Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, has passed away at 82.

The Beach Boys will always be an iconic group in American pop culture, having seem them live twice in my life in the 90's I can tell you they were awesome. I've been a big fan my whole life as the music they made was just fun and nothing offensive. The way music should be right? Now we have the sane news that the visionary lead whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired "Good Vibrations," "California Girls" and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world's most influential recording artists, has left us, his family said in a statement posted to his website and social media accounts. 

Brian Wilson was 82... "We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away," the family said in Wednesday's statement. "We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world." Details weren't immediately available. Since May 2024, Wilson had been under a court conservatorship to oversee his personal and medical affairs, with Wilson's longtime representatives, publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard, in charge. 

The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums he and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock's great Romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.

"It is indeed hard to talk about the influence of Brian Wilson just on music because he is a shaper of American myth and American culture," Joe Levy, a contributor to Rolling Stone and Billboard, told CBS News following the news of Wilson's death. "Our popular ideas about California a land of surf and sun many of them come from Beach Boys songs." The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album "Pet Sounds" was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." 

The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Wilson feuded with Love over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Katy Perry and Carole King. The Who's drummer, Keith Moon, fantasized about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited "Pet Sounds" as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the ballad "God Only Knows" as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears.

Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, Wilson and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed "Pet Sounds" and his restored opus, "Smile," before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go's, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Monáe were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart. The Beach Boys' music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. 

He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls that resonated across time and climates.

Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure instant summer the wake-up guitar riff that opens "Surfin' USA"; the melting vocals of "Don't Worry Baby"; the chants of "fun, fun, fun" or "good, good, GOOD, good vibrations"; the behind-the-wheel chorus "'Round, 'round, get around, I get around." Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lay on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand.

The band's innocent appeal survived the group's increasingly troubled backstory, whether Brian's many personal trials, the feuds and lawsuits among band members or the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson's ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create. 

Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighborhood act, rehearsing in Brian's bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group's only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, "Surfin,'" a minor hit released in 1961.

They wanted to call themselves the Pendletones, in honor of a popular flannel shirt they wore in early publicity photos. But when they first saw the pressings for "Surfin,'" they discovered the record label had tagged them "The Beach Boys." Other decisions were handled by their father, a musician of some frustration who hired himself as manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian, who had been running the band's recording sessions almost from the start, was in charge, making the Beach Boys the rare group of the time to work without an outside producer. 

Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with "Surfin' USA," so closely modeled on Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was their first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: "If everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody'd be surfin,' / like Cali-for-nye-ay." From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting No. 1 with "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda" and narrowly missing with "California Girls" and "Fun, Fun, Fun." For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.

Their music echoed private differences. Wilson often contrasted his own bright falsetto with Love's nasal, deadpan tenor. The extroverted Love was out front on the fast songs, but when it was time for a slow one, Brian took over. "The Warmth of the Sun" was a song of despair and consolation that Wilson alleged to some skepticism he wrote the morning after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. "Don't Worry Baby," a ballad equally intoxicating and heartbreaking, was a leading man's confession of doubt and dependence, an early sign of Brian's crippling anxieties.

Stress and exhaustion led to a breakdown in 1964 and his retirement from touring, his place soon filled by Bruce Johnston, who remained with the group for decades. Wilson was an admirer of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" productions and emulated him on Beach Boys tracks, adding sleigh bells to "Dance, Dance, Dance" or arranging a mini-theme park of guitar, horns, percussion and organ as the overture to "California Girls." By the mid-1960s, the Beach Boys were being held up as the country's answer to the Beatles, a friendly game embraced by each group, transporting pop music to the level of "art" and leaving Wilson a broken man. 

The Beatles opened with "Rubber Soul," released in late 1965 and their first studio album made without the distractions of movies or touring. It was immediately praised as a major advance, the lyrics far more personal and the music far more subtle and sophisticated than such earlier hits as "She Loves You" and "A Hard Day's Night." Wilson would recall getting high and listening to the record for the first time, promising himself he would not only keep up with the British band, but top them.

Wilson worked for months on what became "Pet Sounds," and months on the single "Good Vibrations." He hired an outside lyricist, Tony Asher, and used various studios, with dozens of musicians and instruments ranging from violins to bongos to the harpsichord. The air seemed to cool on some tracks and the mood turn reflective, autumnal. From "I Know There's an Answer" to "You Still Believe in Me," many of the songs were ballads, reveries, brushstrokes of melody, culminating in the sonic wonders of "Good Vibrations," a psychedelic montage that at times sounded as if recorded in outer space. 

The results were momentous, yet disappointing. "Good Vibrations" was the group's first million-seller and "Pet Sounds," which included the hits "Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice," awed McCartney, John Lennon and Eric Clapton among others. Widely regarded as a new kind of rock LP, it was more suited to headphones than to the radio, a "concept" album in which individual songs built to a unified experience, so elaborately crafted in the studio that "Pet Sounds" couldn't be replicated live with the technology of the time. Wilson was likened not just to the Beatles, but to Mozart and George Gershwin, whose "Rhapsody in Blue" had inspired him since childhood.

