My god, is he still alive!

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,James in Cambridge
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 06:27 PM

Pete Seeger is still alive, and last I heard still singing! My sister knows his daughter.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 03:47 AM

I played recently in a nursing home in Sydney Australia where they were celebrating the birthday of resident TWINS who turned 100 that week

In the same nursing home last year was a lady who had nursed Lawrence of Arabia

They breed them tough out here in OZ

AD

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Rafflesbear
Date: 16 Apr 09 - 05:16 PM

I always find it sad when I hear of the death of someone I thought was dead long ago - it's just that it's too late to celebrate the joy of finding out that they are still alive because they're not ...

but I can still celebrate Dave Swarbrick having read in the Daily Telegraph of his death in 1999 - and he IS still alive

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Genie
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 05:13 PM

I just read (in another thread here) that George Beverly Shea is still alive at 100 y.o.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 05:10 PM

We sure miss Sam in San Diego, where he was active for many years with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the local community of folk music lovers. It's good to know he's still with us. He's left quite a legacy behind already.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Amos
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 04:41 PM

I am happy to report that Sam Hinton is still alive, although he has retired to a senior place in the Northwest.

A

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 03:55 PM

For some reason, an old Dorothy Parker quote comes to mind. When someone told her Calvin Coolidge had passed away, she asked, "How do they know?"

My favorite was an old family friend, a retired Navy doctor and flight surgeon who had a family practice for many years. His wife passed away when he was in his early 90's and we invited him to join us for Christmas dinner at our home. He was delighted to come and spent time after dinner talking of his early life. He grew up in Danville, Va., as he told me. I remembered a verse from the song, "The Wreck of the Old 97," in which the town is mentioneds. "Oh," he remarked, "they got a lot of the details wrong in that song." When I asked how he knew, he explained that his father had been the town doctor in Danville at the time of the train wreck. He, as a 13-year-old boy, had hitched his father's team and driven him to the wreck, where he administered morphine to those that survived and administered to all who could be helped. I'd never met anyone who had been at the actual site of something which had been celebrated in folk song.

The doctor, a very kind Virginia gentleman of the old school, passed away at the age of 99 while watering his lawn.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Rog Peek
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 11:50 AM

Les Paul, 93 and still gigging.

Eli Wallach, 93

Kirk Douglas, 92

and Karl Malden was 97 on March 22nd

Rog

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,Elmore
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 10:36 AM

Dave "honeyboy" Edwards who knew, and worked with Robert Johnson is still alive, and touring.He's 93 and has a distinctive guitar style. I saw him a few months ago.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:10 PM

When I was little, there were people who it seemed had *already* lived forever. One of them was Bertrand Russell, and another was George Bernard Shaw.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:25 PM

Me.....and he still is.....as far as you know........


Spaw

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:22 PM

Pardon me for this, but who all hear remember when Saturday Night Live spent all season announcing on the "Weekend Update" that General Franco of Spain was "still dead".

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:03 PM

Sorry TJ......But she certainly had a long run and I hope it was a great one.

Best,

Spaw

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 04:50 PM

My mother just passed away at the age of 100. She once played a piano.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,Mike in DC
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 11:33 PM

Leopold Stokowski signed a ten year record deal when he was 92 or 93. I don't believe he made it all the way through though.

Mike

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 07:58 PM

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 07:57 PM

Wyatt and Mattie Earp emigrated from Tombstone after the famous shoot-out or gun-down - opinions are still all over the map. The eventuallyl arrived in San Diego in the mid to late 1880's, where he invested in real estate and gambling venues (probably including prostition)and refereed prize fights. A couple of the buildings he occupied are still in existence in our "Gaslamp Quarter," in the old part of downtown. They then went to Alaska, where he did the same things to take advantage of the Klondike Gold Rush. It's odd that he "died with his boots on" in Los Angeles, surrounded by movie pals he'd made - all of whom probably bought into the legend and cared little for the real story. And, he didn't look anything like either Kurt Russell or Hugh O'Brien. Kevin Costner probably came closest visually, but made him too sympathetic a figure, as most did.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 07:40 PM

Wesley S told us:

There is a highly fictionalized account of Wyatt Earp in Hollywood called "Sunset". It stars James Garner as Earp and Bruce Willis as Tom Mix.

