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Obituaries

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Alicat
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« Reply #400 on: March 05, 2016, 08:26:18 am »


How true.    I am often in awe of where people find strength in their darkest days.


There are many of us who would say the same of you Molly

You are an amazing woman.
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Molly
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« Reply #401 on: March 05, 2016, 12:22:48 pm »

Thanks Ali.  (blush) Smiley
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Alicat
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« Reply #402 on: March 10, 2016, 08:42:27 am »

Jon English - much loved Australian Entertainer has died overnight ...

Australian singer Jon English has died, aged 66, due to post-operative complications.

English was well known for his work in music, television and on the stage, which started with his role in Jesus Christ Superstar in the 1970s.

A public service celebrating his life is set to be held.

A statement from the his talent representatives said at the time of his passing he was surrounded by family members, including his four children, wife Carmen, sister Janet and brother Jeremy, as well as other close family members.

Born in Hamstead, London in 1949, Jon came to Australia with his parents and siblings at the age of 12.

He was well known for his lead role of Bobby Rivers in 1991 in the television sitcom All Together Now.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-10/australian-singer-jon-english-dies-at-age-66/7235366


I saw Jon English in MIKADO, PIRATES OF PENZANCE and HMS PINAFORE - the very modernised (piss take) of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas. He was brilliant and quite the showman.

RIP Jon and thanks for the wonderful memories
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Molly
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« Reply #403 on: March 10, 2016, 10:49:45 am »

How sad. 🌹
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Alicat
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« Reply #404 on: March 10, 2016, 12:28:23 pm »

When Jon was in HMS Pinafore, he played Dick Deadeye. Rima Te Wiata played Buttercup. They had some amazing dialogue together early on in the show. The pair of them were ad libbing a little when Rima said a few of Jon's lines by mistake. Being a seasoned and very experienced actor, Rima was covering very well thank you very much. Jon stopped and looked at her - mischievous look on his face and said, "You have no idea where you are in the script do you?"  Rima smirked and said, "No." He said, "From the top then ...."  The audience were in fits. I'm known for being disapproving of bastardising songs however in the G&S Trilogy that was Mikado, Pirates and Pinafore, it was so hilarious and very well done that I saw Mikado twice, Pirates three times and Pinafore four times. Pinafore opening night was on complimentary tickets for helping out their principal keyboard player when she got into a little medical strife during Pirates - even so, I could have gone back every night to see all three shows over and over again. Each performance I saw had them (especially Jon) taking liberties even on the bastardised script.

Here I was hoping that Jon would be back with a retake on some of the other G&S productions.
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« Reply #405 on: March 12, 2016, 01:10:21 pm »


from The Guardian....

Sir George Martin, Beatles producer, dies aged 90

Ringo Starr announces death of revered producer who signed the band
to Parlophone and collaborated on almost all of their records.


By WILL WOODWARD | 10:44AM GMT - Wednesday, 09 March 2016

George Martin had more claim than any other to be regarded as the “fifth Beatle”. — Photograph: Richard Saker/Rex/Shutterstock.
George Martin had more claim than any other to be regarded as the “fifth Beatle”. — Photograph: Richard Saker/Rex/Shutterstock.

SIR GEORGE MARTIN, producer of the Beatles and the man Sir Paul McCartney described as a “second father”, has died aged 90.

Martin passed away at his home on Tuesday evening. The news was broken in a tweet from Ringo Starr, who wrote: “God bless George Martin peace and love to Judy and his family love Ringo and Barbara George will be missed.”

Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to a “great man”, saying : “He was a true gentleman and like a second father to me. He guided the career of The Beatles with such skill and good humour that he became a true friend to me and my family. If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle it was George.”

Martin signed the Beatles to Parlophone records when others had turned them down and produced all but one of their albums. He became and remained one of the most influential producers in popular music history and was often described as the “fifth Beatle”. His reputation stretched well beyond his 23 US and 30 UK No.1 singles.

“George Martin made us what we were in the studio,” Lennon once said. “He helped us develop a language to talk to other musicians.”

Adam Sharp, who represented both Martin and his son Giles, confirmed the news in a statement, adding: “In a career that spanned seven decades he was recognised globally as one of music's most creative talents and a gentleman to the end. The family ask that their privacy be respected at this time.”