But the album didn't chart as highly as previous Beach Boys releases and was treated indifferently by the U.S. record label, Capitol. The Beatles, meanwhile, were absorbing lessons from the Beach Boys and teaching some in return. "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper," the Beatles' next two albums, drew upon the Beach Boys' vocal tapestries and melodic bass lines and even upon the animal sounds from the title track of "Pet Sounds." The Beatles' epic "A Day in the Life" reconfirmed the British band as kings of the pop world and "Sgt. Pepper" as the album to beat.

All eyes turned to Wilson and his intended masterpiece a "teenage symphony to God" he called "Smile." It was a whimsical cycle of songs on nature and American folklore written with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. The production bordered on method acting; for a song about fire, Wilson wore a fire helmet in the studio. The other Beach Boys were confused, and strained to work with him. A shaken Wilson delayed "Smile," then canceled it. 

Remnants, including the songs "Heroes and Villains" and "Wind Chimes" were re-recorded and issued in September 1967 on "Smiley Smile," dismissed by Carl Wilson as a "bunt instead of a grand slam." The stripped down "Wild Honey," released three months later, became a critical favorite but didn't restore the band's reputation. The Beach Boys soon descended into an oldies act, out of touch with the radical '60s, and Wilson withdrew into seclusion.

Addicted to drugs and psychologically helpless, sometimes idling in a sandbox he had built in his living room, Wilson didn't fully produce another Beach Boys record for years. Their biggest hit of the 1970s was a greatest hits album, "Endless Summer," that also helped reestablish them as popular concert performers. Although well enough in the 21st century to miraculously finish "Smile" and tour and record again, Wilson had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and baffled interviewers with brief and disjointed answers. Among the stranger episodes of Wilson's life was his relationship with Dr. Eugene Landy, a psychotherapist accused of holding a Svengali-like power over him. 

A 1991 lawsuit from Wilson's family blocked Landy from Wilson's personal and business affairs. His first marriage, to singer Marilyn Rovell, ended in divorce and he became estranged from daughters Carnie and Wendy, who would help form the pop trio Wilson Phillips. His life stabilized in 1995 with his marriage to Melinda Ledbetter, who gave birth to two more daughters, Daria and Delanie. He also reconciled with Carnie and Wendy and they sang together on the 1997 album "The Wilsons." (Melinda Ledbetter died in 2024.)

In 1992, Brian Wilson eventually won a $10 million out-of-court settlement for lost songwriting royalties. But that victory and his 1991 autobiography, "Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story," set off other lawsuits that tore apart the musical family. Carl Wilson and other relatives believed the book was essentially Landy's version of Brian's life and questioned whether Brian had even read it. Their mother, Audree Wilson, unsuccessfully sued publisher HarperCollins because the book said she passively watched as her husband beat Brian as a child. Love successfully sued Brian Wilson, saying he was unfairly deprived of royalties after contributing lyrics to dozens of songs. He would eventually gain ownership of the band's name. The Beach Boys still released an occasional hit single: "Kokomo," made without Wilson, hit No. 1 in 1988. 

Wilson, meanwhile, released such solo albums as "Brian Wilson" and "Gettin' In Over My Head," with cameos by McCartney and Clapton among others. He also completed a pair of albums for the Walt Disney label a collection of Gershwin songs and music from Disney movies. In 2012, surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited for a 50th anniversary album, which quickly hit the Top 10 before the group again bickered and separated.

Wilson won two competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" and for "The Smile Sessions" box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an "F" he had been given in music and awarded him an "A." Until the next show in Heaven we all wish him safe passage and will always be rocking out to his music. Losing the greats hurts, and this one is no different.

May he rest in eternal peace catching the waves on the other side. Indeed GOOD VIBRATIONS HAD!

Rest in Peace to Val Kilmer! Hollywood ICON passes away...

WOW SO Sad to just hear that acting ICON Val Kilmer died of pneumonia on Tuesday in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told media. She said her dad had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered. The brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” is now gone. He was 65.

“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he says toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed.” Kilmer, the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School at the time he attended, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most. His break came in 1984’s spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” His movie career hit its zenith in the early 1990's as he made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

“While working with Val on ‘Heat’ I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” director Michael Mann said in a statement Tuesday night. Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of Kilmer, was among others paying tribute. “You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker,” Brolin wrote on Instagram. “There’s not a lot left of those.” Kilmer who took part in the Method branch of Suzuki arts training threw himself into parts. When he played Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” he filled his bed with ice for the final scene to mimic the feeling of dying from tuberculosis. To play Morrison, he wore leather pants all the time, asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as Jim Morrison and blasted The Doors for a year. That intensity also gave Kilmer a reputation that he was difficult to work with, something he grudgingly agreed with later in life, but always defending himself by emphasizing art over commerce.

“In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honor the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad of Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.” One of his more iconic roles hotshot pilot Tom “Iceman” Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise almost didn’t happen. Kilmer was courted by director Tony Scott for “Top Gun” but initially balked. “I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” he wrote in his memoir. He agreed after being promised that his role would improve from the initial script. He would reprise the role in the film’s 2022 sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick.”

