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Legendary Film Director Ken Russell has died

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The film director Ken Russell died peacefully in his sleep yesterday, he was 84. Russell was one of England’s greatest, most important and influential film directors, whose work revolutionized television and cinema. Russell will be remembered for his original TV docu-dramas, Elgar, The Debussy Film, Delius: The Song of Summer, and Dance of the Seven Veils, and for his cinematic work, Women in Love, The Devils, The Boyfriend, The Music Lovers, Savage Messiah, Mahler, the rock opera Tommy, Altered States, Gothic, Crimes of Passion, Lair of the White Worm, Salome’s Last Dance and The Rainbow.

The term genius is over-used these days to describe third-rate karaoke singers, but in its proper use, as a person of extraordinary intellect and talent, Ken Russell was a genius, and his films are without question some of the greatest cinematic works ever produced. As film writer Tim Lucas noted this morning:

I am reading that Ken Russell has died, and there is nothing else to do but damn the mediocrity that’s outlived him and be immensely grateful for all he gave us—in my case, many films that changed my way of seeing things, and a few that literally changed my life. There was no other film director like him, and we will not see his like again.

Born Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell in Southampton, England, on July 3 1927, to Ethel and Henry Russell. His father owned a shop and was distant and bad tempered, which led to the young Ken spending much of his childhood with his mother watching films in the local picture house. It was here that he saw Fritz Lang’s Die Nibelungen, which inspired Russell towards film-making.
 

 
Ken Russell’s full obituary, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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11.28.2011
09:33 am
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Reggae star DJ Smiley Culture dies during police drugs raid
03.15.2011
01:26 pm
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Eighties Reggae star, DJ Smiley Culture has died during a police drugs raid at his home, in Surrey, England. A report on Sky News reads:

The musician, real name David Emmanuel, 48, apparently died from self-inflicted wounds.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation, after the incident was voluntarily reported to it by Scotland Yard.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police had called at his home in Warlingham, Surrey, as part of a series of raids during a drugs investigation.

It is believed he died in the kitchen of the house after police tried to resuscitate him.

Surrey police were called to the house during the incident. It is understood other suspects were arrested at other addresses during the series of raids.

Smiley Culture had a short burst of fame in the 1980s with singles “Cockney Translation” and “Police Officer” which both reached the singles charts and led to appearances on BBC’s Top of the Pops.

As his pop career diminished he turned to acting, with a cameo appearance in the film Absolute Beginners.

In September last year he was charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and appeared at Croydon Magistrates Court.

 
Update

Coroner’s Officer Carole Hall told Woking Coroner’s Court on Friday 18 March that singer, DJ Smiley Culture, real name David Emmanuel, aged 48, had died from a self-inflicted stab wound to the chest. His death occurred at the scene despite attempts at resuscitation.

The report raised serious questions about the death: firstly, why Mr. Emmanuel had been allowed, while in police custody, to enter another room (the kitchen) “to make a cup of tea”.

Secondly, it was reported Emmanuel was “calm” at the time of the raid, which goes counter to the violent force necessary for Emmanuel to kill himself, as the knife entered his chest, and pierced the other side.

Reports in the UK press have also questioned the coroner’s report and the family have asked for an independent inquiry into Mr Emmanuel’s death.

At a press conference in Brixton, London, held after the coroner’s report, the singer’s nephew, Merlin Emmanuel said:

We haven’t had a clear, coherent, official explanation as to what happened to Smiley.

‘The police have a lot to answer to. Until our questions, queries and suspicions have been fully and competently answered to dispel any notion of foul play, we will not rest.

‘Fact – Smiley Culture died at his home from a single stab wound whilst in police custody, while they let him go and make a cup of tea.’

 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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03.15.2011
01:26 pm
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A great rock hero died 30 years ago: Darby Crash
12.08.2010
05:51 pm
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May he rest in peace. And somebody get him a beer…
 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
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12.08.2010
05:51 pm
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Bob Guccione ascends to the penthouse of absolute reality: R.I.P.
10.21.2010
03:45 am
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Me and Guccione had the same dentist in Manhattan. I’d see him gliding thru the waiting room glittering with bling bling like King Tut. Bob’s testosterone fogged my Italian wraparounds. The cat had presence. 

Bob Guccione, who founded Penthouse magazine in the 1960s and built a pornographic media empire that broke taboos, outraged the guardians of taste and made billions before drowning in a slough of bad investments and Internet competition, died Wednesday in Plano, Tex., The Associated Press reported. He was 79.


NY Times obit here.

Penthouse was to Playboy what The Rolling Stones were to The Beatles. I came down on the side of The Stones.
 
Guccione produced the big-budget soft-core epic Caligula. Here he is commenting on the censoring of the film:
 

 

 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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10.21.2010
03:45 am
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Reggae in Mourning: R.I.P. Sugar Minott

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Heartbreaking news has come out of the death at 54 yesterday of the well-loved reggae singer, songwriter, producer and promoter Lincoln Barrington “Sugar” Minott. Born and raised in the ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica, Minott spent his teen years in the city’s sound system scene and recording for Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s legendary Studio One label. The albums he released at this time, like Live Loving, Ghetto-ology and Roots Lovers—along with singles like “Herbman Hustling” and “Rub a Dub Sound Style”—laid the groundwork for the gritty, soulful dancehall sound that reggae would work into for the next 20 years.

Minott was best known for breaking with Jamaica’s soul-singer tradition, which saw many crooners brandishing a refined style that aped American artists. Sugar was sweet, but not slick. Minott would eventually leave Studio One to start his Black Roots label and Youthman Promotion sound system in order to help out young singers also coming out in Kingston’s ghettos. He’s responsible for early recording or performances of legends like Ranking Joe, Barry Brown, Tenor Saw, Little John, Tony Tuff, Barrington Levy, Horace Andy, Nitty Gritty, Junior Reid, Yami Bolo, Daddy Freddy and Garnett Silk.

You’ll see evidence of his popularity below, as Minott can’t get through his first tune at his first Reggae Sunsplash in 1983 without the crowd demanding he pull up and bring it again.
 

 
But you got the best of Sugar in his element, singing with the youths in the dancehall—or in this case, Maxfield Park in Kingston, where his Youthman Promotions sound regularly performed:
 

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Posted by Ron Nachmann
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07.11.2010
11:57 am
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