John Drilling

 

John Drilling, a legendary television anchor/reporter at WITI 6 (first a CBS, then Fox affiliate), has passed away. He was 86. 

For 30 years Drilling was a staple on the Milwaukee airwaves, anchoring the noon news for WITI from 1975 until his retirement in 1998. A man with the reputation of a no-nonsense, just the facts reporter, he did this city proud.

RIP sir. 

Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson, the fundamentalist Christian broadcaster who made a serious run for the Presidency in 1988, died today at 93. 

Robertson is credited with helping move conservative Christianity into the Republican camp, but what I remember him most for is a memory of my childhood, from when I was eight or nine: my Mom warning me never to watch Robertson's syndicated 700 Club television program. Perhaps her reasoning was political, but more likely it was about how his fundamentalist outlook clashed with our Catholicism. 

None-the-less, as a child, and without an explanation for the ban, I was left with the misguided impression that there was something inherently evil about the show, like they were encouraging open violence or devil worship. At 49, I can honestly say I have still to watch so much as a half hour of the show because of that memory LOL

RIP

Tina Turner

 On June 29th, 1997, Lisa and I attended a concert at the Marcus Amphitheater during Summerfest, Milwaukee's lakefront music festival. We watched a very pregnant Cyndi Lauper open the night, which was a nice bit of nostalgia,  and then the great Tina Turner took the stage. 

Here's the setlist from that day: 

1. Whatever You Want
2. Do What You Do
3. River Deep, Mountain High
4. Missing You
5. In Your Wildest Dreams
6. GoldenEye
7. Private Dancer
8. We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
9. Let's Stay Together
10. Undercover Agent for the Blues
11. I Can't Stand the Rain
12. Steamy Windows
13. Givin' It Up for Your Love
14. Better Be Good to Me
15. Addicted to Love
16. The Best
17. What's Love Got to Do With It
18. Proud Mary
19. Nutbush City Limits
20. On Silent Wings
21. Something Beautiful Remains

Cyndi Lauper setlist:

1. Ballad of Cleo & Joe
2. I Drove All Night
3. Time After Time
4. You Don't Know
5. Sisters of Avalon
6. Money Changes Everything

Tina Turner died today at age 83. There's nothing I can write about her life that hasn't been documented better elsewhere: her rise to fame, her abusive marriage, her time in the entertainment wilderness, her magnificent comeback. 

So I will merely say this:  thank you for a heckuva show. RIP. 

Jim Brown

 

Jim Brown, the only NFL rusher to average more than 100 yards per game for his career, and arguably the greatest player in NFL history, has died at 87.

 His playing career preceded my birth, and my memory of him is completely unrelated to his athletic life: I know him as Ruffo, the mercenary friend of Rod Taylor in the graphic 1968 action movie Dark of the Sun.  

 RIP

Vida Blue

RIP to the great Oakland pitcher, three time World Champion, Vida Blue.

Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian singer/songwriter who immortalized the doomed Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald, died yesterday at age 84. 

RIP, and may the crew of the Fitzgerald guide you home. 

Jerry Springer

The morbid streak continues. 

Jerrry Springer, Cincinnati mayor turned host of the raunchiest of talk shows, has passed at age 79. 

RIP

 

Harry Belafonte

Continuing the rather somber tone of this site lately, Harry Belafonte - pop singer, actor, and activist - has died at age 96. 

Rest in peace sir. 

Len Goodman

Dancing with the Stars regular Len Goodman, the British ballroom dancer turned reality show judge, has died of bone cancer at 78.

 RIP. 

Elizabeth Hubbard

Elizabeth Hubbard, the Emmy winning actress who played the capable, scheming Lucinda Walsh on As the World Turns, has died at age 89. I remember her performance well, as it was my Mom's favorite soap opera.  

RIP

Anne Perry

Anne Perry, the crime novelist who, as a teenager, helped murder her best friend's mother - a crime immortalized in the Kate Winslet movie Heavenly Creatures - has died at 84.

RIP

Lance Reddick

Lance Reddick, the actor who's suave but creepy characters graced The Wire, Lost, and the John Wick franchise, died suddenly today at age 60.

RIP.

Robert Blake

Robert Blake, the actor whose career stretched from The Little Rascals, to In Cold Blood, to the success of the TV show Baretta - but who is probably best known for being acquitted in the murder of his wife -  has died at 89. 

RIP. 

David O'Connell

David O'Connell, 69, the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles was found dead of a gunshot wound in his home. 

By all accounts, he was beloved by the community he served. 

To quote an NPR article, "Immigration attorney Linda Dakin-Grimm said O'Connell was "there for every child and family I have represented. Always. Helping, supporting and generally being the face of Jesus for me and many many others."

Rest in peace.  

Eternal rest grant unto him  O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. May the soul of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Richard Belzer

Richard Belzer, the former comedian turned actor who played the same character through 22 years on Homicide: Life On The Streets and Law and Order: SVU, has died at 78.

RIP

80 years ago today a Milwaukee Woman Was Beheaded on the Hitler's Direct Orders - The Life of Mildred Harnack

Born in Milwaukee, and a graduate of West Division High School (now Milwaukee High School of the Arts) and UW-Madison, Mildred Harnack was 26 when she moved to Germany to pursue a PhD.

As an American grad student in Berlin, she saw Germany swiftly descend into a fascist dictatorship. She and her husband Arvid began holding secret meetings in their apartment. She recruited working-class Germans into the resistance, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and wrote leaflets that denounced Hitler and called for revolution.

The Gestapo arrested her on Sept 7, 1942 and postwar testimony attests to the daily interrogation and torture she endured.

Mildred and 75 of her German co conspirators were tried before the highest military court in Nazi Germany. A panel of judges sentenced her to six years in prison but Hitler personally overruled the decision and ordered her execution

On February 16, 1943 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin, she was strapped to a guillotine and beheaded. As far as is known, she was the sole American in the leadership of the German resistance during WWII.

May she continue to RIP

Tim McCarver

Tim McCarver, the All-Star catcher whose career spanned four decades, and who later spent another four decades in the broadcast booth, has died of heart failure. He was 81. 

He was often criticized for being overly-analytical on TV, but I liked his work, and I can still hear his distinctive voice in my head. 

RIP sir. You did well. 

 

Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch, the actress and sex symbol whose beauty transcended the decades, died yesterday at 82. 

My introduction to her? Watching Fantastic Voyage on TV as a kid, and feeling some grown up feelings when her skintight suit was covered by antibodies that had to be ripped off her body LOL 

RIP 

Ofc. Peter Jerving.

 

Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving was shot and killed by a suspect near 14th and Cleveland overnight.  The officer returned fire, fatally wounding his own killer. 

In an odd twist of fate, four years ago yesterday another officer, John Rittner, was shot and killed only blocks from last night's scene - and Lisa and I know the area well, and I consider it my (extended) childhood neighborhood. 

To make the events even more tragic, the killer had that very day been given a suspended sentence by a  Judge for a 2021 hit and run. I understand the jails are crowded, and that not every vehicular crime necessitates time behind bars; the sentence might have been the correct move. But man, what a tragic decision it turned out to be. 

RIP Officer, RIP. 

64 Years Since the Music Died

 

64 years ago, in a lonely cornfield in Iowa, the future of Rock 'N Roll left this Earth. 

Imagine striking down Lennon and McCarthy after Rubber Soul, with their greatest work, their greatest influence, left to come. It would have been the only comparable tragedy. 

RIP Buddy. You are still missed.