, and  for designing a series of off-the-shelf homes, sold for between $12,000 and $18,000 at Macy’s.

On the flip side, he was highly sought after as an architect for his one-of-a-kind houses whose distinctive shapes earned them nicknames like the Box Kite, the Milk Carton and the Grasshopper.

But his biggest claim to fame is the residential development he built on Long Island. He called it Leisurama.

The New York Times said Geller “helped bring modernism to the masses.”

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RIP – SIMMS TABACK

 

EXPIRED: 12/25/11  – Simms Taback, 79, was born in the Bronx, graduated from Cooper Union and started his illustrating career at CBS Records and The New York Times.

He founded the New York Graphic Artists Guild and supplemented that ‘starving artist income’ by teaching art at the School of Visual Arts.

Later Taback wrote and illustrated over 40 children’s books, including Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, I Miss You Every Day and This Is The House That Jack Built.

Perhaps he chose to focus on children’s books because of guilt over the damage he inadvertently caused to children over the decades. You see, back in 1977 Taback designed the child-enticing, riddle-encrusted, first box for McDonald’s Happy Meals.

That piece of art is ridiculously – shamefully – now sitting in the Smithsonian.

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RIP – CHEETAH

EXPIRED: 12/24/11  – Cheetah, 80, was “discovered” by an animal trainer on a trip to Liberia in 1932. The chimpanzee ended up in Hollywood with a 30 year film career, mostly in Tarzan movies, playing himself, stealing scenes from Olympic-medal-winner-turned-actor Johnny Weissmuller, who played the Apeman.

Cheetah died of kidney failure on Christmas Eve at The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbour, Florida, where he lived for over 60 years. In his final days he enjoyed spending time finger painting – his art has sold at auction for upwards of $2,000 apiece.

Despite his fondness for booze and cigars, vices he had to give up upon retirement, Cheetah was not a temperamental actor. Still, he wasn’t above hurling poop (his own) at anyone who caused him grief.

Captive chimps typically live about 35 years. Cheetah, at 80, holds the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest non-human primate. He even outlived both Tarzan co-stars, Weissmuller and actress Maureen O’Sullivan, who played Jane. O’Sullivan referred to Cheetah as ‘that bastard.” Despite his fondness for booze and cigars, vices he had to give up upon retirement, Cheetah was not a temperamental actor. Still, he wasn’t above hurling poop (his own) at anyone who caused him grief. Supposedly, his aim was pretty good. I’m assuming O’Sullivan was probably a regular target.

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RIP – LYNN SAMUELS

EXPIRED: 12/24/11 – Lynn Samuels, 69, was a New Yorker who sounded like a New Yorker. Her accent – and opinions – were thick. And she voiced them to anyone who would listen in her Greenwich Village laundromat. With her gift of gab, where better to have a career than on the radio talking to other opinionated New Yorkers for over 30 years.

I remember her from her late night talk show on WBAI, beginning in 1979 when NY was still a little gritty and dangerous. She was sassy, confrontational, had a crazy laugh and leftist views. In the 80s, when NYC started becoming more capitalistic, BAI closed its doors and Samuels was out of work. She was subsequently hired at WABC where she was fired three times and rehired twice. The last firing, in 2002, was allegedly due to budget cuts, but I’m sure Samuels was on the short list.

From 2003 to 2011, she hosted The Lynn Samuels Show on the Sirius Satellite Radio channel SIRIUS Left. Earlier this year she was cut to a weekend talk show on Sirius XM Stars. To supplement her income she went full circle and took a part-time job at her local laundromat.

For years she hosted a show on Christmas Eve that was very different than her usual passionate discussions of politics and socio-economic issues plaguing her beloved city. She had listeners call in to sing Christmas Carols. New Yorkers loved it.

This year she never showed up for her Christmas Eve program.

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