Goodbye Aubra, Goodbye Eleanor

Stage and film actress Julie Harris died on Aug 24. She was 87. Harris was the kind of actor who just does the damn work, and as a result, turned in many great performances.

She wasn't a movie star, but one peep at her IMDB resume shows how much she worked during a six-decade career. That's right: six decades.

Chances are you've seen her in something and maybe didn't know who she was. Two excellent places to start watching Harris and paying attention to how quietly she slides into roles and really soars with the material are two of her most well-known:

East of Eden - James Dean's screen debut and the little mumbler couldn't have asked for a better female lead. Harris plays Aubra, a thoughtful farm girl who can't decide if she loves Dean's tortured youth or his brother, played by Richard Davalos, who is dad's favorite. The film isn't about Aubra, it's about the brothers. But Harris delivers as an almost mythical love interest, too kind and too in love to hurt either boy, which only complicates the familial battle.

The Haunting - Hands down, this movie is one of the best horror films ever made, anywhere, and every single member of The Typing Monkey staff will fight any jerk in the bar who says otherwise. And what's key to this terrifying, theatrical masterpiece? Julie Harris. She doubts everything, mostly herself. She's wound up and may be psychic, and holy balls, the walls just took a breath.

Like we said, these two are probably her most famous film roles, and there's a reason for that. She takes good material and elevates it with her performance, making them better, greater. If you've not seen them, they're easy to come by and seeing them will make you more interesting at parties.

Thank you Ms. Harris.

Kung Fu and Other Delights

We confess we knew little of the athlete-turned-film-star Jim Kelly before he died and the obituaries began to appear.

The Typing Monkey has never seen Black Belt Jones, despite being a fan of the dub tune by Lee "Scratch" Perry. We knew the title only, and had not carved out time to watch what sounds like a crackerjack good time, combining action of the chop-sockey and Blaxploitation varieties.

It's hot out, and summer laziness has put a few writing projects on hold, so please enjoy first, this YouTube clip of the theme song from Black Belt Jones by Dennis Coffey and Luchi De Jesus:


[courtesy of funkybrezhoneg]

Then spin this playlist of nearly every cut from dub legend Lee "Scratch" Perry's 1975 LP Kung Fu Meets the Dragon, a record clearly inspired not just by Jim Kelly's black man of action, but martial arts movies in general.

Note the only cut that's been pulled from the playlist is "Black Belt Jones", possibly the best tune on the record. Despite that, this is a fun listen, so get yourself a glass of limeade or something and have a relax.


[courtesy of sqezyplus]

Thank You Ray Harryhausen

Stop-motion animation and visual effects master Ray Harryhausen has died.

For a certain kind of kid, the mere mention of Harryhausen stirs up many happy memories of watching his films on TV, or in the theater if you were lucky enough, and being fully transported to worlds where the beasts of Greek, Arab and Hindu mythology were very real and frequently out to kill the hero.

The AV Club's obit contains the fun "Creature List" video from Youtube, with a montage of nearly every beast that came to life at Ray Harryhausen's hands -- including his wonderful dinosaurs that are clearly the foundation of Jurassic Park.

Coming Soon's obit contains this wonderful quotation from Phil Tippet, the man who is as close to inheriting the Harryhausen throne as any: "You know I'm always saying to the guys that I work with now on computer graphics -- do it like Ray Harryhausen"

The Typing Monkey spent many afternoons running loose in the suburban wilds, recreating scenes from the Sinbad movies, and especially Ray Harryhausen's master work, Jason and the Argonauts.


[courtesy of jasonargomov]

The Mothership Is Getting Crowded

Cordell "Boogie" Mosson died on April 18, 2013. News of the P-Funk bassist's death didn't circulate as fast as it might have, given that he died during a week where the news was concerned with bigger stories.

That does not diminish his passing. Mosson played bass for the legendary funk collective, taking over the low end when Bootsy Collins left to pursue a solo career. But Mosson was, by all accounts, equally adept at drums and rhythm guitar.

One sad day, the Mothership will be operating with a full crew again, in some other galaxy, and our loss will be that other world's gain.

Aloha, Pineapple Princess

Actor/singer Annette Funicello died today. Her twilight years were complicated by multiple sclerosis, but she will be remembered as the Mouseketeer who vaulted to teen flicks for Disney and a handful of squeaky-clean/covertly salacious "beach movies" for American Pictures International during the mid-1960s.

Her beach movie co-star was usually Frankie Avalon, but later another Disney grad, Tommy Kirk joined her. It was with Tommy Kirk that Funicello starred in The Monkey's Uncle, a live-action Disney caper released in 1965.

In the opening credits for Monkey, she's billed simply as "Annette" because she was just that famous at the time, ya dig? But crazier still is the theme song, recorded and performed during the credit sequence, by Annette and The Beach Boys:


[Thanks to j peoplemover for the Youtube upload.]


