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Rick Abramson Industry's Legendary Music Promoter Dies
Source:
All About Jazz
Rick Abramson, one of the record industry's legendary promotion men, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 65. The cause of death was lung cancer.
Born in Queens, N.Y., Abramson was a regular at such places as Dan Tana's (where a memorial service was held Sunday), Mirabelle and the Palm; and such a fixture in West Hollywood that the doorman at the Viper Room really did refer to him as “the mayor of the Sunset Strip." Abramson's career began in ...
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Cherie Decastro of Singing Trio the Decastro Sisters
Source:
Michael Ricci
Cherie DeCastro, the last surviving member of the DeCastro Sisters, the Latin singing trio that was a part of television history in Los Angeles, has died. She was 87. DeCastro died March 14 of pneumonia at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, said Alan Eichler, who was the DeCastro's manager. The sisters -- Peggy, Babette and Cherie -- rose from a flamboyant nightclub act in Cuba to find success in Las Vegas. They had a hit recording in 1954 ...
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Correspondence: Jamil Nasser's Memorial
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
There was a memorial service Sunday night in New York for the bassist Jamil Nasser, who died last month. Among those in attendance was pianist, composer and writer Jill McManus, who sent Rifftides a report.
There was a sizable crowd at Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan on the evening of March 21st to honor and remember bassist Jamil Nasser, who died on February 13th. His strong, resounding bass playing was held in high regard. Nasser cut a wide swath through ...Continue Reading
Wolfgang Wagner, Who Led Bayreuth Festival, Dies
Source:
Michael Ricci
Wolfgang Wagner, the grandson of composer Richard Wagner and the leader of the Bayreuth opera festival for more than half a century, died Sunday. He was 90.
Wolfgang Wagner dedicated his whole life to the legacy of his grandfather, the festival said, adding that his long service as the events leader means that he goes into history as the longest-serving director in the world. Mr. Wagner stepped down after the 2008 festival following a long power struggle in which he ...
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Jerry Adler, Harmonica Virtuoso, Dies at 91
Source:
Michael Ricci
Jerry Adler, a harmonica virtuoso whose pure, open sound can be heard on the soundtracks to Shane, High Noon, Mary Poppins and other films, but who labored in the shadow of his more famous harmonica-playing older brother, Larry, died on March 13 in Ellenton, Fla. He was 91 and lived in Sarasota.
Mr. Adler got off to a flying start in the music business after winning a talent contest at a local theater at 13. It was the same contest, ...
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The Voice of the Hollywood Bowl
Source:
Michael Ricci
Mark Ferber dies at 60; longtime production supervisor at the Hollywood Bowl.
To thousands of concert-goers, Mark Ferber's voice was comfortingly familiar as he announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Hollywood Bowl." As a child, he bicycled to the Bowl to do his homework in the picnic areas he found so peaceful. He was hired as an errand runner at 14, and his career at the venue stretched over 45 years. Ferber, who was the Bowl's longtime production supervisor ...
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Fearless to the End: Remembering Margaret Moth
Source:
All About Jazz
CNN photojournalist Margaret Moth covered conflicts spanning continents, and said she lived her life to the fullest. Her guts, skill and humor made her one to remember, dies of cancer at 59, after surviving wars.
Given her jet-black hair, thick black eyeliner, black clothes and combat boots (which she often slept in while on assignment), people didn't always know what to think upon meeting her. She was quirky, the sort who excused herself from a social gathering by saying she ...
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King of the Wild Frontier Has Died
Source:
Michael Ricci
Fess Parker, whose star-making portrayal of frontiersman Davy Crockett on television in the mid-1950s made him a hero to millions of young baby boomers and spurred a nationwide run on coonskin caps, died Thursday. He was 85. Parker, who played another pioneer American hero on television's “Daniel Boone" in the 1960s before becoming a successful Santa Barbara hotel developer and Santa Ynez Valley winery owner, died of complications from old age at his home near the winery, said family spokeswoman ...
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