One career nadir was playing Batman in Joel Schumacher’s goofy, garish “Batman Forever” with Nicole Kidman and opposite Chris O’Donnell‘s Robin before George Clooney took up the mantle for 1997’s “Batman & Robin” and after Michael Keaton played the Dark Knight in 1989’s “Batman” and 1992’s “Batman Returns.” Janet Maslin in The New York Times said Kilmer was “hamstrung by the straight-man aspects of the role,” while Roger Ebert deadpanned that he was a “completely acceptable” substitute for Keaton. Kilmer, who was one and done as Batman, blamed much of his performance on the suit. “When you’re in it, you can barely move and people have to help you stand up and sit down,” Kilmer said in “Val,” in lines spoken by his son Jack, who voiced the part of his father in the film because of his inability to speak. “You also can’t hear anything and after a while people stop talking to you, it’s very isolating. It was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit, and it was frustrating until I realized that my role in the film was just to show up and stand where I was told to.”

His next projects were the film version of the 1960's TV series “The Saint” fussily putting on wigs, accents and glasses and “The Island of Dr. Moreau” with Marlon Brando, which became one of the decade’s most infamously cursed productions. David Gregory’s 2014 documentary “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,” described a cursed set that included a hurricane, Kilmer bullying director Richard Stanley, the firing of Stanley via fax (who sneaked back on set as an extra with a mask on) and extensive rewrites by Kilmer and Brando. The older actor told the younger at one point: “‘It’s a job now, Val. A lark. We’ll get through it.’ I was as sad as I’ve ever been on a set,” Kilmer wrote in his memoir.

In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ran a cover story about Kilmer titled ″The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate.″ The directors Schumacher and John Frankenheimer, who finished “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” said he was difficult. Frankenheimer said there were two things he would never do: ″Climb Mount Everest and work with Val Kilmer again.″ Other artists came to his defense, like D. J. Caruso, who directed Kilmer in ″The Salton Sea″ and said the actor simply liked to talk out scenes and enjoyed having a director’s attention. ″Val needs to immerse himself in a character. I think what happened with directors like Frankenheimer and Schumacher is that Val would ask a lot of questions, and a guy like Schumacher would say, ‘You’re Batman! Just go do it,’″ Caruso told The New York Times in 2002.

After “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” the movies were smaller, like David Mamet human-trafficking thriller “Spartan"; ″Joe the King″ in 1999, in which he played a paunchy, abusive alcoholic; and playing the doomed ’70's porn star John Holmes in 2003’s “Wonderland.” He also threw himself into his one-man stage show “Citizen Twain,” in which he played Mark Twain. “I enjoy the depth and soul the piece has that Twain had for his fellow man and America,” he told Variety in 2018. “And the comedy that’s always so close to the surface, and how valuable his genius is for us today.” Kilmer spent his formative years in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Chatsworth High School alongside future Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and future Emmy winner Mare Winningham. At 17, he was the youngest drama student ever admitted at the Juilliard School in 1981. Shortly after he left for Juilliard, his younger brother, 15-year-old Wesley, suffered an epileptic seizure in the family’s Jacuzzi and died on the way to the hospital. Wesley was an aspiring filmmaker when he died.

″I miss him and miss his things. I have his art up. I like to think about what he would have created. I’m still inspired by him,″ Kilmer told the Times. While still at Juilliard, Kilmer co-wrote and appeared in the play “How It All Began” and later turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” for the Broadway play, “Slab Boys,” alongside Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn. Kilmer published two books of poetry (including “My Edens After Burns”) and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for spoken word album for “The Mark of Zorro.” He was also a visual artist and a lifelong Christian Scientist. He dated Cher, married and divorced actor Joanne Whalley. He is survived by their two children, Mercedes and Jack. “I have no regrets,” Kilmer told the AP in 2021. “I’ve witness and experienced miracles.”

Rest in Peace Michelle Trachtenberg

10/11/1985 - 02/26/2025

WOW This is shocking and sad... Over my life I've become a big fan of comedies and one of my all time favorites is one she was in called 'Euro Trip' which is a very underrated comedy and she is absolutely delightful in it. She is also well known as a child star of 'Harriet the Spy', 'Gossip Girl' and as "Dawn" in the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer series' respectively. Michelle Trachtenberg has sadly passed away at the age of 39. So young, and a life so troubled as many who grow up in the world of Hollyweird often end up in bad shape once they get older. She was a real talent, and a gorgeous lady.

Don't know exactly what went wrong in her life as I didn't follow her but other than she's now another sad statistic on what happens to young people in the liberal driven world of Hollyweird, and has become yet another tale which I'm sure we will find out more, and more as to what lead to this tragic ending.