Starr's tribute was quickly followed by Sean Ono Lennon, son of John and Yoko Ono, who said: “R.I.P. George Martin. I'm so gutted I don't have many words. Thinking of Judy and Giles and family. Love Always, Sean.”

Paying tribute, Nigel Godrich, producer of onetime Parlophone act Radiohead, called Martin “my hero”: “The definitive record producer … such a gentleman and was so kind to me. He did it all first … and best.”

Mark Ronson, producer and performer, said: “We will never stop living in the world you helped create.”

Quincy Jones, who has known Martin for five decades, wrote: “RIP to my musical brother George Martin. We were friends since 1964 and I am so thankful for that gift. Bless u & your precious posse forever.”

Tributes from other artists came in from Brian Eno, Lenny Kravitz, Liam Gallagher of Oasis, Flea of Red Hot Chilli Peppers and singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who said, “What an ear, what a life, what a legacy.”

Martin signed the Beatles in 1962 to his Parlophone label, where he had earned a reputation for comedy records by Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and a young Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller. The Goons connection quickly endeared him to the Beatles.

The Beatles had been turned down by several record labels including Decca when Martin invited them for an audience at Abbey Road in June 1962. While Martin was initially sceptical about their ability as musicians and songwriters, he took to their humour and personalities immediately. Memorably George Harrison told him “I don't like your tie for a start” when Martin asked him if they disliked anything about the set up.

Starr joined the band after Martin let it be known that he believed the Beatles' then drummer, Pete Best, was not up to scratch. When Starr arrived at Abbey Road for the recording of the Beatles' first single, Love Me Do in September 1962, Martin already had another session drummer, Andy White, in place and relegated Starr to playing the tambourine and maracas.

In November 1962, the band recorded Please Please Me, with Martin suggesting they speed the song up. As they finished, Martin told them from the control room: “Gentleman you have just made your first No.1 record” — which became true in the New Musical Express chart (although it was No.2 in the Record Retailer chart which became the official UK chart).

While others including the Beatles' schoolfriend and road manager Neil Aspinall would have been given the (almost certainly unwanted) title of fifth Beatle, Martin had more claim than the rest, because of the influence on their sound and the innovation in their production. This ran throughout their recording career, conspicuously so on songs as diverse as She Loves You, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. His classical-influenced training embellished and enhanced the raw genius of Lennon and McCartney's songwriting.

Martin occasionally played piano on the Beatles' records, including the sped-up piano break on In My Life on Rubber Soul. The relationship between Martin, whose (somewhat) patrician voice belied his relatively poor background and the band matured and prospered through the peaks of Revolver and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In the statement he released, McCartney remembered how Martin had changed the Beatles' approach to music, citing the song Yesterday as an example.

“I brought the song Yesterday to a recording session and the guys in the band suggested that I sang it solo and accompany myself on guitar,” McCartney said. “After I had done this George Martin said to me, ‘Paul, I have an idea of putting a string quartet on the record’. I said, ‘Oh no George, we are a rock’n’roll band and I don't think it's a good idea’. With the gentle bedside manner of a great producer he said to me, ‘Let us try it and if it doesn't work we won't use it and we'll go with your solo version’. I agreed to this and went round to his house the next day to work on the arrangement.

“He took my chords that I showed him and spread the notes out across the piano, putting the cello in the low octave and the first violin in a high octave and gave me my first lesson in how strings were voiced for a quartet. When we recorded the string quartet at Abbey Road, it was so thrilling to know his idea was so correct that I went round telling people about it for weeks. His idea obviously worked because the song subsequently became one of the most recorded songs ever with versions by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and thousands more.”

The collaboration survived fame, fortune and the band's drugtaking, which the older producer turned a blind eye to at Abbey Road provided it was kept out of studio 2. It was not only because of the fractious environment around the breakup of the band that the Phil Spector-produced Let It Be album — the Beatles' second last studio album and the last to be released — is often regarded as the most disappointing.

Lennon riled at Martin after the band's break-up, complaining privately to McCartney in 1971 that his influence was over-stated. The consensus was warmer than that. Martin wrote in 1979: “Without my instruments and scoring, very many of the records would not have sounded as they do. Whether they would have been any better, I cannot say. They might have been. That is not modesty on my part; it is an attempt to give a factual picture of the relationship.”