That sort of movie will never let you know that Wyatt Earp and his brothers were real bad-asses--bullies, gunmen, abusers of office, hated and feared by most of the populace--everything you wouldn't really want in a lawman.   Sort of the fox twisting the rooster's tail to force his appointment as Marshal of Chickencoop City.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,Neil
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 02:44 PM

Back when he was still alive Robert Johnson used to take his stepson into Clarksdale Mississippi with him where they would each take one side of the river and play for tips. Some say that the boy was so good you could close your eyes and not know which side of the river you were on.
   In the forties that boy teamed up with Sonny Boy Williamson II to broadcast the first all blues radio show (sponsored by The King Biscuit Flour Co).During his career he also played with Willie Dixon, Otis Spahn, Little Walter and Muddy Waters to name a few. He was an early influence of B.B> King who he played with in Memphis.
   His name was Robert Lockwood Jr. (aka Robert Junior Lockwood) and he was brilliant, flawless and oh so smooth. Robert died last November at the age of 91. He was still playing regular Wednsday night gigs in downtown Cleveland, Oh.
   I never regretted standing for hours in a cold rain with my long-suffering wife to see him play in 2005. Nor will I ever forget it.
   Good bye Robert. You will be missed.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Rog Peek
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 01:55 PM

Sliabh Luachra a cultural area in the South West of Ireland has a reputation for longevity in its inhabitants. One day, I was enquiring of an elderly resident the validity of this reputation.
"Is it true" I said "that people in these parts live a long life"
"It is" he replied, "the men live to a great age, and the women live forever!"

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: kendall
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 06:34 AM

Where I come from, people live a very long time. My Uncle Curt said they had to shoot his grandmother to start a graveyard.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Genie
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 01:47 AM

I hear rumors that Dick Cheney is still alive. (But some say he's mostly cyborg by now - if not zombie.)

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: astro
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:21 AM

Though, I believe his wife is....

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:19 AM

"He's not dead, Jim!"

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: astro
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:15 AM

William Shatner is alive, I used to take his parking spot at his offices, my ex works for Lily Tomlin, with offices next to his, it's labeled with Tekwar.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 11:56 PM

Slightly off topic. My grandmother was old enough to read about the Wright Brothers' flight in the newspaper. The last long visit I had with her was on her 98th birthday. She was changing planes at DFW airport and had a long layover.

Airplanes were still quite a novelty when Mom was a kid; she says everyone would run out of the house to look if one flew over. I'm not sure what year that was. I'll call her tomorrow and ask.

Then there was my grandmother's sister Goldie -- retired around 65, sat aroud for 15 years, got bored, dyed her hair jet black, and got a job. She lied about her age to the Baptists and worked as their church secretary into her 90's. I've often wondered if the Baptists every figured it out.

Back on topic. I never got to see Woody Guthrie, but I've had a number of pleasant chats with his sister Mary Jo over the years, and got to say howdy to her a couple weeks ago.
- Phil

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,Renee Bee
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 05:49 PM

I saw Doc Watson this summer!

Laura Ingalls Wilder, who was not a musician but sang, lived 1867-1957. Think about it... she saw Indians leaving the territories on horseback and World War II and atomic bomb, television, etc.

thanks Georgian for your grandfather's story. How interesting!

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Cluin
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 03:10 PM

My Dad, who just turned 70 last September went to his godmother's funeral last week. She was 98 when she died and was playing piano at the old folks home for a singalong two weeks before. When she was complimented on her playing afterwards, she replied that it would be the last time she ever played.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Rog Peek
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 01:38 PM

Sorry, I didn't realise this was a music thread. What about Sis Cunningham, she was 95 when she died in 2004.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Rog Peek
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 01:33 PM

Henry Allingham celebrated his 111th birthday on 6th June 2007.
Mr Allingham joined the Royal Naval Air Service in September 1915 before transferring to the RAF in April 1918.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1269251,00.html

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 01:30 PM

Excuse the less than enlightening void left by my last entry - I hit enter instead of tab. In my travels, I have had the chance to meet Fess Parker, for whom I once distributed wine, The Smothers Brothers, ditto, Pat Paulsen (who gave me a batch of Presidential campaign material which I still have), Fred MacMurray, Gordon, Sheila, Meredith, Heather and Gar MacRae, Sinatra, Martha Raye, Bob Newhart, Ray Milland (aka Reginald Truscott-Jones, from Wales), Bob Hope, Pedro Gonzales Gonzales, Andy Williams, Slim Pickens, Casey Tibbs, Ben Johnson (the latter three when they were performing in rodeos in my home town), General Eisenhower (before he was President), Haile Salasse of Ethiopia and many others I can't recall at the moment. The thing that resonates, the longer you live, is the number of people who populated your life; people you often took for granted as part of the fabric of your existence, who are now gone. Celebrate the ones we still have, including yourself!

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 01:13 PM

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 12:43 PM

Open Mike, Utah Phillips is one year younger than I and I can assure you I'M very much alive.

Funny no one mentioned Phil Rizutto the other day. He died at 89.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 10:46 AM

Lonesom EJ, I think that "Grandfather's Clock" was written in the 1870's. (I read once that it was one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite songs, but that obviously can't have been true.)