The New York Police Department responded to a 911 call around 8 a.m. in Manhattan Wednesday morning. "Upon arrival, officers observed a 39-year-old female unconscious and unresponsive," and emergency medical services subsequently pronounced her deceased, police told NPR in a statement. The woman was identified as Trachtenberg. "Criminality is not suspected. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. The investigation remains ongoing." A former child actress whose earliest credits again as I said earlier included stints on soap opera and crime procedurals, Trachtenberg broke out at age 10 acting as the star of the 1996 movie Harriet the Spy. "Miss Trachtenberg, who makes her screen debut as Harriet, gives a performance that is as endearing as it is devoid of self-conscious cuteness," wrote New York Times critic Stephen Holden in his review. "Her Harriet is high-spirited and stubborn, but never unlikable."

Trachtenberg brought similar buoyant qualities to her role as Dawn Summers, younger sister to Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She joined the hit show in its fifth season, in 2000. In recent years, after cast members accused showrunner Joss Whedon of sexual impropriety and toxic bullying, she posted a statement on social media in support, saying that she had not been allowed to be in a room alone with him. (Whedon told New York Magazine that he had no idea about this rule.)

After Buffy ended in 2003, Trachtenberg worked steadily, with arcs on such television shows as Mercy and Weeds. In the peak Disney princess era, she starred in its 2005 film Ice Princess. But it was on Gossip Girl that Trachtenberg made the greatest impact on popular culture. She joined the CW show in 2008 as the devious Georgina Sparks. She was a fan favorite.

🕊️ Rest in Peace 🕊️ Voletta Wallace... Notorious BIG MOM...

The mother of Notorious BIG has passed away... RIP to one Ms Voletta Wallace (02/03/1953 - 02/21/2025) and like Tupac Mother Afeni Shakur now both these ladies are gone. They didn't get to live to see full justice in the death of their son but at least Ms Wallace was able to see the law catching up to Sean "Diddy" Combs. 

She can rest knowing that the law will finally put Diddler where he belongs for good.. ON DEATH ROW. And I don't mean the record label. But yeah looks bad for Diddy as he's been denied 50 Million for bail remember. But to be honest this news is still sad as Voletta like Afeni were strong women who had to live with the tragic passing of their kids over hate by demons in the music industry who were directly tied to street gangs which did the dirty work for these monsters in the record industry.

But again sadly now now they all gone but now in Heaven together so may The lord may keep them all in his glory. RIP

This was the official report...

🕊️ We suffered a tremendous loss today. Our mother, our matriarch, the woman who dedicated herself to uplifting her son, Christopher Wallace, and preserving his legacy has passed. It is with immense sadness that we share this news with you, and ask that you give our family the space and time needed to grieve this monumental loss. Thank you for your continued outpouring of love, prayers and condolences in this difficult time.

Please know that we will reach out in the coming days to share how we can all honor Ms. Wallace. 

Thank you for your extraordinary support and love.

15 Year old Harvey Willgoose RIP...

Our condolences to another victim by someone who should not be in England as many are saying from there ... This young kid was stabbed to death on his lunch hour at school Harvey Willgoose Sister Sophie said her heart had been "broken into a million pieces". A 15-year-old boy stabbed to death at school can you even imagine this happening on our schools folks? 

Harvey Willgoose died following an incident at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield England on Monday. A 15-year-old boy, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, remained in police custody, South Yorkshire Police said. In a post on Facebook, accompanied by two pictures of her brother, Sophie wrote: "I love you so much Harvey. "Hug your loved ones a little tighter tonight cos I wish I could." 

Harvey's mother Caroline shared posts with her 56,000 followers on TikTok to express her loss. In one, she wrote, "our Harvey, no words" with broken heart emojis and a montage of images of them together.

In another, she wrote: "My Harvey, life is never going be the same. Love you so much." Shocked parents and pupils continued to leave flowers and cards outside the closed school gates on this morning Tuesday 2/4/25 as the school shut its doors on Monday afternoon in the aftermath of the stabbing, which took place at about 12:17 GMT. Lines of parents gathered at the school, which instituted a lockdown procedure, to collect their children as police shut off a section of the road outside. 

Parent Katie said she waited for over two hours for her 13-year-old daughter Gracie. "It was the worst two and a half hours of my life," she said. "She couldn't use her phone, I couldn't get in touch with her personally, it was just going on what her teacher told me. "I was told she was safe and that she was calm but I wanted to speak to her and talk to her."

A 15-year-old boy who died after being stabbed at a school in Sheffield has been named locally as Harvey Willgoose.

Omar Killed Harvey Willgoose

RIP Harvey Willgoose 💔 pic.twitter.com/3kaUEPu7lC

— Sumit (@SumitHansd) February 4, 2025

Gracie said the school had also previously gone into lockdown on 29 January. A message sent to parents from the school said this was due to "threatening behaviour between a small number of students where threats were made of physical violence". When it happened on Monday, she said she had been on her way to get food with a friend when she heard shouting about a knife and "just ran". "I can't remember much else about what happened afterwards," she said. "At first it had shocked me. When I was with my teachers it felt OK and I felt more calmed down, and then I saw my mum." Gracie said while she was not close friends with Harvey, he seemed like "a proper nice boy". "Whenever you'd see him around school, he'd always have a smile on his face," she said. "He had such a bubbly personality."