Martin went on to produce many other acts that defined the sound of the early and mid-1960s, including the Beatles' fellow Liverpudlians and Parlophone stablemates Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers, as he became one of the most in-demand producers in the world. Gerry and the Pacemakers made a hit of How Do You Do It?, a cover version Martin had pressed the Beatles to record as their first single but they refused.

Later he went on to produce artists including Elton John, Celine Dion, Kenny Rogers, Jeff Beck and Neil Sedaka.

He also produced two James Bond themes: Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey and Paul McCartney and Wings's Live and Let Die.

Bond actor Sir Roger Moore said: “How very sad to wake to the news Sir George Martin has left us. He made my first Bond film sound brilliant!”

Martin's Air studios, first in Oxford Street and then Hampstead in London, and for much of the 1970s and 1980s in Montserrat in the Caribbean, became a favoured venue for established acts including the Police.

Martin was born in Highbury, north London, went to several schools in north London and Welwyn Garden City, and joined the Royal Navy in 1943, serving until 1947 without being involved in combat. He attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying the piano and oboe, and worked in the BBC’s classical music department and then EMI before taking over Parlophone from Oscar Preuss in 1955.

In 1948 he married Sheena Chisholm, with whom he had two children, Alexis and Gregory Paul Martin, the writer and screen producer. In 1966 he married Parlophone secretary Judy Lockhart-Smith, who survives him. They had two children, Lucie and Giles. George and Giles collaborated on the Beatles' Love album, the LP of a Las Vegas musical by Cirque de Soleil celebrating the Beatles songs.

He was knighted in 1996, a year before Paul McCartney. David Cameron, the British prime minister, tweeted: “Sir George Martin was a giant of music — working with the Fab Four to create the world's most enduring pop music.”


__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • George Martin obituary

 • Is Beatles' manager George Martin the puppet master? (from the archive, 13th March 1969)

 • Paul McCartney discusses his relationship with George Martin — video


http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/09/george-martin-producer-of-the-beatles-dies-aged-90
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« Reply #406 on: March 12, 2016, 01:10:50 pm »


from the Los Angeles Times....

Keyboardist Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer dies at 71

By RANDALL ROBERTS | 2:10PM PST - Friday, March 11, 2016

Keith Emerson attends the National Association of Music Merchants show in Anaheim on January 23rd, 2015. — Photograph: Paul A. Hebert/Invision/Associated Press.
Keith Emerson attends the National Association of Music Merchants show in Anaheim on January 23rd, 2015.
 — Photograph: Paul A. Hebert/Invision/Associated Press.


KEYBOARD player Keith Emerson, whose innovative experiments on synthesizers in the 1970s introduced strange new sounds to arena rock, has died at the age of 71. The news was confirmed by his former bandmate, the drummer Carl Palmer. Along with Greg Lake, the trio combined to form the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

The band became one of the bestselling rock bands of the arena-rock era. On albums including “Tarkus”, “Brain Salad Surgery” and “Pictures at an Exhibition”, ELP built works that helped expand the sound of rock music to include high-concept themes, multi-movement structures and state-of-the-art technology.

Wrote Palmer on his Facebook page:

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my good friend and brother-in-music, Keith Emerson. Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come. He was a pioneer and an innovator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz. I will always remember his warm smile, good sense of humor, compelling showmanship, and dedication to his musical craft. I am very lucky to have known him and to have made the music we did, together. Rest in peace, Keith.”




One of Emerson's notable moments is his Moog solo on “Lucky Man”, ELP's most recognizable hit. Standing before a massive wall of plugs and wires, Emerson let loose on the machine while the technology was still in its infancy, and he embraced the mysteries inside its circuits to create previously unheard musical noises.

A rock showman with the chops to back it up, Emerson played his keyboards with the enthusiasm of a long-haired, blue-spangled Jerry Lee Lewis. The evidence is in the band's wild performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.




Dismissed by many conservative rock critics of the era for the band's disinterest in mimicking the tropes of classic American rock 'n' roll, the members of Emerson, Lake & Palmer reveled in their musicianly skills. They enthusiastically traded basic structures and sounds for a kind of gymnastic maximalism, and in the process expanded the musical conversation at a key moment.

For example, here's Emerson stabbing his keyboard with a knife:




Emerson embraced inventor Bob Moog's keyboard just as the invention's tones were making its way into the culture. Recalled Emerson of the era, “I think Bob was as in awe of his invention as those of us who got to play it and incorporate it into our music. We all had different styles and ways of making it work for us.”

