Wednesday, August 31, 2005

John J MacAloon, 87


In 1998, I along with a couple of thousand Detroit area residents stood along the city streets to watch the implosion of the Husons building. On one hand it was exciting to see such a mammoth building come down but on the other it was depressing that yet another Detroit landmark had been torn down in the name of urban renewal (it's actually an underground parking structure now). I had a chance to go there right before they closed the old gal with my Dad and Grandma. I got a stuffed dog named 'Cryin' Bryan' and my Grandma got a winter coat for cheap. I know I was pretty young then but the place was just HUGE! My Mom later told me that it was the place back when she was growing up. There just aren't places like that anymore, no place with real style or character. It's pretty sad really - we're just living in a cookie cutter world.

I didn't know Mr MacAloon. He believed that the Detroit building was worth saving. Unfortunatly, he was in the miniority. His career started in 1940 with the department store over the coarse of 40 years he rose through the ranks to become vice president, during which time he oversaw the opening of many Hudsons stores in the Detroit suburbs. He retired in 1980 and passed away from cancer this weekend.

RIP
1918 - August 28, 2005

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Michael Sheard, 65


My father took me to a lot of movies when I was a kid - because he didn't really know what else to do with me. I begged him to go see 'Star Wars' and 'Empire Strikes Back' but he wasn't interested in those type of flicks, he took me to see movies like 'Hot Dog' and 'The Fog' instead, movies that would basically screw me up for a REALLY long time. I finally wore him down so he took me to see 'Return of the Jedi' but it really didn't make any sense to me because I missed the first two (we didn't have a VCR). So fast forward a few years to when I had 'Empire' pretty much memorized, or so I thought. Remember when the movies were re-releases with all the added (crappy) features? My boyfriend, at the time, and his friends went to a showing of ESB at the Showcase on 15 & Van Dyke. I was quoting a line or two here and there but DK knew the whole damn movie by heart, even doing an incredible impression of Yodi. He was my idol, not only could he do that, he drove a Coronet (a '68 I believe).

The man who played Admiral Ozzel, Michael Sheard, passed away of cancer today. For me he was fondly remembered as the guy who was choked by Vader who was standing 10 feet away. He also played Hilter in a number of movies such as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, but he was best known for playing Mr. Bronson in the British Childrens show "Grange Hill".

RIP
June 18, 1940 - August 31, 2005

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Monday, August 29, 2005

Elwood Perry, 90


When I was a kid fishing was fun. My grandpa or camp counsler would thread a worm on to a hook, I would drop it in the water, then sit around and get a tan. That's what I called fishing. However there would be the rare moment when something would actually nip at my worm and catch a bit of hook and viola I had caught a fish. I'd reel it back into the boat someone would take it off the hook and drop it back into the water. Later on in life I'd go fishing with my boyfriend as an excuse to sit out on the lake and screw. I think his parents knew which made the 'Did you have any luck?' question pretty darn funny. Now fishing is just a pain in the ass. Last time I went out on a boat in the middle of god-knows-where-lake with my boyfriend & his brother. I didn't tan, in fact I got baked to a crispy red and I had to hang my butt over the back of the boat to pee - right in front of my boyfriends brother, a guy I had only met a few times.
So when my husband now says to me he's going fishing I let him have his day - I actually encourage him just so I can be by myself sometimes. But he's always talking about that he needs this for this kind of fish and that for this kind of water, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Elwood Perry is the reason that my husband speaks this weird foreign language.

In 1984, George Pazik, publisher of Fishing Facts magazine, said Mr. Perry began the "whole modern era of freshwater fishing." In 2000, In-Fisherman magazine named Mr. Perry, a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, one of the nation's 25 most influential anglers. His bread & butter came from developing the Spoonplug, a different kind of lure but his style of fishing won him his respect.

July 10, 1915 - August 12, 2005

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Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Brock Peters, 78


I had this teacher in high school, Miss Cardamone, she was awesome. She was really great to all of our students and made them feel special. She, like many others, assigned "To Kill A Mockingbird" for reading assignment. I didn't really care for the book, I was pretty happy when we were finished. The one shining point of it was that we got to watch the film. The film was incredible. The acting was suburb, Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall and Brock Peters who played Tom Robinson the man wrongly accused of raping a white girl. Mr. Peters won the part over James Earl Jones. He acted steadily up to a few years before his death doing a lot of voice over work and starring in two Star Trek movies as Admiral Cartwright in 'The Undiscovered Country' and 'The Voyage Home'

Mr. Peters passed away from pancreatic cancer.