Tributes left at the school gates described the teenager as someone who had been "the life of a party" and who had "brought joy and laughter to everyone who knew him". One card read: "Harvey my 'pal', gone too soon but won't be forgotten. Rest in Peace. 

Bailey and the RE department." Parent Luisa Meco said her daughter had known Harvey since nursery and that his death shocked everyone. "It's not something you imagine, that your children go to school and then something like this happens," she said. "We just don't understand how it happened, it's just really shocking, sad, heart-breaking." Ms Meco said she was told the school would reopen on Thursday but that her daughter's return was making her "nervous". "We just have to wait and see what happens and see how she's feeling because I'm going to go on how the children are feeling and not what the school say they want to do," she said.

Floral tributes have also been left outside Sheffield United's Bramall Lane ground in memory of Harvey. A spokesperson said the club was "saddened" to learn of his death and offered their condolences to family and friends. "We share the shock and distress of the community following this tragic incident and appreciate that discussions are under way with regards to tributes to remember Harvey," the spokesperson added.

RIP Bob Uecker passed away!

I'm heartbroken to announce that Brewers icon & Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Uecker passed away at the age of 90... I grew up a major fan of the movies MLB and would watch Brewers games just to hear him do it for real. He was so hilarious both in his film roles and in his real gig with MLB. A Little info on who he was starts with his full name which was Robert George Uecker and again yes he was an American actor, professional baseball catcher and sportscaster who served as the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball for 54 seasons.

Uecker signed with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956, spending several years in the minor leagues with various affiliate clubs before making his major league debut in 1962. As a backup catcher, he played for the Milwaukee Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves from 1962 to 1967. He won a World Series with the Cardinals in 1964. After retiring, Uecker started a broadcasting career and served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts from 1971. 

Uecker became known for his self-deprecating wit and became a regular fixture on late night talk shows in the 1970's and 1980's, facetiously dubbed "Mr. Baseball" by TV talk show host Johnny Carson. He hosted several sports blooper shows and had an acting career that included his role as George Owens on the television program Mr. Belvedere and as play-by-play announcer Harry Doyle in the film Major League and its two sequels.

ecker was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with its 2003 Ford C. Frick Award in recognition of his broadcasting career. Though he sometimes joked that he had been born on an oleo run to Illinois, Uecker was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,[1] the son of August "Gus" Uecker, who immigrated from Switzerland in 1923, and Mary Schultz Uecker, originally from Michigan. He had two younger sisters, Carol Ann and Rosemary. He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association at Borchert Field. 

Uecker enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1954, ultimately achieving the rank of corporal. He played baseball while at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Belvoir in Virginia, where he was teammates with future fellow major leaguer Dick Groat.

Rest in Peace Bob Ueker, the legendary voice of the Major League!

RIP Legend pic.twitter.com/cB0h0Zf3Fw

— Lone Star American (@MadDog_TX) January 16, 2025

Uecker's sports expertise extended beyond baseball. He hosted two syndicated television shows, Bob Uecker's Wacky World of Sports and Bob Uecker's War of the Stars. The former has since become known as The Lighter Side of Sports (albeit with a different host, Mike Golic) and remains one of the longest-running syndicated sports programs in American television history. 

Uecker also appeared in a series of commercials for the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League in the mid-1990's, including one in which he re-designed the team's uniforms to feature a garish plaid reminiscent of the loud sports coats synonymous with Uecker in the 1970's and 1980's. In February 2006, the Admirals commemorated those commercials with a special event in which the players wore the plaid jerseys during a game. The jerseys were then auctioned off to benefit charity.

In March 1987, Uecker appeared at World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) WrestleMania III in Pontiac, Michigan, as the ring announcer for the pay-per-view's main event of Hulk Hogan versus André the Giant. He returned in 1988 at WrestleMania IV as a ringside announcer, commentator during the opening Battle Royal and backstage interviewer. Known for his humor, particularly about his undistinguished playing career, Uecker actually became much better known after he retired from playing. 

He made some 100 guest appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Most of his wisecracks poked fun at himself. He once joked that after he hit a grand slam off pitcher Ron Herbel, "When his manager came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel's suitcase." On another occasion, he quipped, "Sporting goods companies would pay me not to endorse their products."

Uecker hosted Saturday Night Live during its 10th season on October 13, 1984. The episode also featured musical performances by Peter Wolf. Uecker appeared in a series of Miller Lite commercials starting in the 1980's. In one commercial from that decade, Uecker was seen preparing to watch a baseball game when an usher informs him he is in the wrong seat. Uecker pompously remarks, "I must be in the front row", which became another of his catchphrases. The punch line was that Uecker's seat was actually in the nosebleed section. 

Since then, the farthest seats from the action in some arenas and stadiums have been jokingly called "Uecker seats". There is a section of $1 seating called the "Uecker seats" at American Family Field, which is an obstructed-view area in the upper grandstand above home plate where the stadium's roof pivot comes together (in reference to one of his Miller Lite commercials).