Emerson described his Moog as “the world’s most dangerous synth,” but night after night the player proved he could wrestle it into submission.


http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-keith-emerson-dies-elp-20160311-story.html
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« Reply #407 on: March 13, 2016, 01:12:37 am »


from the Chicago Tribune....

Death of Keith Emerson, keyboardist for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, investigated as suicide
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« Reply #408 on: May 17, 2016, 02:18:53 pm »

Jane Little, world's longest serving orchestra musician, collapses and dies on stage
GEOFF EDGERS AND FRED BARBASH
May 17, 2016.
updated: 12:43pm
Jane Little, who debuted as a bassist in Atlanta in the US on February 4, 1945, at the age of 16 and never stopped playing, died on Sunday during a performance of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She was said to be the longest tenured orchestra musician in the world. She was 87.

"We can say that Jane was fortunate to do what she loved until the very end of her storied life and career," the symphony said in a Facebook post.

"The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra was truly blessed to have Jane as part of our family for the past 71 years and we all miss her passion, vitality, spirit and incredible talent."

"Her footprints are permanently etched on that stage," wrote another admirer, Doug Ireland. "Everyone who ever attended a concert was amazed to see this tiny woman with that huge instrument!"

READ MORE:
 *Emergency poet parks up for Auckland Writers Festival
* Frizzell vows to take legal action after finding 'fakes' on Trade Me
* Art curator hopes to bring Asia to Uxbridge in East Auckland
 
The symphony was performing a pops concert called Broadway's Golden Age, according to its schedule. A spokeswoman said they were about 30 seconds from the last measures of There's No Business Like Show Business from Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, the encore to the concert, when Little collapsed and was carried backstage by her fellow bassists. She never regained consciousness.



http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/80077400/jane-little-worlds-longest-serving-orchestra-musician-collapses-and-dies-on-stage


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« Reply #409 on: June 15, 2016, 12:52:00 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Former Carterton mayor dies

10:20AM - Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Gary McPhee was a sitting member of the Greater Wellington Council.
Gary McPhee was a sitting member of the Greater Wellington Council.

A FORMER Mayor of Carterton and a sitting member of the Greater Wellington Council died suddenly at his home yesterday.

Police have confirmed the death of Gary McPhee, 60, was not regarded as suspicious and will be referred to the Coroner.

At this stage no further details have been given other than to say Mr McPhee was found dead at about 1pm at his home in rural Carterton.

Mr McPhee will be remembered as a very colourful character, who had diverse interests and who, when stepping down as Mayor of Carterton in 2010 after two terms, introduced Ron Mark to local body politics.

Mr Mark became his mayoral successor and remembers Mr McPhee as a “big guy in every way — he was superman.”

“Gary was in his happiest moments when he was helping someone else,” he said.

“He was larger than life. He's a big man, big in stature, big in heart, big on people, big on getting stuff done, and genuine, absolutely genuine.”


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11656892
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« Reply #410 on: June 15, 2016, 12:52:18 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Wellington regional councillor Gary McPhee's
death suspected suicide


Family of former Carterton Mayor Gary McPhee suicide want his death
to be a timely reminder of the dangers of depression.


By PIERS FULLER | 12:31PM - Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Former mayor of Carterton, and Greater Wellington councillor Gary McPhee was found dead on Tuesday. — Photograph: Lauren Dougan/Fairfax NZ.
Former mayor of Carterton, and Greater Wellington councillor Gary McPhee was
found dead on Tuesday. — Photograph: Lauren Dougan/Fairfax NZ.


FAMILY of former Carterton mayor and Greater Wellington Regional councillor Gary McPhee want his sudden death on Tuesday to be a timely reminder of the dangers of depression.

Police were called to his rural Carterton address shortly after 1pm on Tuesday and found him unresponsive.

They attempted CPR but were unable to resuscitate the 60-year-old. His death is being treated as a suspected suicide.

Gary McPhee's younger brother Greg McPhee said the family had long been aware of Gary's battle with depression and they want to be open about what happened if it might help others.

Greg McPhee, who caught up with his brother last weekend, said though he seemed out of sorts he was at peace.

“I spent a bit of time with him on Sunday night and I just knew that things were all not well,” he said.

He wanted to be upfront about it in order to help others.