Good-bye, Ms. Funicello.

Thunderbirds Are Gone!

Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and several other espionage/action shows aimed at kids, died on December 25, 2012.

His puppetry and wonderfully detailed set-pieces influenced many kids who grew up to generate their own crazy shows. Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park fame paid homage to Anderson's work with their film Team America: World Police.

We'll speculate that Tim Burton, Henry Selick and Robert Smigel are fans as well, not to mention the Screen Novelties crew and many others.

If Thunderbirds is unfamiliar to you, please enjoy the opening credits from the show, which will tell you just about all you need to know about why those who love it, love it.



(And yes, we already regret that headline. Thank you Mr. Anderson, for what you created. Rest in peace.)

Jazz Impressions of the Next World

We'd planned on posting something else today, honest. But then Dave Brubeck died, one day short of his 92nd birthday.

Good bye Mr. Brubeck and thank you for all the amazing music you made while you were here.


[courtesy of claudiofilippi1]

Oh, no

Farewell to Chris Wedes, better known to Puget Sound residents as J.P. Patches. He died Sunday July 22, 2012.

His passing set frequent Typing Monkey contributer Kris Kendall to reminiscing about The J.P. Patches Show. It's entirely possible Kendall's still talking, with a faraway, misty-eyed look, about Wedes' importance to local television.

We've taken this valuable piece of information from his ramblings and posted it here:

"By 1980, when J.P.’s show was three years from cancellation, I think I was the only kid at my school who still watched. Most mornings during the school year, my friend Mike would ask me, as we walked to school: 'Did you watch Star Blazers this morning?'

My answer was always 'No, I watched J.P.' And  I couldn’t understand why he didn’t."

Good bye J.P. Patches. You're one of the rare ones, about whom we can genuinely say, they just don't make 'em like that anymore.

Thank You, Donald J. Sobol

There are two Leroy Browns in pop history. Well, two that we know of: Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, who receives a royal beatdown within the confines of Jim Croce's jangly, loose pop hit.

The other is Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown, boy detective. Encyclopedia Brown's creator, Donal J. Sobol died July 11, 2012, but the news only came to public attention the 16th. Any kid who likes to read has probably spent some time trying to solve the mysteries that Brown cracked.

The books were not only a great way to encourage readers, and critical thinking, they were also a gateway for many into other mystery-themed writing, telelvision and film.

Coolest of all is the deatil in The Washington Post's obituary for Sobol: He was still writing the books and one final Encyclopedia Brown book is due out this year.

We didn't realize how much we'll miss Sobol until now. It's too often like that.

Exit Mr. Bradbury

He had to go sometime. His short stories are always worth reading. Dig into the novels.

[Image courtesy of Poe Foreward]

We'll be right back after these messages

We've all been quite busy working on our annual reviews and preparing PowerPoint decks to present to the board of trustees in hopes of securing a budget to keep this thing going for another fiscal year.

As is often the case, while we're locked in a conference room arguing for our very existence, news is breaking. Farewell Duck Dunn. Au revoir Chuck Brown. Good bye  Donna Summer. We'll miss you, Robin Gibb. There are likely others we're forgetting.

Instead of barraging you with links and YouTube clips of the dearly departed -- we trust you've been inundated with such things already -- The Typing Monkey will post this vintage clip of singer/songwriter Roger Whittaker performing his tune "New World in the Morning."

If you don't know Mr. Whittaker's work, it's not hard to find him. He's an under-appreciated gem from the era of Judy Collins and Cat Stevens.


[courtesy of geralddonais]

Wise to the Demise

Adam "MCA" Yauch is still our favorite Beastie Boy.

Tracing the influence of King Adrock and Mike D in terms of vocals is pretty easy. Rappers from Eminem to MC Paul Barman and beyond employ the nasal delivery of those two. And Adrock especially, whose punkish, puckish delivery defines the Beastie Boys for most listeners, despite Mike D's deadpan delivery of hilarious lines.

But few emulate or approach MCA's dry howl. Even as he's helping create a false origin story for the band in "Paul Revere" his voice has a the crispness of an elder statesman. He could get at both the winking comedy of early career Beasties -- drawling as if he'd been up all night pounding brewskis and bumming smokes from your girlfriend -- and the conscious rapping/positivity of the trio's later material.

He's gone, it sucks, and he'll be missed. We're not sure how long this eulogy will be up on the landing page of the Beastie Boys site, but you should read it. That's how you spend major label money and influence.

Farewell to Ralph McQuarrie

Artist and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie died March 3. He was 82.

If his name isn't automatically familiar, then you were never a Star Wars fanatic. But for those who can instantly recall seeing McQuarrie's concept and production art for the first three Star Wars films -- and you know which three we mean -- you'll understand why so many nerds seem more despondent than usual.