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Wesley S
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 09:13 AM

According to NPR this morning the great Ray Bradbury is 87 today. Salute!! Here's Ray's website

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 May 07 - 12:47 PM

Back in the late 1940s, when I became interested in old country music recordings, one of my earliest "discoveries" was Wade Mainer. Some 40 years later, I attended a festival in Brandywine, PA, and spent a happy hour or so picking with a group of old-timers. When we stopped, we introduced ourselves, and I found that I'd been playing with Wade Mainer.

He just celebrated his 100th birthday. A friendly gentleman, a fine banjo picker, with a style all his own.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Kim C
Date: 02 May 07 - 04:59 PM

I was shocked to find out that Don Ho died recently, as I thought he had already died some years back.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:57 PM

Quote:

My grandfather was born in 1887 and remembered clearly the newspapers trimmed in black at the death of Queen Victoria..he also watched the first man walk on the moon.

End quote

It's getting to where you can remember when men walked on the moon is a sign of at least middle age. :)

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 May 07 - 06:40 PM

Arnie, Wild Bill Hickok (correct spelling) died in 1876. Is that late enough for your friend's friend to have seen him? He may be recalling William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody who died in 1917 and in whose Wild West Show, Hickok once rode. Buffalo Bill continued the Wild West show long after Hickok's death. it is common for people to confuse them

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody on wikipedia

and

Wild Bill Hickok on wikipedia

Apropos of nothing, a great great nephew of Hickok's by the name of Rex Hickok became a porn star and porn director under the name Rex Cabo. He went a bit nuts a few years ago and tossed himself out a window in Long Beach. I wrote an Obit for him. it was a sad story. He was clinically depressed, had gotten deeply involved in the Church of Satan but ticked off his fellow satanists with his weird stalker-type behavior. In the end, he holed hismelf up in some down and out hotel, called his shrink threatening to jump and hit the ground just as cops arrived.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 01 May 07 - 06:27 PM

I was talking to Dick Greenhaus the other day and he casually mentioned that he had seen Lead Belly play and had met Woody Guthrie!

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 01 May 07 - 04:46 PM

Dave Oesterreich is 76! My God, is HE still alive?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 29 Apr 07 - 07:11 AM

"Doc Watson made his "last and final appearance" at the WVA Festival for about 5 years in a row some while back. Although he hasn't been back there since the final last and final final last show about 10 years ago, so far as I've heard he's still pickin'."

He's touring again. I'll miss his performance here, in Madison,WI, because I'll be touring myself.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Apr 07 - 01:00 AM

Very kewl, frogprince! Wiki on Doris Eaton Travis.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: frogprince
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 11:51 PM

By the way, if anyone thinks I'm spinning that, google "Doris Eaton Travis".

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: frogprince
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 11:43 PM

My father in law worked for years for a gent who married an ex Zigfield girl. She lied about her age to join the Follies very young, and continued a theatrical career for years. She is now 102 years old, and I believe the last living Zigfield girl. She still dances, and is so sharp that to hear her speaking you would think she was a healthy 70 or so. Years before Gene Kelly, she was the first person to sing "Singing in the Rain" on stage.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Cool Beans
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 11:22 PM

Patty Andrews, 89, last of the Andrews Sisters.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 12:15 PM

My Dad told a story about a time when he was dating my Mom, and was at her house for dinner when her Grandfather had come up from Brodhead Kentucky. This was probably around 1938. The old gent was missing the top of an ear, and my Dad was bold enough to ask about it. He had lost it in the Battle of Perryville in 1862. My Dad commented "they almost missed you" and the old man responded "almost took my head off, too!"
I remember Summer evenings on Grandpa's front porch with various family members assembled and singing "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" and "My Granfather's Clock", both songs popular during the Civil War and familiar to all of the old folks.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 11:44 AM

Jane Pittman was fiction, but it was a good story.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 11:10 AM

Art, thanks for the reminders about Paul Durst. I've always loved your stories about him.

Not musical, but I was amazed to find that Sandy Kolfax/Koufax is still around and not even as old as I thought he was:

Forty-one years after he retired from baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax was the final player chosen in the draft to stock the six teams for the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League.

Koufax, 71, was picked by the Modi'in Miracle in the draft conducted by former major league general manager Dan Duquette, who heads baseball operations for the league.

Subject: RE: My god, is he still alive!
From: GUEST,Mike B.
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 08:27 PM

I once saw a movie on TV about an African American woman born into slavery who lived long enough to participate in Dr. King's civil rights movement during the 1960s ("Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" or something like that) - but I think it was a fictional story.