“That's the facts of the matter, we're not bullshit artists, we're not trying to gild the lily.”

“If we can be of any help to anyone in a time of crisis like that they're going through, it is of value to me and the family.”

People in his brother's position were vulnerable and mental health services could be inadequate, he said.

“He would have wished that anyone suffering the way that he did, that they surround themselves with the right people, but I think the whole mental health system is a minefield,” said Greg McPhee, who has also struggled with depression throughout his adult life.

Police believed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, which had been referred to the coroner, senior sergeant Mike Sutton said.

McPhee was a prominent figure in the Wairarapa community and tributes have been pouring in on social media since news of his death.


Flowers were placed at Greater Wellington regional councillor Gary McPhee's spot at the council table. — Photograph: Joel Maxwell/Fairfax NZ.
Flowers were placed at Greater Wellington regional councillor Gary McPhee's spot
at the council table. — Photograph: Joel Maxwell/Fairfax NZ.


At a Greater Wellington Regional Council meeting on Wednesday flowers were placed at McPhee's spot at the council table.

McPhee's fellow councillors were hushed as they entered the chambers for the meeting.

Chairman Chris Laidlaw said McPhee had integrity and wisdom, and a knack for “reading” people well.

“He was a man who stood up and supported what he believed in.”

After the words by Laidlaw, councillor Ken Laban stood up beside McPhee's empty seat.

“This is for you, mate,” he said, before speaking aloud the poem Mates, by World War II veteran Duncan Butler.

I've travelled down some dusty roads, both crooked tracks and straight. And I've learnt life's noblest creed, summed up in one word: mate.

After the poem, the council chambers stood for a minutes silence, and singing of the waiata Whakaaria Mai, before the meeting continued.

Gary McPhee is survived by a partner and two sons.


__________________________________________________________________________

Related stories:

 • Anger motivates run for council

 • Death penalty for violent criminals

 • Fourth time lucky in marriage


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wairarapa/81079894
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« Reply #411 on: June 16, 2016, 12:41:24 pm »




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« Reply #412 on: June 19, 2016, 01:08:23 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Death shocks district

By DON FARMER and EMILY NORMAN | 9:29AM - Thursday, June 16, 2016

Gary and Sandy McPhee back home after their wedding in Fiji in 2007.
Gary and Sandy McPhee back home after
their wedding in Fiji in 2007.


THE sudden death of one of Wairarapa's most colourful characters and community leaders has shocked and saddened the district.

Former Carterton mayor Gary McPhee, 60, who was Wairarapa's sole representative on Greater Wellington Regional Council, died at his rural Carterton home on Tuesday where he was discovered about 1pm by police who tried to revive him by administering CPR without success.

The flamboyant ex-mayor, who stood 1.95m tall, was not only prominent in local body politics but also had a passion for Harley Davidson motorcycles and a bent for invention, one of his most unusual being the building of a motorcycle hearse.

Elected to Carterton District Council in 2001, Mr McPhee was never one to hide his light under a bushel, and was in the news before making his mayoral bid in 2004.

This involved Mr McPhee being banned from the Royal Oak Tavern in Carterton for six months for “causing trouble”.

The then 44-year-old had apparently caused a scene when found wielding a sword around the pub. He later told media he was just carrying the sword on his shoulder and was “showing off his craftsmanship” as he had made the sword himself.

Mr McPhee had said the incident was not a big deal and no one had been hurt.

In 2004, he tipped out sitting mayor Martin Tankersley and held the mayoralty until relinquishing it in 2010.

He is remembered as a colourful but effective mayor who was staunch in his support of his town, and not afraid to speak his mind.

During his mayoralty, Mr McPhee had a brush with the police after an incident in High Street, Carterton, where he is said to have been involved in a fracas in a flat in which a door was damaged. A confrontation with others had resulted in police being called.

Later Mr McPhee said he had “rightly or wrongly intervened” when visiting the premises, forcing open a door and confronting those inside. No charges had been laid and no official complaints were made.

Among the first to pay tribute to Mr McPhee yesterday was New Zealand First deputy leader Ron Mark, who was sought out by Mr McPhee to take over the Carterton mayoralty in 2010.

“And he wasn't taking no for an answer,” Mr Mark said.

“I always felt honoured and humbled by the fact that this Loss a shock to a community guy, who made such a huge impact on Carterton, chose me as someone he felt could succeed him.”