July 2, 1927 - August 23, 2005

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Monday, August 22, 2005

Thomas Herrion, 23


Football is the one sport that I can actually sit through and not be completely bored.
I loathe basketball, bored to no end with baseball, and even though I come from Hockeytown, I'm not much of a hockey fan. This is a manly sport. You've got big burly linesmen, little quarterbacks and migit kickers. The one thing I don't like about football, as with most things, it comes earlier and earlier every year. Pretty soon we're going to have football starting in June. There I go again...mumbling on about how fast time flies. I don't know much about Thomas Herrion, I know he was a football player and I know he was pretty damn young. It's pretty much common sense that you shouldn't stay out in really hot weather for too long of a period because you get heat stroke. They scold you if you leave your dog out too long...but if you're paying $50/ticket those players better damn well sweat their ass off in hot muggy weather for as long as they have to, so you can get your moneys worth. Just to be fair I shouldn't say that the heat was the cause of Mr. Herrions death, there's family history, there's diet, overall health (which the NFL monitors) it could be a number of things time will only tell.

December 15, 1981 d. August 21, 2005
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Robert Moog, 71


Remember MTV when they used to play music?
Remember what VJ's were?
Remember that they had 40 videos?
Remember that Herbie Hancock song 'Rockit'? We have Robert Moog to thank for that. Robert Moog is best known for being the pioneer of the modern synthesizer. The New York native schooled in electrical engineering and engineering physics was facinated with sounds at an early age and began selling custom 'spooky' sounding electronic instruments as a hobby.
His work has had a huge impact on music with groups like Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and the Beatles.


Mr. Moog passed away from brain cancer.

RIP
May 23, 1934 - August 22, 2005

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Sunday, August 14, 2005

Coo Coo Marlin, 73


Back in grade school one of my friends bragged that her dad was on pit crew. She was pretty excited about it, I on the other hand, had absolutely no clue what a pit crew was and why that was important. I spent the night at her house once and she asked her dad to tell some stories and show off the trophies and pictures. I was still baffled.
Many, many, many years later I marry a NASCAR fan. He knows what a pit crew is, he knows what a spotter is, he knows all this crap about racing and now I do too.
Clifton "Coo Coo" Marlin, father of Sterling Martin, raced NASCAR from 1966 to 1980. He never won a race in his 165 races but finished in the top 10 in nearly a third of the races he started.

He passed away after battling lung cancer in his home town of Columbia, Tennessee, 300 Miles from Bristol.

RIP
January 3, 1932 - August 14, 2005

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Thursday, August 11, 2005

Barbara Bel Geddes, 82


Dallas was on CBS on Friday nights, right after The Dukes of Hazzard. I hated both shows but watched them because my friends watched and I didn't want to be left out of the conversation Monday morning. My friend CH could recite the whole plot line of Friday nights episode, I couldn't tell you one damn thing about it...I'd mostly agree that Patrick Duffy was a fox and that Bo Duke was way cuter then Luke. Thankfully we moved on to Dynasty which was far more interesting then Dallas
It wasn't until my later years when I was deep into Alfred Hitchcock movies that I really knew or cared anything about Ms Bel Geddes. Her career started in the 1940's and lasted through the end of the Dallas series.

There seems to be a rash of lung cancer deaths recently first Peter Jennings, then Barbara Bel Geddes and then the recent annoucement that Dana Reeve was diagnosed. Hopefully this won't finish the tri-fec-ta (because I don't know how to spell the damn word).

Barbara Bel Geddes
October 31, 1922 - August 8, 2005
RIP

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Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Matthew McGrory, 32


My world is rather small. I live in a small house, in a small town, occassionally I'm small minded, my income is small as well as my self-esteem. The only access to the big world is television and radio...mostly radio because I have it on all day at work.
Matthew McGrory was bigger then life. He was 7'6" with a Guiness Book of Records shoe size of 29.5. Basically he stood out in a crowd. He appeared on The Howard Stern show many times, as well as a Marilyn Manson video, the movies "Bubble Boy" and "Big Fish" (one of my personal favorities).
He passed away from natural causes.
May 17, 1973 - August 9, 2005
Rest in Peace big guy.