We agree strongly with Bleeding Cool writer Brendon Connelly's sentiment regarding McQuarrie's work:

"Some of the designs in the first three Star Wars films are honestly amazing work. The man we have to thank for this is Ralph McQuarrie, the concept artist who really set the tone for the film, much more so than any other individual. And I’m including George Lucas in that ... I’m not being disingenuous when I say that I love these paintings far more than the films they fuelled."

McQuarrie's concept art for Star Wars, before there was any hint of a sequel, let alone a franchise, reach a level of wonder and fantasy that the films could never have matched. His paintings and sketches do exactly what good art and great illustration should: immerse you in someone else's imagination. The lure of the art pulls so strong that you add to it your own tangents and meanings.

His Metropolis-style C-3PO and gear-covered Luke Skywalker reveal much about McQuarrie's understanding of George Lucas' inspiration and references. The hardware looks antiquated, the textures dusty and worn, exactly the type of lived-in universe that makes it seem possible.

Check out the various galleries on the Ralph McQuarrie Website and see the work he did for other films, his book covers, and his personal gallery. Just as Frank Frazetta will forever be linked to Conan the Barbarian, McQuarrie will always be the Star Wars design guy. A fine legacy for sure, but do take a look at what else he achieved.

Here Comes Mr. Jones

We were going to post something about Leap Day because why not? Then the news broke that Davy Jones died of an apparent heart attack. The singer and member of The Monkees was 66.

Arguably, Mickey Dolenz was the more appropriate lead singer in that his unusual voice and his delivery seemed to come more from a rock & roll place -- that slight touch of rhythm and blues that makes the music fun.

But Jones was no slouch even if his inclusion in the prefab four implies that he was there to add British Invasion appeal since that's what the teenage girls were into when The Monkees was conceived for televison. His stage-trained voice was the smoothest of The Monkees and well suited to the slicker, pop-oriented hits.

In a June 29, 2011 radio interview on Seattle's KJR, Jones was doing PR for a Monkees reunion tour (minus Mike Nesmith). Though the tour would end abruptly, Jones seemed centered and at peace with his past during the interview.  [Listen here: Jones' portion begins just past the halfway mark.]

Here he is singing lead on The Monkees' "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)"

A Footnote, Perhaps

Playing Farrah Fawcett to Don Cornelius' Michael Jackson, singer Leslie Carter died Jan 31, 2012. Carter was 25, and the sister of more famous singing brothers Nick (of Backstreet Boys) and Aaron.

The Typing Monkey generally avoids reality television, especially those centered around former celebrities grasping at thin threads of attention. So we barely noticed the short lived House of Carters from 2006, though the few minutes we chanced upon made us sad and ashamed -- more for her brothers than Leslie herself, who seemed uncomfortable with the very idea.

We rooted for Leslie Carter to rise above it and get out from under her brothers' shadows, primarily because her 2001 single "Like Wow!" is such a fine piece of bubblegum pop. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Ms. Carter attempted to relaunch herself based on more mature rock-oriented music as the leader of a band called The  Other Half. She even got married and had a baby in 2011.

The cause of her death is unreported at the time of this post. If "Like Wow!" is all she left to the world of pop music, so be it. We'll take it.

I Believe I'll Go Back Home

Celebrities die all the time, but we lost three in January that leave pretty large holes in the American musical landscape. We already waxed nostalgic on Jimmy Castor but were offline when, almost appropriately, Johnny Otis and Etta James died just days apart.

If you are alive and paying attention, you already read countless obits and rememberies of their respective contributions to rhythm & blues, soul, jazz and blues.

Instead of repeating praise into the void, we encourage you to pay your respects by getting your paws on a copy of Cold Shot! by The Johnny Otis Show.

Released in 1968, this LP boasts the leanest Otis Show line-up of them all: Johnny plays piano, vibes and drums; his son Shuggie (a grinning teen here and only a couple years from launching his brief, brilliant solo career) plays bass, guitar and harmonica while Mighty Mouth Evans handles the lead vocals.

This record will validate your puny effort to feel funky on a daily basis. Cold Shot! opens smart with the shock-and-awe enabled "The Signifyin' Monkey" replete with blue language. "Country Girl" is far filthier through pure implication. That's blues science right there bub -- stun 'em out of the gate and you can say anything you want after that.

"High Heeled Sneakers" chicken struts across the room and Otis fills the set with a fair share of classic blues sounds, all played with a smile and a wink.

Just about anything Otis recorded is worth your attention, and Cold Shot! isn't even the best entry point to his catalog. (Otis' killer r&b output from the '50s and '60s is top-shelf stuff.) But this disc cuts through the fog of whatever troubles you, a bracing gulp of potent groove juice.

