Rolling Obituary Thread 2026

The thread of the dead.

James Grauerholz, William S. Burroughs' longtime assistant/manager/editor/everything else. When I called Burroughs in Kansas to request an interview as a high school student, I spoke to Grauerholz. (Didn't get the interview.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3atJxdNJGc

(xpost)

Legendary Japanese psych-rock guitarist Munehiro Narita (High Rise, etc.).

Damn shame I never saw him live.

co-founder of Sega Games David Rosen, 95
(also a pilot in the Korean War!)

Andrew Bodnar, bassist for (Graham Parker &) the Rumour who also appeared on Nick Lowe's "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" with Bob Andrews (both got a co-writing credit), Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives," The Pretenders' Learning to Crawl, and a few of Garland Jeffreys's best records.

correction, he played on the Pretenders' cover of "Thin Line Between Love and Hate," not the entire album

Molly Parkin, painter novelist and journalist, 93

Andrew Bodnar was a favorite of mine, RIP :( Glad I got to see one of the Rumour reunion shows.

biographer/author Michael Schumacher, aged 75

i’d forgotten all about molly parkin. i used to have some sort of vague ongoing connection with her - it must have been back when i worked in a bookshop.

Béla Tarr

Only 70, I had assumed he was quite a bit older

Dunno why you would associate him with longevity

Bye bye Béla

damn, one of the greats imo. RIP Bela

RIP Béla, I will endeavour to actually watch Sátántangó this year in your honour. I've only had it on DVD for what, ten years?

RIP

RIP, Werckmeister Harmonies would be in my top 10 films of this century. One of these days I'll rewatch Sátántangó too.

I've got the Curzon box and have been trying to motivate myself enough to crack it open. Guess this is it.

i had about half the curzon box on £5 dvds from fopp so i didn't bother, but there's a lot of non-feature extras and it's a bump in quality. expensive though.

So did I but mine was a present so yay for me I guess.

Extremely sad news to wake up to. I'm glad he lived long enough to see his all of his work return to circulation in spectacular quality - it used be so difficult to see his films and even more difficult to do so in decent quality. (One of my most memorable filmgoing experiences was seeing Sátántangó in 35mm at Lincoln Center, years after the DVD fell out-of-print and years before it was finally restored in 4K.)

Only 70, I had assumed he was quite a bit older

I saw him at his last NYC appearance 16 months ago, and I was stunned how unhealthy he looked. In 2011, he was at the NYFF to present his final film, and on that gorgeous, unseasonably warm October afternoon, he walked onstage and said "what are you doing here? It's beautiful outside!" He looked great striding along with the ponytail and the shades on his head.

In fact, you can see him here at the free talk he gave at the festival (maybe even the same day):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxHNl2H8IO0

Now flash forward to June 2023, and he looked frail and physically unsteady, hunched over and tremoring while using a cane. I would've guessed he was easily in his 70s, maybe in his 80s. (He was 68.)

But he was still as sharp as ever and still had the same fire - when someone asked about making a film, he got worked up, whipped out his iPhone and basically said: "You have THIS in your pocket. You don't need anything else, just fucking make your movie and don't let anyone else tell you that you can't."

Afterwards he sat outside, smoking another cigarette (I'm guessing he never cut back) and when people asked him to sign their DVD's, he agreed while saying "promise not to sell this, I already saw one script I signed yesterday on fucking eBay."

He was never going to make another movie, but he was dedicated to mentoring and teaching new and uncompromising filmmakers. An Elephant Sitting Still is perhaps the best film made from one such filmmaker, though sadly the same person committed suicide before it ever saw release.)

(IIRC that free talk was probably the same day and before his film was scheduled to play - he probably gave the talk and walked over to Alice Tully afterwards. The NYFF's schedule is usually packed pretty tight that way.)

Martin Chivers, footballer.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jan/07/martin-chivers-former-tottenham-england-southampton-striker-dies-aged-80

Aldrich Ames, CIA agent who spied for the Soviet Union - died in prison, aged 84

The NYT obituary for Ames is a very entertaining read in its vociferousness. RIP to all those people Ames exposed

Michael Reagan

Rest In Piss

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the city's paper of record.

(Actually, it won't officially die until May 3.)

Just read about Bob Pulford, a Leaf mainstay when I was a kid and watched hockey:

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2026/01/06/bob-pulford-the-engine-of-the-maple-leaf-dynasty-in-the-1960s/

In the HOF, too. 16 seasons, never more than 30 goals, never fewer than 10.

