Charles was the only music star whose picture in any spot was always a total smile of joy.

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If you'd like an absolute yang to the Reagen funeral yin (or whatever), yesterday's full-on Ray Charles funeral service is available for listening for one week on npr.

The second hour particularly goes from peak to peak, but dont miss the Raylette rendition of The Lord's Prayer that is near the beginning..

http://www.npr.org

Requires Real or Doze Media player.

MARLON BRANDO DIES AT 80

One of the greatest actors of our time is dead. Though he ruined his good looks fairly early in life, in his day he was quite the hottie.

Marlon Brando Dies at 80

How choked up I got when I heard that Marlon Brando had died today. I felt an era coming to a close. He became such an eccentric and fodder for the tabloid mills, but he helped revolutionize screen acting in his time, marched with Martin Luther King at the March on Washington in 1963 (along with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and others), protested the screen misrepresentation of Native Americans, and was a pure counterculturist. And Lex, I'll second that sentiment about him having been a hottie. He was downright steamy.

Some of my favorite films he was in: On the Waterfront; Streetcar Named Desire; and the Wild One.

Two songs that mention him keep running through my mind today: "China Girl" by David Bowie; and even more movingly: "Pocahontas" by Neil Young.

He was the first real rebel who broke from the old mold, exploring an entirely new inner landscape that perhaps had a larger effect than we yet realize on our collective psyche.

"Stella! Stella!"

I was always intrigued with his fey Fletcher Christian. And of course his demonic stint in Apocalypse. Even more bizarre was a very late career bit in a re-re-make of The Island of Dr. Moreau -I think I have the title slightly wrong. But he played the title role- a mad scientist with a strange affliction caused by his own experiments- all 300lbs of Brando costumed in a lot of drappery, with a big floppy hat and a veil, his visible flesh made to look very ashy. Really creepy/pathetic. No self-obsessed, narcissitic Holywood actor would ever have done a role like that. That was what was so contradictory about him, he was so introspective. I can't think of another actor on that level, maybe it was a generational thing, Bogey kind of opened the door to some of it (check out his bit part as the desperado Duke Mantee in Petrified Forest), Montgomery Clift really did it (see him in A Place in The Sun opposite Liz Taylor and Shelly Winters, or Red River opposite Duke Wayne). Steve McQueen had a bit of that brooding, close-mouthed style. And for someone really underpraised, Sal Mineo. To his credit Brando really was very anti-establishment, as they used to say. With Brando gone there is only Albert Finney left who can totally destroy a movie camera with rivetting charisma (see especially Under the Volcano where he is a total rocket blast-off of an alcoholic bent on drinking himself to death).

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In his personal life legend has it that Brando was a complete sexual freak who tried everything, including man-on-man action. Somewhere I used to have an infamous photo from the 50s, supposedly of him, in profile sucking a big dick. When I saw it I was convinced. If it wasn't him it was an exact replica-clone. (one can dream, right?)

"A Streetcar Named Desire" is one of my favorite films. But you MUST see Brando in John Huston's 60s cult classic "Reflections in a Golden Eye" in which he plays an impotent, deeply closeted military commander past his prime obsessed with a beautiful young soldier. It's based on a Carson McCullers novella and Elizabeth Taylor co-stars as his domineering wife, so right out of the starting gate you know it's sick and perverse in that uniquely Southern way! Brian Keith appears as Taylor's ultra-butch neighbor and lover, and Julie Harris does an interesting turn as Keith's wife who has her own flaming Filipino houseboy mincing around throughout the movie. Bizarre and gorgeous with a stunning ending!

Arthur "Killer" Kane Dead
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/music_news/musicnews1.shtml

I love The Dolls, so this saddens me.

Man, Punks are dropping like flies!

He and Johnny Thunders were my next door neighbors once on East Third Street. He was a nightmare but I liked him. I mean he was a New York Doll!
David Johnanson and Sylvain were my favorites though. Sylvain and I actually recorded together once. I also mixed one of his records (I forget which one). He's great. So is David. Very nice. And Sylvain is an amazing tailor. He can sew ANYTHING! He makes great clothes.
But you know, if there is a Rock & Roll Heaven (and I do think that there is) they have been waiting for Killer Kane.

What? Not Polystyrene?

WHITNEY HOUSTON DYNELL
1988 - 2004

Ahhh good ole Whitney....may she roam free and fancy in the meadows in the sky.... 88-04, she had a good innings...and thank God she never wrote that 'tell all' book!

Sweet sweet Whitney. May she find her way to the dog kingdom of happiness forever. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. I hope it was peaceful. I know my little Smitty is there to greet her. I send Mommy and Daddy lots of love at this time.

Many thanks to everyone for their posts, calls, mail, crobar dropins and HUGE BEAMS sent our way on the loss of our beloved girl. It has helped a lot, esp. on those first difficult days and nights.

It is somehow fitting that Whitney AND this topic were both named by Nightlife Uber-Scribe Stephen Saban...

It is to far, far more unlimited parties she goes, I'm sure.

Au revoir dear Julia!

I am still crying, even a whole day later, after hearing Julia Child passed away in her sleep last night. I for one have always been a huge, huge fan of the woman who made French Cooking so darn cool on public television ...... Hey, Julia Child may not have been the prettiest woman in America, but she sure knew how to cook! So we'll go no more saw-taying, Au revoir, and all that...

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Oops! Now that I'm back home I finally have a little time to peruse the other forums on the Boards from my own computer where I'm not being charged for the minutes I use. Chi and Daddy, please accept my heartfelt condolences on the passing of Whitney. Remembering how my mother grieves when one of her pets passes, I know how hard it is. She had the best parents in the world though and was a lucky girl who lived a long life. Best wishes ....

Julia was a partier, always boozed up, pretending to be a chef, and that is what made it fun to see her throw a hunk of fish on the counter or stick a spoon full of cake frosting in her mouth.

Yes, and Julia was the first; although there were certainly other cooking shows on the air before her-- who remembers them?
And she did introduce words like chiffonade and souffle that none of us had ever heard before.
It was Julia Child, and Jackie Kennedy as well, who were two women responsible for elevating this country's taste in food from the ridiculous (pigs-in-blankets and string bean casserole) to the sublime beginnings of haute cuisine.
As a result, every greasy spoon in America began serving omelettes and eggs benedict. And even my mother, who was strictly "Joy Of Cooking," could whip up a passable bechamel.

LONG LIVE FRED EBB!

Start spreading the news. I just found out about 5 minutes ago that Fred Ebb, the masterful songwriter who wrote the Big Apple anthem "New York, New York" is no longer with us. This is a very sad day indeed.