Everything Man

You know that James Walter Castor died Jan 16 in Henderson, Nevada, a few days short of his 72 birthday. As Jimmy Castor, he made some deliriously fun disco-fried funk and soul during his 1970s heyday as the leader of The Jimmy Castor Bunch.

The New York Times obit tells his story well.

We'll share this story from our publisher, S.L. Kreighton:

"When I was just three, one of my sisters was a teen and super-hip to whatever the cool sounds were. She and her friend Suzy would spin 45s in her room and those of us smart enough to hang around or press an ear to the door got an early childhood education in '70s dance music.

"One of the singles they played that caught my ear was "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch. I was three, but this man with his funny voices and groovy music spoke to me. He said the word "butt" in a song!

"Somehow, that single made it into the family collection -- otherwise populated by Mancini, Beatles, Monkees and a few other choice mid-century cuts. For years to come I played that single and delighted in a ribald tale I only half-understood. It shaped my music tastes for the better."

To this day, Kreighton uses the 2002 Castor Bunch hits collection 16 Slabs of Funk to lift his spirits and filter candidates for Typing Monkey internships.

Castor had a successful career prior to his '70s heyday, but those years as the leader of the Bunch are a great way for the man to be remembered. And we have an excuse to post these two album covers:

The cartoon on the left, sure. But dig three (3!) man-purses satchels in that promo pic on 16 Slabs. That's confidence!

Open The Good Stuff, Drink and Remember

Norma Zimmer, aka The Champagne Lady from The Lawrence Welk Show, is dead.

If your first reaction is "who?" then you are either too young, or grew up in a household that didn't tune in regularly to the Welk Show. Zimmer was a singer and dancer who joined the show in 1960, thus spending more than 20 years with a show that ran nationally for nearly 28 years.

Her singing style recalled the Hit Parade era of Doris Day and similar pure, unaffected delivery of pop tunes that sound schmaltzy to the modern ear. Let go of irony and your rock & roll ways and Zimmer's buttery vibrato feels like a hug -- possibly a hug from grandma, but who couldn't use one of those from time to time?

[Image courtesy of WelkGirls.com]

Zimmer's death falls into place after a string of deaths we should have noted here. Yvette Vickers' passing was certainly the most tragic. Gone as well are Arthur Larents, John Walker, Body Snatcher rebel Dana Wynter and Dolores Fuller.

We probably should have given a nod to Wynter's passing, for if you need a smart woman by your side as alien invaders gradually infest your sleepy coastly burg, she was the lady for the job. And Vickers -- what could we say that hadn't been said already?

Norma Zimmer died on May 10, 2011. She was 88. There are other Welk Women still dancing, singing and playing, but only one got the title The Champagne Lady.

Oh, Joe

Too many just-below-the-radar entertainers who shaped mid- and late-20th century art and media have been dying. [No Tura Satana obit? -- ed.] The Typing Monkey could fill this blog weekly with sad farewells to the dearly departed. Nobody wants that.

But we can't not acknowledge the passing of drummer Joe Morello, the man who kept time for The Dave Brubeck Quartet. And to say he "played drums" ... oh hell just look, around 2:30 the madness begins:


[courtesy of Cheeseford]

Devotees of more avant garde jazz frequently dismiss Dave Brubeck's band for reasons beyond our comprehension. Shakespeare was a pop artist too, friends. Fact is, DBQ were four top-shelf players and Morello was, arguably, the best of the four.

He was 82 when he died on March 12,2011.

[Turn toward camera with gun drawn & cue brass section]

It's not breaking news that composer John Barry is dead. Most know him from his work writing theme music and scores for the James Bond films. And no, he didn't write the Bond theme, but it was his arrangement that everybody knows.

The Typing Monkey encourages readers to celebrate Barry's music by watching the 1960 film Beat Girl, aka Wild for Kicks. Barry wrote or co-wrote nearly every song in this tale of teen delinquency and his agility with various genres -- sugary Your Hit Parade pop, beach-nik (sic) rockabilly, greasy rhythm & blues and noir-ish jazz, among others -- always impresses us no matter how often we see the film.

If you buy the soundtrack reissue from él Records it won't disappoint and you'll be able to stage your own (implied) cannabis-fueled teenage layabout shindig as you dance to the incomparable "It's Legal" as sung by Shirley Anne Field.

In a film dominated by Adam Faith and Gillian Hills vocals -- neither of them too shabby -- it's Field's syncopated ode to all the things teens can do without breaking the law that steals the show. Something tells us she's in danger of ignoring her own message.

There's a full stream of Beat Girl on Youtube, or you can watch it in nine installments, which unfortunately breaks Field's one vocal number right in half. ["It's Legal" begins around the 9:15 mark in this link. It picks up again here.]

Adieu, John Barry, and thanks for all the music.

Tangent obituary: Esoteric electronic music composer Milton Babbitt also died. The AV Club has an educational and compelling summary of his career and influence.