Another of Uecker's catchphrases from the aforementioned Miller Lite 'front row' commercial is, "He missed the tag!" which he yells with confidence from his seat in the top row of the upper deck of the stadium, far away from the action. Uecker authored two books, an autobiography titled Catcher in the Wry with Mickey Herskowitz, and Catch 222. 

Uecker played the character of father and sportswriter George Owens on the 1985–1990 sitcom Mr. Belvedere, appearing regularly. He made cameo appearances as himself in the films O.C. and Stiggs, and Fatal Instinct, and in episodes of the sitcoms Who's the Boss?, D.C. Follies, and Late Line. He was the voice of the "head of Bob Uecker" in the Futurama episode "A Leela of Her Own".

Uecker played Harry Doyle, the broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians (now Cleveland Guardians), in the Major League film trilogy. In the movies, Uecker's character is known for his witticisms and his tendency to become intoxicated from drinking during losing games, as well as downplaying poor play by the team for the radio audience: for example, in the first film he also coins another popular sports catchphrase "Juuust a bit outside", to downplay an extremely wild pitch from Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn (played by Charlie Sheen). 

Uecker received the role not because of his broadcasting history with the Brewers but because of his popular Miller Lite commercials. In 2021, Uecker made a guest appearance in the Disney+ series Monsters at Work where he voiced a parody of himself named "Bob Yucker". The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Uecker as Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year five times (1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987), and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2011. Uecker was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2001.

In 2003, he received the Ford C. Frick Award, bestowed annually by the Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball". His humorous and self-deprecating speech was a highlight of the ceremony. In 2005, Uecker's 50th year in professional baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers placed a number 50 in his honor in their "Ring of Honor", near the retired numbers of Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. 

Four years later, on May 12, 2009, Uecker's name was also added to the Brewers Wall of Honor inside American Family Field. Uecker was inducted into the Celebrity Wing of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010, honored for his appearances at WrestleMania III and WrestleMania IV.

On August 31, 2012, the Brewers erected the Uecker Monument outside American Family Field alongside statues of Hank Aaron, Robin Yount and Bud Selig. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declared September 25, 2021, as Bob Uecker Day in honor of his 50th year broadcasting Brewers games. Uecker threw out the first pitch in the game against the New York Mets. 

But instead of throwing the ball to the catcher, he unveiled a pitching machine and used that. Before the game, left fielder Christian Yelich presented a gift on behalf of the players, a pair of custom Nike sneakers with "Air Uecker" and "Get Up, Get Up" on one foot and "One Of Us" and "Just a Bit Outside" (see reference in the section above) on the other.

Uecker and his first wife, Joyce (died 2015), had four children: Leeann (1957–2022), who died of ALS in March 2022; Steve (1959–2012), a cowboy, who died of complications of San Joaquin Valley fever; Sue Ann; and Bob Jr. Uecker and his second wife, Judy, were married in Louisiana in 1976 and divorced in 2001. At the time of the divorce, he lived in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. On April 27, 2010, Uecker announced that he was going to miss 10–12 weeks of the 2010 baseball season because of heart surgery. 

His aortic valve and a portion of his aortic root were successfully replaced four days later, and he returned to broadcasting for the Brewers on July 23. On October 14, 2010, the Brewers announced Uecker would again undergo heart surgery, this time to repair a tear at the site of his valve replacement. Uecker was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer in 2023. He died in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, on January 16, 2025, at the age of 90.

Rickey Henderson RIP!

Oh wow so this just broke, and it's breaking my soul! I grew up idolizing this man and watching him play while living in California. By far the worlds all time best lead off hitter, and stolen base icon! Not only was he this in Americas MLB but he's considered the greatest at what he did on any continent when it comes to baseball. This man will always be a major icon in the sport. Cannot believe this but. Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson , nicknamed "Man of Steal", played 25 seasons in Major League Baseball for nine teams from when he made his debut in 1979 until he hung up his cleats in 2003 he accumulating 111.1 WAR in his 25 MLB seasons. This including four separate tenures with his original team, the Oakland Athletics.

Rickey is also the all-time leader in runs scored. He was named the American League MVP in 1990 after leading the AL with a 1.016 OPS, 65 stolen bases and 119 runs scored. He also played for the Yankees, Padres, Mets, Mariners, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Angels and Dodgers. But to us all he will always be a member of the Oakland A's during the BASH BROTHERS ERA, and he was the man who did most damage batting 1st than anyone EVER! He is a major factor why they had so much fun in Oakland in the late 80s. Rickey Henderson's wife, Pamela, confirmed her husband's death in a statement.

"A legend on and off the field, Rickey was a devoted son, dad, friend, grandfather, brother, uncle, and a truly humble soul. Rickey lived his life with integrity, and his love for baseball was paramount. Now, Rickey is at peace with the Lord, cherishing the extraordinary moments and achievements he leaves behind," Said Pamela. "For multiple generations of baseball fans, Rickey Henderson was the gold standard of base stealing and leadoff hitting. Rickey was one of the most accomplished and beloved Athletics of all-time," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "He also made an impact with many other clubs during a quarter-century career like no other. Rickey epitomized speed, power and entertainment in setting the tone at the top of the lineup. When we considered new rules for the game in recent years, we had the era of Rickey Henderson in mind.