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Abe Hirschfeld, 85


The world is full of eccentrics. My Grandma was one of those people. She would hoard away bread, cans of beans, matchbooks, and money in all sorts of odd places when they were still alive and living in Detroit (near Cadiuex Cafe). My family hardly visited her, not because we were mean or disrespectful, but because she was nuts. I have a real obsession with eye boogers that I directly attribute to her...when I would spend nights over her house she would come after me first thing in the morning with a wash cloth and get every piece of crusty snot out of the corner of my eyes - nothing else mattered - I was less then human if I had pieces of green stuff out of there....and heaven forbid if I got more during the day - that's when the kleenex, with a touch of spit, would make an appearance like it did when we were shopping at Eastland, right in front of the Hudsons entrance (you know the one next to Olga's).
Abe was an eccentric too but on a much grander scale. In 2000, at the tender age of 80, he was sent to prison for hiring someone to kill his business partner. Even prison couldn't hold him down. He gave jailhouse interviews and held had long rambling phone interviews with Howard Stern (where's Gilbert).
So long Mr. Hirschfeld, I wonder how much publicity your going to get in heaven.

1919 - August 9, 2005

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Sunday, August 07, 2005

Peter Jennings, 67


What few times we sat around the dinner table together we were sure to have on our little 4" black & white T.V. not to miss Walter Cronkite and the CBS news. I loved that man it seemed like he genuianely cared about world events and happenings and telling this to countless, faceless Americans glued in front of the boob-tube. But all good things come to an end, Cronkite retired in March 1981 leaving us with the frumpy Roger Mudd. Evening news wasn't that interesting anymore. That was until Peter Jennings came on to the scene. He had a clear, calming voice that made me want to listen to every word that he uttered. The nightly world news became intriging again...I wanted to listen to what was going on outside our borders. Best of all, he always seemed to have a grin on his face like he was holding back on letting everyone else in on the joke. His humor came out during his interview on Stern as well as his March 2005 guest spot on 'The Daily Show'.
In April of this year he announced to the world that he had be diagnosed with lung cancer. Ten days after his 67 birthday he passed away My deepest sympathies for his wife and two children.

July 29, 1938 - August 7, 2005
RIP

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Thursday, August 04, 2005

Mike Tysons Career


Mike Tysons Boxing Career is officially over.

Female First reports that Mikey is talks to star in a porn flick with The Undisputed Queen of Porn, Ms Jenna Jameson. There are many amusing things that could be said about this situation, including some comment about biting in odd places, but we will refrain from that in honor of the career this once fierce boxer.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Atkins Nutritionals 1989 - 2005


Who in the hell hasn't tried Atkins yet? Yes, it helped me drop weight but at what cost? I missed my mash potatoes...and it seems like a lot of other people did as well. Maybe it just hit people in the head that Dr Robert (pictured above) died of heart failure and was considered to be obese by some accounts. Or maybe the American public got tired of trying to believe that a 'Splenda' chocolate cake or those damn nutritional bars were just as yummy as a Dunkin' Donut Boston Cream donut or a handful of M&M's. Everyone jumped on the band-wagon, hell, my local bar even had an Atkins pizza (no crust just the filler), you couldn't go anywhere without in the Carb conscious sucking the life out of food. But these people had to know that the American public only has a 15 minute attention span. Atkins Nutritionals filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy; face it the craze is over, South Beach we're coming for you next.

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King Fahd, 82/84


I was pretty smart back in the day. In high school I was always on the Principles List for holding a 3.5 or higher and because of that I got to skip geography class. It wasn't until my sixth year of Community College (drugs are bad) that I learned exactly where Saudi Arabia was actually located. I had a communications teacher that worked for the US government selling Abrams or Bradley tanks to the Saudis, so she was extremely versed in the Middle East. More often then not she would tell us stories of the country and the customs; the highlight was when she brought in brochures of the tank written in Arabic. I never quite understood why she chose to teach on Saturdays if she was jet setting all around the world selling highly armed tanks. She loved talking about the Middle East as if it was her second home. Her idea of the final class project was having groups of us act like travel agents and try to sell the rest of the class to travel to our particular country. After each of the speeches were done she, of course, stood up and told us what was right or wrong - because she had been there.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia passed away on August 1st. I've caught two different birth years 1921 and 1923 but general consensus is that he was born in 1923.

1921/23 - August 1, 2005

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