Bartender Geek

Celebrity Death Watch - August 2025 Linda Hodes was a dancer and choreographer who was closely associated with both Martha Graham and the Batsheva Company in Israel. Loni Anderson was an actress, who was most famous for appearing in WKRP in Cincinnati. Paul Vincent Davis was a puppeteer. Jane Morgan was a pop singer, most famous for the song “Fascination.” Eddie Palmer was a pianist, composer, and bandleader. Antony Maitland wrote and illustrated children’s books. Gary Theroux was a rock historian. David Ketchum played Agent 13 on Get Smart. Bobby Whitlock was a singer and songwriter, who performed with Derek and the Dominos and with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Cool John Ferguson was a blues guitarist. Louis Naidorf was an architect who designed several significant buildings in Los Angeles, including the Capitol Records Building. Jackie Bezos was Jeff’s mother. Greg Iles was a novelist and was part of the musical group, Rock Bottom Remainders, with several other authors such as Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Matt Groening. Dan Tana was the proprietor of an Italian restaurant favored by Hollywood personalities. Joe Hickerson was the Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and is credited with creating some folk songs, including some of the verses to “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Gene Espy was the second person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Maurice Tempelsman was a diamond magnate and the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Ruth Paine was a teacher who housed Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife, Marina, in her home for several months, and in whose garage Oswald stored the rifle he used for the Kennedy assassination. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote historical horror novels about the Count of Saint-Germain, a vampire.

Jim Lovell commanded the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 missions. He was one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice, but he never walked on it.

William H. Webster directed the FBI from 1978 to 1987 and the CIA from 1987 through 1991. He was the only person to have held both of those positions. He was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 14 points.

Tony Saletan was a folk singer. He is credited with the rediscovery in the 1950’s of the songs “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and “Kumbaya.” He was also the first musical guest to appear on Sesame Street.


Celebrity Death Watch - September 2025: Graham Greene was a Canadian Oneida actor, most famous for appearing in Dances With Wolves. Darleane Hoffman was a nuclear chemist. Ken Dryden was a Hall of Fame ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens. Mark Volman was a founding member of The Turtles and later performed as Flo in Flo & Eddie, as well as playing with The Mothers of Invention. Rick Davies was the founder, vocalist, and keyboardist for Supertramp. Marilyn Diamond wrote books promoting a diet for longevity. Ann Granger was a prolific writer of mysteries. Philippe Goddin wrote several books of literary criticism about Tintin. Polly Holliday was an actress, best known for playing Flo in the sitcom Alice. Robert D. Maurer did not invent optical fiber but did develop it into a viable technology. Bobby Hart wrote the song “Last Train to Clarksville.” Charlie Kirk was a MAGA icon. Thomas Perry wrote thrillers. Marilyn Hagerty wrote a newspaper column for the Grand Forks Herald and became famous for her review of the food at Olive Garden. George Smoot was a Nobel Prize laureate in physics. Sonny Curtis performed with The Crickets and wrote the song “I Fought the Law.” Marian Burros was a food writer for The New York Times. Aaron Bielski (aka Aaron Bell) had been the last surviving brother of a family of partisans during World War II. Henry Jaglom wrote and directed very weird films, e.g. Eating. Claudia Cardinale was a movie actress. Danny Thompson was the bassist for Pentangle. Patricia Crowther was a British occultist. Belva Davis was the first African-American woman to become a television reporter on the U.S. West Coast. Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford. Chris Dreja played guitar for The Yardbirds. Russell M. Nelson was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lally Weymouth was the last member of the Graham family to be affiliated with he Washington Post, which helped her get a lot of high profile interviews, e.g. with Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi, and Benazir Bhutto.

Davey Jonson was a second baseman, primarily for the Orioles, and later managed several teams, including the Mets from 1984-1990 (which includes their 1986 World Series win) and the Nationals from 2011-2013, which includes their first division title since they moved to Washington, D.C.

David Baltimore won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for his work on reverse transcriptase. He helped establish the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. He later became president of Rockefeller University and of CalTech.

Robert Redford was an actor and director. He was one of the heart throbs for my generation, particularly for The Way We Were. He also co-founded the Sundance Film Festival. In high school, one of my friends had a huge crush on him. A few of us went to a John Denver concert at Madison Square Garden, but her parents wouldn’t let her go. When we told her we had seen Robert Redford at the concert, she dropped the stack of books she was holding!

Ashleigh Brilliant was an epigrammist and cartoonist. His Pot-Shots were sold primarily in head shops during my teenage years. A few of my favorites of his epigrams include “I feel much better now that I’ve given up hope,” “Appreciate me now and avoid the rush.” and “I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.”

Celebrity Death Watch - October 2025 (so far): Edward J. Kennedy was a former mayor of Lowell ad a member of the Massachusetts Senate. Patricia Rutledge was an actress, best known for playing Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances. Ivan Klima was a Czech writer and playwright. Silly Cooper was a romance novelist.

Jane Goodall was a primatologist who spent more than 60 years researching the lives of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. She wrote 32 books, including 15 for children.