"Rickey earned universal respect, admiration and awe from sports fans. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I send my deepest condolences to Rickey’s family, his friends and former teammates, A’s fans and baseball fans everywhere." Henderson won two World Series, one with the A's in 1989 and another with Toronto four years later. Henderson became MLB's all-time stolen bases leader May 1, 1991, when he swiped third base in Oakland. He finished with 1,406 in his career, surpassing Lou Brock by nearly 500 bags. Henderson also retired with 2,295 runs scored, 50 more than Ty Cobb. His 3,055 hits are 27th all-time.

His 130 stolen bases in 1982 are the most in the live ball era. He and Vince Coleman are the only players since 1920 to have three seasons of at least 100 stolen bases. Henderson swiped 50-plus bags in 13 seasons, the most ever. The amount of awesome that was his career is unmatched by ANY lead off man in the sport, and will remain so forever I feel. What a true legend... 

Rest in PEACE!

RIP Fernando Valenzuela

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela. IF you we're living under a rock during the 80's or in a Coma that's about the only way you missed what was named at the time as “Fernandomania” which did indeed sweep through baseball in 1981 when the 20-year old rookie sensation began the season 8-0 with a 0.50 ERA. 

The left handed big man capped off his incredible year by winning both the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards while helping lead Los Angeles to a World Series title. Man he was fun to watch and while in the Minors my dad once told me that he was so good he was once now allowed to pitch in one game because the other team didn't want to face him.

And they let him hit which was a mistake as he could also swing the bat pretty darn well... All in all Valenzuela pitched 17 Major League seasons, was a 6-time All-Star, and has the most wins (173) and strikeouts (2,074) of any Mexican-born pitcher. Spending the last 22 years as a Spanish language broadcaster for the Dodgers, who retired his No. 34 in 2023.

The entire Dodger community loved him from day 1 and will miss him I'm sure. Especially what makes this even more sad is the timing as the Dodgers just beat the New York Mets to go to the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees. Maybe Fernando will bless the Dodgers from Heaven and guide them to a World series win over the Yankees. Rest in Peace he was only 63.

Actor Chad McQueen Passes - RIP

The movie The Karate Kid has seen a real resurgence in popularity thanks to the Cobra Kai show but we all loved the original The Karate Kid movie who grew up watching it over, and over, and will no doubt remember the actor Chad McQueen who played on of Johnny Lawrence best friends when he got his big break in 1984 when cast in the hit movie. While in the film “The Karate Kid” playing "Dutch" where not only did he really look the part. But also played him as vicious as there would be in the Cobra Kai crew on that movie.

The hilarious part was in real life he was a very humble and actually nice person and too boot a legacy name actor in that he was the son of screen Hollywood legend Steve McQueen, and now it's saddens me to report that he has died at age 63. 

Way too young if you ask me and with deepest condolences I write this because he was set to return in a Cobra Kai episode but didn't end up in it where he was going to reprise his role as "Dutch" ... Remember again in the movie he played one the adversary of Ralph Macchio’s lead character.

McQueen’s attorney, Arthur H. Barens, told The Associated Press that he died on Wednesday. The actor followed in his father’s footsteps, both on screen and on the motor racing circuit. His wife, Jeanie Galbraith, posted a tribute to him on Instagram with their son Chase and daughter Madison. The family announced his death “with a heavy heart,” adding: “His remarkable journey as a loving father to us, along with his unwavering commitment to our mother, truly exemplified a life filled with love and dedication. 

His passion for racing not only highlighted his exceptional talent, but also served as a way to honor his father’s legacy, a testament to the values instilled in him. He passed his passion, knowledge and dedication down to us and we will continue not only his legacy but our grandfathers as well.”

McQueen is also survived by his son from a former relationship, Steven R. McQueen an actor who appeared in “The Vampire Diaries.” Chad McQueen reprised his role in “The Karate Kid Part II” sequel in 1986, and appeared in several other films, and also produced two documentaries about his father: “I Am Steve McQueen” in 2014 and “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans” the following year.

“I didn’t find acting fun anymore,” McQueen said in a 2005 interview with AP. “So, I decided to give racing a total commitment.” In a separate Instagram post, McQueen’s son Chase wrote: “Knowing you’re now reunited with the your (sic) Dad and Sister brings me some comfort. Until we ride again I love you.”

Also paying tribute to him online was Jon Hurwitz, one of the creators of “Cobra Kai,” the “Karate Kid” revival that has proven a hit for Netflix. He said he and his colleagues had met with McQueen to discuss a return to the series. Posting on X, Hurwitz described McQueen as a “Karate Kid legend,” adding: “Unfortunately, Chad was unable to join us when it came time to shoot. At the end of the day, it wasn’t meant to be. But Dutch will always be remembered as a badass’ badass in the Miyagiverse. He kicked ass.” 