Terry Yorath, ex dirty Leeds scum

I used to deal with him when I worked in the bookies when he was Jacko's assistant. He was such a rude, arrogant glowering presence. If you knocked him back on a price that had gone his puce bald head would start glowing an even brighter shade of puce. Horrible guy. tbh.

So RIP then?

Looked like a serious boozer to me.

peace was not a word to associate with Tel!

oh he was a boozer, in fact he was let go during his last period at Town for a drink driving incident

Actually from late 2025:

Marcia Rodd, actress who was very memorable (actually unbelievable) in Alan Arkin's Little Murders (1971) which was her film debut after doing Broadway, and was also acclaimed for her work in Jonathon Demme's Handle with Care, aka Citizens Band (1977), 87.

Yorath's son died in front of him aged 15 and he, being an unreconstructed man of a certain age, decided on drinking rather than counselling (according to a clip I just saw there).

Gabby Logan is his daughter and that's why she disappeared in the middle of MOTD last night.

Marcia Rodd also played Maude's daughter Carol in the All In The Family episode that was a backdoor pilot for Maude, but quit after the show was picked up for series and was replaced by Adrienne Barbeau.

I used to deal with him when I worked in the bookies when he was Jacko's assistant. He was such a rude, arrogant glowering presence. If you knocked him back on a price that had gone his puce bald head would start glowing an even brighter shade of puce. Horrible guy. tbh.

― calzino, Thursday, 8 January 2026 11:17 (seven hours ago)

So RIP then?

― Wilfried Nuance (Tom D.), Thursday, 8 January 2026 11:25 (seven hours ago)

Rest in puce, surely?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/movies/bahram-beyzaie-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DVA.y69j.Vha3CKOF6pCF&smid=nytcore-ios-share

RIP Bahram Beyzaie, pioneer in Iranian film and theatre

T.K. Carter, best known for playing Nauls in The Thing

Bob Weir

British character actor Derek Martin.

Lovely memory here from The Curious Orange.

Farewell Derek Martin. R.I.P.

Derek once came in to do a Fat Fighters sketch. Marjorie introduces him to the group, "he plays a character from EastEnders, but not one of the main ones". Derek roared with laughter. He was a really good sport & top bloke.https://t.co/6zozl0Da6R

— Paul Putner (@RealPaulPutner) January 11, 2026

92! I had not idea he was that old.

The thumbnail made me think Matt Lucas had died and was somehow 92.

erich von däniken (90)

https://childofatlantis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/img_0141.png

My strongest memories of Dave Kendall are a) hearing a rumor that he was bald and wore a wig that looked like that, and b) watching him get booed offstage introducing Laibach at the Limelight in 1992 (the Kapital tour).

RIP! I would do an imitation of Dave Kendall's accent introducing the UK acts I only heard about through 120 Minutes: "Up next, videos from Inspiral Carpets . . . Charlatans UK . . . ." His voice is just imprinted in my brain.

same here. i videotaped the show every week from fall ‘89 to when I went away to college in fall ‘91.

RIP Mary Morello, mother of Tom, age 102

based on her Wikipedia article and my knowledge of her son, it indeed seems that he did what she told him.

RIP! I would do an imitation of Dave Kendall's accent introducing the UK acts I only heard about through 120 Minutes: "Up next, videos from Inspiral Carpets . . . Charlatans UK . . . ." His voice is just imprinted in my brain.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, 15 July 2026 10:15 (three hours ago)

I cannot see the name "Swervedriver" without hearing it in Kendall's accent & cadence in my head RIP

RIP! I would do an imitation of Dave Kendall's accent introducing the UK acts I only heard about through 120 Minutes: "Up next, videos from Inspiral Carpets . . . Charlatans UK . . . ." His voice is just imprinted in my brain.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, 15 July 2026 10:15 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh, I only ever saw one of those, but I nicked it, for a J&MC video compilation I made, his announcement: ".. The JESUS AND MARY CHAIN !!! "

Pat Oliphant (very much in the category of people I had no idea were still alive)

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/arts/pat-oliphant-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x1A.8g-9.Du8YD1I_gV4R&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Alan Walden, who managed Otis Redding and Lynyrd Skynyrd, dies at 83

I hope all his other clients had the good sense to take the bus.

RIP Denise Oliver-Velez from cancer at 78- political activist, feminist, journalist, program director of WPFW, community organizer, anthropologist, and the former Minister of Economic Development of The Young Lords Party and member of the Black Panther Party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Oliver-Velez

Also this--

She and her friends in Queens formed their own girl group in the city. Lou Reed was working in Queens in the mid 60s in the music business before the Velvet Underground she told me, and the line in his song Walk on the Wild Side, “And the colored girls go: Doo, do doo, do do doo…,” was about her girl group. Her group never cut a record, but a young Dee was on the cover of a compilation album released by a well know local DJ. My husband found the album a few years back. That was a thrill being able to tell her about his find.