“I respected the hell out of him. He was larger than life. He's a big man, big in stature, big in heart, big on people, big on getting stuff done, and genuine, absolutely genuine.”

Mr McPhee opened the Buckhorn Bar and Grill in Carterton, and Mr Mark said the western-themed restaurant will “always stand as a testimony of his artisan skills, his artistic skills”.

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said she first met Mr McPhee at New Mayor's School more than 10 years ago, where he “absolutely stood out because he was a foot taller than everyone else”.

“Gary and I were elected to our respective mayoralties at the same time and right from the start I would say Gary was delightfully a square peg in a round hole,” she said. “He did things differently and was somebody very special.”

Mr McPhee had gone on record disclosing his battles with depression.

Carterton Mayor John Booth described Mr McPhee as the “Sheriff of Carterton” — “a man mountain with a heart of gold”.

“He was a hands-on person in the community. I had a lot of time for him.”

“When he was the mayor, he would visit businesses with a clipboard and pen and go into the shops asking, what do I need to fix? — He was that sort of mayor, connected and deeply committed to the Carterton community.”

“He was colourful, and a real man's man. I can recall that when I became mayor in 2014 he rang me up and said he was very proud to have another Gladstone man as mayor of Carterton. That is one of my fondest memories. We crossed paths several times at the Gladdie Pub where he would arrive on his motorbike and occasionally ask me, what are you drinking? I'll miss him terribly.”

Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson said she was “devastated” by the loss of Mr McPhee.

“It'll be a huge blow for his family and the Wairarapa community. He was a big man with a big heart and was part of our Governance Review Team for the past four or five years.”

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Chris Laidlaw could not be reached for comment.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11657567



from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

McPhee helped son get back on track

By DON FARMER | 9:26AM - Thursday, June 16, 2016

Jesse McPhee at his home yesterday. — Photo: Emily Norman.
Jesse McPhee at his home yesterday.
 — Photo: Emily Norman.


THE youngest son of former Carterton mayor Gary McPhee who died on Tuesday has described his dad as more than just a father and as his best mate who virtually gave up 10 years of his life to help him.

Jesse McPhee, 33, of Masterton, said he had been a "bit of a ratbag" in his young years and was on the verge of being estranged from his father when a serious crash in Wellington changed everything.

“I had moved back to Wellington after we had fallen out when my motorcycle and a bus collided.”

“I had head injuries, a broken jaw, smashed teeth, a broken collar bone, a punctured lung, broken ribs, a shattered femur, a dislocated kneecap, ankle injuries and ripped tendons and was six weeks in a coma.”

The young father of two said his father had come to the rescue in a huge way, putting aside his own life to become his son's fulltime carer.

“If it hadn't been for him I may never have got back into life.”

“He cared for me and brought me back by doing metalwork with me, we would go bushwalking and played squash together.”

“We were no longer just a father and son, we were best friends.”

“He nursed me back to health, without him I don't think I would ever have got out of rehab,” he said.

Jesse said his father was a “straight shooter” with high moral standards.

“He had a sense of what was right and what was wrong and he hated us doing anything wrong.”

Jesse said he had become so proud of his father and knew that many of his friends envied their close relationship.

He has bounced back to “about 98 percent” full health and ironically is now a bus driver.

“Funnily enough I drive buses for a living now.”

“If you can't beat them, join them.”

Although on ACC he has a school bus run and it was at the end of the run on Tuesday that he found out his father had died.

“I pulled into my father's place on the way home from the school run and a police officer, who thought I knew what had happened, came up to me and said, ‘Jesse I'm so sorry’.”

“I said, ‘for what?’”

“He said your father has passed, I said, ‘oh shit what bike was he on’.”

Jesse said he was so close to his dad he wouldn't go a week without seeing him or longer than three days without talking with him.

“We were amazingly close.”

Jesse is married to Natarsha and the couple have two children Jazmin, 9, and Lochlan, 5.

He has an older brother Harley who also lives in Masterton.

Both are sons of Gary and his former wife Wendy.

At the time of his death Mr McPhee was married to Sandy (nee Mansfield).


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11657560
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« Reply #413 on: June 19, 2016, 01:15:09 pm »

Quote
During his mayoralty, Mr McPhee had a brush with the police after an incident in High Street, Carterton, where he is said to have been involved in a fracas in a flat in which a door was damaged. A confrontation with others had resulted in police being called.