He added: “The fandom mourns a Karate Kid legend today. I’m so grateful I had the honor of spending an afternoon with him. Sending much love and strength to his wonderful family. May Chad rest in peace.”

James Earl Jones Rest in Peace

Wow this broke my heart... The voice of my favorite cinematic character of all times has passed away as we have lost the incredible Icon James Earl Jones. Not just the voice of Lord Vader but also the voice of many iconic roles. His voice was one for the ages, be it as a Lord of the Sith in "Star Wars" to King of the jungle in "The Lion King" the mans voice was one you can recognize for his voice was one for the ages. But he was more than a voice... He was a true cinema GEM, and one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema period.

Born January 17, 1931 not just an American actor of films but he was also very known for his amazing years of work in theater. He was one of the few performers to have achieved the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). Jones has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen, and "one of the greatest actors in American history".

Being born In 1931 at Arkabutla, Mississippi, he had a stuttering issue since childhood. Just picture this Darth Vader with a stuttering issue! But some would shy away from public speaking due to this curse it wasn't something James Earl Jones would do as he said that poetry and acting helped him overcome the challenges of his disability. A pre-med major in college, he served in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting. 

His deep voice was praised as a "stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects. Jones made his Broadway debut in 1957 in Sunrise at Campobello (1957). He gained prominence for acting in numerous productions with Shakespeare in the Park including Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear. Jones worked steadily in theater, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as a boxer in The Great White Hope (1968), which he reprised in the 1970 film adaptation, earning him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Jones won his second Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role as a working class father in August Wilson's Fences (1987). He was nominated for Tony awards for his roles as part of an aging couple in Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond (2005), and a former president in the Gore Vidal play The Best Man (2012). Other Broadway performances include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008), Driving Miss Daisy (2010–2011), You Can't Take It with You (2014), and The Gin Game (2015–2016). He received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.

Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964). He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Claudine (1974). Jones gained international fame for his voice role as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film. Jones' other notable roles include in Conan the Barbarian (1982), Matewan (1987), Coming to America (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Sandlot (1993), and The Lion King (1994). Jones reprised his roles in Star Wars media, The Lion King (2019), and Coming 2 America (2021).

He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985. He was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011.

From the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, on their farm in Dublin, Michigan; they had moved from Mississippi in the Great Migration. Where Jones found the transition to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stutter so bad that he refused to speak. He said, "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school." He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence. Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak through reading poetry aloud to the class.

Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School In 1949 (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class. He attended the University of Michigan, where he was initially a pre-med major. He joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and excelled. He felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society. After his junior year, he focused on drama with the thought of doing something he enjoyed, before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the Korean War. After four years of college, Jones graduated from the university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in drama.

But for all his work over the years it was In 1977, Jones made his debut in his iconic voiceover role as Darth Vader in George Lucas' space opera blockbuster film Star Wars: A New Hope, which he would reprise for the sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the film trilogy, with Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in post production because Prowse's strong West Country accent was deemed unsuitable for the role by director George Lucas. At his own request, Jones was uncredited for the release of the first two Star Wars films, though he would be credited for the third film and eventually also for the first film's 1997 "Special Edition" re-release. As he explained in a 2008 interview:

When Linda Blair did the girl in The Exorcist, they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no, I'm just special effects. But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK I'll let them put my name on it.

In 1977, Jones also received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents. In late 1979, Jones appeared on the short-lived CBS police drama Paris, which was notable as the first program on which Steven Bochco served as executive producer. Jones also starred that year in the critically acclaimed TV mini-series sequel Roots: The Next Generations as the older version of author Alex Haley.

The year 1987 saw Jones starring in August Wilson's play Fences as Troy Maxson, a middle aged working class father who struggles to provide for his family. The play, set in the 1950's, is part of Wilson's ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle". The play explores the evolving African American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. Jones won widespread critical acclaim, earning himself his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. 

Beside the Star Wars sequels, Jones was featured in several other box office hits of the 1980's: the action/fantasy film Conan the Barbarian (1982), the Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America (1988), and the sports drama/fantasy Field of Dreams (1989) which earned an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination. He also starred in the independent film Matewan (1987). The film dramatized the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners' strike in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia. He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his performance.

In 1985, Jones lent his bass voice as Pharaoh in the first episode of Hanna-Barbera's The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible. From 1989 to 1992, Jones served as the host of the children's TV series Long Ago and Far Away. Jones appeared in several more successful films during the early-to-mid 1990's, including The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992), The Sandlot (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and Cry, the Beloved Country (1995). He also lent his distinctive bass voice to the role of Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. In 1992, Jones was presented with the National Medal of the Arts by President George H. W. Bush. Jones had the distinction of winning two Primetime Emmys in the same year, in 1991 as Best Actor for his role in Gabriel's Fire and as Best Supporting Actor for his work in Heat Wave.

He might be gone but he will never be forgotten as he's sealed a legacy unmatched by many... 

(January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) Rest in Peace.