She told me about being on tour as a back-up singer for Dionne Warwick in Baltimore and DC and meeting Otis Redding who was on the same tour. Dee helped Ms. Warwick with costume changes. The clothes were elaborate and amazing.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/16/800070902/community/denise-was-is-and-always-will-be-a-magical-being/

RIP Sir Garfield, a titan of sport

Brenda Fricker, 81.

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZUVL3SqqZo

:-(

Brenda Fricker, 81.

― cryptosicko, Friday, 17 July 2026 15:35 (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Have already seen a Home Alone 2 actress Brenda Fricker has died aged 81 headline

Inevitable. Even Letterboxd used a still from Home Alone 2 on their Instagram.

I hear that Oscar winning actress that was in Casualty and My Left Foot has died.

Fricker?

No but I kissed her on the cheek once.

nice

Looking up her role in Home Alone 2 ... "Central Park Pigeon Woman"??

Not just any Central Park Pigeon Woman, the Central Park Pigeon Woman.

That's two Home Alone 2 actresses this year.

damn it's like the Poltergeist curse

the wrong home alone 2 people keep dying

@ jaymc, to be fair to her, Central Park Pigeon Woman was a major character despite going unnamed... essentially the warmed-over rewrite of the Roberts Blossom old-man-next-door character in the first film.

There's a whole SNL sketch with Kristen Wiig & Melissa Villasenor about the Pigeon Woman from five years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsR7tsnOjbU

Plas Johnson :(

Whoa, he was born in Donaldsonville.

Freddy Cannon, rock & roll singer, 89.

https://variety.com/2026/music/obituaries-people-news/freddy-cannon-dead-palisades-park-rocker-1236815495/

Jennifer Finch of the band L7, 59

ugh

Jeez, that was tragically fast, didn't she just reveal her diagnosis last week or so?

Yeah, it was just five days ago the GoFundMe appeal went out

RIP to a real legend. gutted

Fuck cancer! RIP.

xxxpost: sounds more like surgeries going wrong and then a decision, imho

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/l7-jennifer-finch-dead-obituary-1235595523/

Earlier this month, Finch announced that she was undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. When the musician was first diagnosed, it was believed her condition would be easily treated with radiation, but complications required her to undergo multiple surgeries. The procedures left her with severe physical limitations, and she required extensive medical care afterward. (In 2011, Finch was also diagnosed with thyroid cancer.)

It can be all those things. The news came through while I was watching Iggy Pop last night at Mosswood Meltdown -- between today's lineup featuring Bikini Kill as headliner, Frightwig earlier on in the day and John Waters as regular MC, and more, I have a feeling we'll be hearing her mentioned many times. Rightly.

From the last time I saw them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgf1m_a7eC4

Pretend We're Dead is a perfect song. I remember seeing them support Faith No More at Brixton when I was 17 or so, my first big rock gig with friends (rather than my parents). They'd appeared on The Word earlier that week, the infamous appearance where Donita (I think?) dropped her trousers as the credits ran. Some of my crew were very focused on the possibility of this happening again at Brixton, but it did not. But, fucking hell, did they rock, so hard.

saw a memorable double bill of L7 and the Melvins more than 30 years ago!

Kevin Keegan:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/20/kevin-keegan-liverpool-legend-and-former-newcastle-manager-dies-aged-75

RIP

Oh shame, RIP KK.

rip

Glad he got to say goodbye.

The current regime made clear Keegan was always welcome back at St James’ Park. That was after his stage four cancer had been revealed in a series of speaking engagements in May 2026, one of which in Newcastle was, in retrospect, a heartfelt farewell to the fans to whom he had always felt closest. After that draining but exhilarating evening Keegan’s associates reported that he was in high spirits, energised by the reconnection with the fans who loved him most.

x-post - saw Freddy Boom Boom Cannon do "Tallahassee Lassie" at Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans one year and he had so much energy. A good run for him.

Jim Goad is dead. I would punctuate that with a wanking gesture but he would have enjoyed that.

who

Bricks Are Heavy is a perfect album. RIP.

Apparently Goad died almost a month ago, which tells you a lot about his significance in contemporary culture.

Apparently Goad died almost a month ago, which tells you a lot about his significance in contemporary culture.

I dunno. The world is better without him in it but I feel like he planted some of the seeds that grew into the contemporary manosphere.

I've thought for some time we really need an American equivalent of Bosom Manor.