Free Republic

Consensus at meeting: Remove Stephen Foster statue Among the more two dozen people who spoke Wednesday evening before the city’s Art Commission Wednesday, most wanted the Stephen Foster statue along the Oakland stretch of Forbes Avenue to be taken down or moved somewhere less visible. But few speakers were as hostile as Billy Hileman. “You should melt the metal part down and recoup a little bit of [money],” said the educator and veteran activist during the hour-long hearing. “And then maybe make gravel out of the pedestal.” That drew laughter from a crowd of more than 60, but Mr. Hileman...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QVWAUrpH1o Pockets were burning with yesterday’s pay his heart was churnin he must get away He was determined that some kind of day had come- In California there’s nothin but stars, tomorrow mornin gonna be where they are. Neighbors were warnin “the boy’s a little too far fetched” You’ll bite the dust kid, you might get busted. Somebody on the tube just did. California is a Mental State, too little time with an overdose of Fate Lose your turn when you hesitate. Find yourself while you find your fortune. Lose yourself while you lose your fortune. Hook Line and Singer,...

Fans haven’t lost that lovin’ feeling for her. Legendary songwriter Cynthia Weil, the muse behind “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and countless other hits, passed away Thursday evening at 82. Weil’s daughter Dr. Jenn Mann confirmed the icon’s death in a statement to TMZ. “My mother, Cynthia Weil, was the greatest mother, grandmother and wife our family could ever ask for,” she wrote. “She was my best friend, confidant and my partner in crime and an idol and trailblazer for women in music.” As of yet, the cause of death has yet to be revealed. Born in 1940 in New...

A 22 year-old rapper has been arrested on suspicion of shooting and killing six people at a July 4 parade in an affluent Chicago suburb. Robert 'Bobby' Crimo III was intercepted by cops in North Lake Forest, Chicago, after 7pm local time Monday evening when cops saw the silver Honda Fit he was last seen driving. Dramatic photographs from the scene show the suspected mass-murderer - who posted creepy clips about shooting massacres online - being pinned to the ground face-down by police. Cops say Crimo opened fire from a rooftop, into a crowd who at first confused the sound...

Darrell Brooks – the alleged driver in the Waukesha parade killings - repeatedly was caught, processed, and intentionally released on violanet crime charges including felony assault just two days before the parade. SNIP The alleged perpetrator is known; the motive, however, is in doubt. Darrell Brooks, a 38-year-old rapper with a long rap sheet, is the alleged driver of the vehicle. Early reports point to two possibilities: either he did this on purpose, as an intentional terror attack, or he and his cronies were fleeing an earlier crime – reportedly, a stabbing – and he made the horrible choice of...

John Prine, who for five decades wrote rich, plain-spoken songs that chronicled the struggles and stories of everyday working people and changed the face of modern American roots music, died Tuesday at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 73. The cause was complications related to COVID-19, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone. Prine, who left behind an extraordinary body of folk-country classics, was hospitalized last month after the sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and was placed in intensive care for 13 days.

Mentor Williams, a longtime Taos resident and nationally known singer-songwriter, died at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday (Nov. 16), according to a family source. Williams was best known for writing "Drift Away", a middle-of-the-road playlist classic performed by Dobie Gray in 1973. He is the brother of songwriter-actor Paul Williams, according to an online biography.

http://www.cmt.com/news/1771190/songwriter-john-d-loudermilk-dead-at-82/

A great American songwriter has passed awayLA Freeway

Soul-jazz legend Terry Callier has passed away after an extended illness. He was found dead by Luther Adams at his home. More information will be provided as this story develops, but we are deeply saddened by his passing. Terry Callier was born in the Chicago, and raised in the Cabrini–Green housing area. He learned piano, was a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield, Major Lance and Jerry Butler, and began singing in doo-wop groups in his teens.

Songwriter Robert Sherman, best known for penning the infectious Disney tunes “It’s a Small World After All” and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," died Monday, March 5 in London.

Dory Previn, the lyricist for three Oscar-nominated songs who as a composer and performer mined her difficult childhood, bouts of mental illness and a very public divorce to create a potent and influential personal songbook, died on Tuesday at her home in Southfield, Mass. She was 86... Her early success came in Hollywood, writing songs for the movies, generally as a lyricist working with her husband, André Previn, who later earned fame as a classical composer and conductor...

Paul Leka, a songwriter and producer who worked with many recording stars but who was best known for writing the chanting chorus of “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye),” a No. 1 hit in 1969 that was reborn in the 1970s as a sports arena anthem, died on Oct. 12 in a hospice near his home in Sharon, Conn. He was 68. The cause was lung cancer, said his brother, George. Mr. Leka made his name in the Tin Pan Alley tradition, writing or arranging songs for other people. He wrote and produced “Green Tambourine,” a No. 1 hit...

This comes as a complete shock to me as I’m sure it will with most of you. David Hess, an absolute icon in the genre and someone who portrayed a character known as “Krug” in Wes Craven’s Last House On The Left has always left a withstanding impression upon me. His character truly scared me to the bone as with all his characters he portrayed.

EXCERPT: Fred Imus, younger brother of WABC morning host Don Imus and a long-time songwriter and radio host himself, was found dead Saturday at his home in Tucson, Ariz. He was 69. He was reportedly found in his trailer after he failed to show up for "Fred's Trailer Park Bash," a weekend show he cohosted with Don Collier and "Missy" on Sirius XM's Outlaw Country channel

A Dream A Lot Like Mine(Click here for audio. It will open in a new window, so you can listen and follow along simultaneously.) From time to time I wonder if she ever has a dream a lot like mine Where wrong we did back then is back again An’ hittin’ right between the eyes Like the life that we denied because it somehow seemed not worth the sacrifice Of things we thought we needed–now long vanished–and still I pay the price And, from time to time, I wonder if she ever has a dream a lot like mine Each...

Robert “Bobby” Charles Guidry, the gifted, reclusive southwest Louisiana songwriter who crafted hits for Fats Domino, Frogman Henry and Bill Haley & the Comets, died early Thursday after collapsing at home in Abbeville, his manager said. He was 71.

Ellie Greenwich, who has died aged 68, co-wrote some of the most enduring pop songs of the 1960s and collaborated with the "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector on such classics as Da Doo Ron Ron, Be My Baby (both 1963), and River Deep – Mountain High (1966).

Kenny Rankin, a brilliant pop vocalist and highly regarded musician-songwriter whose stylings ranged from jazz to pop to the world music influences he picked up as a child in New York, has died of complications related to lung cancer, his record company announced Monday. He was 69.

Music and real estate mogul Kenny Gamble, alternatively known as Luqman Abdul Haqq, is one of the most powerful men in Philadelphia -- and also among the most controversial. His effort to revitalize dilapidated South Philly neighborhoods stands at the center of the storm. While he grandiosely links his projects to "the saving of America," others have accused him of constructing a "black Muslim enclave." Gamble's story encompasses several themes that define the Islamist enterprise in the West: Muslim lobby groups steeped in radicalism, highly motivated individuals with two-track agendas, and feckless governments that unwittingly enable them. Therefore, Gamble provides...