Later Mr McPhee said he had “rightly or wrongly intervened” when visiting the premises, forcing open a door and confronting those inside. No charges had been laid and no official complaints were made.


I remember that incident. There was a pad in downtown Carterton (above one of the main street shops) which was inhabited by a bunch of young fellas who were causing a lot of trouble, vandalism, etc., around the town. Word around Wairarapa is that late one evening, Gary was drinking in the bar at one of the local pubs when he received a phone call from a ratepayer complaining about these chaps damaging property around the town, and it was the last straw. Gary headed for the flat, kicked the door down, and dished out a bit of instant rough justice. The local “boys in blue” were not amused and he got a big lecture about how a Mayor should behave, but was let off with a stern warning.

After that incident, Gary McPhee became known around the district as the “Sheriff of Carterton!”

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« Reply #414 on: June 19, 2016, 01:25:29 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Tribute to ‘larger than life’ councillor

Chairman joins mourning for Gary McPhee.

6:00AM - Saturday, June 18, 2016

GREATER WELLINGTON Regional Council chairman Chris Laidlaw was among the many mourners of former regional councillor Gary McPhee, who died suddenly this week.

In a press statement released by GWRC, Mr Laidlaw described Mr McPhee as a “larger than life figure” who represented his Wairarapa constituents passionately around the council table.

“He did this by briefing himself on the issues, talking to locals and staff, and listening to discussion before offering his opinion,” Mr Laidlaw said.

“In spite of his struggle with illness he always delivered when it mattered. His advice was practical, pragmatic and to the point, which was much respected by fellow councillors and staff.”

“I knew him as a man of integrity and wisdom with a very shrewd ability to read people.”

Mr Laidlaw said Mr McPhee took an intense interest in the regional council's work and was “always keen to get his hands dirty and see how things worked. He spent a lot of time with landowners and staff discussing how to keep Wairarapa's rivers in check, hillsides from eroding and the mechanics of dealing with possums and the like,” he said.

“He got stuck in at community planting days and was known to pick up the barbecue tongs and cook for everyone at Wairarapa staff functions.”

“As a keen motorcyclist, Gary got involved in regional transport issues and was a powerful advocate for sending logs from Wairarapa to Wellington by train to take the pressure off our roads.”

“His intensely loyal representation of Wairarapa's people did not get in the way of working with his fellow councillors and he was often at the heart of finding a simple solution that suited everyone.”

“He was brave man and we will all miss him. Our thoughts are with his family and friends in this very difficult time.”


• A celebration of Mr McPhee's life will be held at the Carterton Events Centre on Monday, June 20th at 1pm followed by burial at the Clareville Lawn Cemetery.

• Messages to the McPhee family can be addressed to PO Box 185, Carterton 5743, or can be left on Gary's tribute page at Tributes.co.nz.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11658603
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« Reply #415 on: June 20, 2016, 11:47:43 am »


On the way home from work I went to the New World supermarket at the north-end of the downtown area in Masterton. While driving home from there I noticed hundreds of Harleys in the carpark of The Farrier's next to the roundabout at the northern entrance to Masterton. Turning into my street (which is just around the corner from there) I discovered hundreds more Harleys parked along both sides of my street. Now, as I type this, they are all being started up and heading off down Villa Street, which already has heaps of Harleys being ridden along past the end of my street (presumably the ones from The Farrier's carpark).

No prizes, I guess, for working out where they are all heading. Look out Carterton, a shitload of loud thunder is heading your way!
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« Reply #416 on: June 20, 2016, 07:25:01 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Wellington regional councillor Gary McPhee
rumbles to his final resting place


“Sheriff of Carterton” farewelled with
thunderous procession of motorbikes.


By PIERS FULLER | 5:15PM - Monday, 20 June 2016

Gary McPhee's coffin was carried on a sidecar beside his Harley Davidson ridden by his son Jesse. — Photograph: Piers Fuller/Fairfax NZ.
Gary McPhee's coffin was carried on a sidecar beside his Harley Davidson
ridden by his son Jesse. — Photograph: Piers Fuller/Fairfax NZ.


THE send-off for the man who was instrumental in creating Carterton's Events Centre ended up being too big for the town's shining centrepiece.

Around 1,500 people turned out on Monday afternoon to bid farewell to former Carterton mayor and Greater Wellington regional councillor Gary McPhee, who died last week of a suspected suicide.

The extent of McPhee's network of friends, family and acquaintances was apparent with hundreds packing the town hall.

Hundreds more were in the foyer and in the courtyard watching a live video stream, and listening to eulogies by politicians and family members.

Following the 90-minute service hundreds of leather-clad bikers honoured the larger-than-life mayor in a funeral procession ride.


A big screen was set up in the Carterton Events Centre foyer for mourners outside the main auditorium. — Photograph: Piers Fuller/Fairfax NZ.
A big screen was set up in the Carterton Events Centre foyer for mourners outside
the main auditorium. — Photograph: Piers Fuller/Fairfax NZ.


The column of bikes rumbled through the streets of Carterton in the wake of the Harley Davidson ridden by McPhee's son Jesse, a sidecar rigged to carry the coffin to Clareville Cemetery.

While speakers at the funeral did not shy away from addressing the depression that McPhee battled leading up his death, the funeral was overwhelmingly a celebration of his colourful life.

Current Carterton mayor John Booth recounted stories of how McPhee acted as the “town sheriff”.

McPhee took it upon himself to tackle what he perceived as a drug problem within the district by running the undesirable elements out of town not long after taking office in 2004, Booth said.

Proving that McPhee was on the side of justice, all charges against him for actions against people he suspected of dealing drugs were dropped, Booth said.


Hundreds of bikers followed the casket through Carterton to Clareville Cemetery. — Photograph: Piers Fuller/Fairfax NZ.
Hundreds of bikers followed the casket through Carterton to Clareville Cemetery.
 — Photograph: Piers Fuller/Fairfax NZ.


Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Chris Laidlaw said he and McPhee initially seemed to have little in common when he first met him at a regional council meeting.

McPhee, then still Carterton mayor, had attacked the regional council over the removal of public toilets on the summit of Rimutaka Hill Road.

But the two men later found they had a connection over similar motorbikes they owned.

McPhee told him recently that he believed Wairarapa needed “one united voice”, an allusion to local governance reform underway in the region.

New Zealand First MP and former Carterton Mayor Ron Mark wore a cowboy hat and snakeskin boots in honour of McPhee's love for western regalia, illustrated in the Wild West-themed restaurant he built in Carterton.

Mark noted that at 1.95-metres McPhee was a big man — and was also big enough to admit when he was wrong.

After initially opposing the construction of the multimillion-dollar Carterton Events Centre, McPhee became the facility's biggest advocate and helped push it through to completion.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wairarapa/81262691
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« Reply #417 on: June 21, 2016, 01:10:46 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Bikers join big turnout at service for
former Carterton mayor Gary McPhee


By DON FARMER | 7:16AM - Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Mourners watch the big screen outside the Event Centre. — Photograph: Andrew Bonallack.
Mourners watch the big screen outside the Event Centre.
 — Photograph: Andrew Bonallack.


DEVOTED Harley-Davidson fan Gary McPhee saved the best to last — taking his final ride yesterday as guest of honour at the head of hundreds of roaring motorcycles of all colours and all makes and models.

The funeral cortege for the former Carterton mayor took over the town as bikers from throughout New Zealand paid their respects to the man whose action-packed life leaned heavily on his love of motorbikes and all things mechanical.

Earlier an estimated 1,500 people packed out the Carterton Events Centre and filled Holloway Street to attend a celebration of Mr McPhee's life, with many Carterton people claiming the service was the largest funeral gathering in the town's history.

Fittingly, Mr McPhee's coffin was transported to Clareville Cemetery by the motorcycle hearse he himself had made, with his youngest son Jesse at the controls of a Harley-Davidson, of course.

Mr McPhee, 60, died at his rural Carterton home last Tuesday after a battle with depression and the pain of severe arthritis.

He was mayor of Carterton from 2004 until 2010 and was Wairarapa's sole councillor on Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) at the time of his death.

The service opened to Roger Miller's King of the Road, a song Mr McPhee loved and which reflected his passion for adventure and country music.

It closed with Leon Russell's rendition of Back to the Island.


Jesse McPhee motors in with his father's casket on Gary McPhee's hearse-bike. — Photograph: Andrew Bonallack.
Jesse McPhee motors in with his father's casket on Gary McPhee's hearse-bike.
 — Photograph: Andrew Bonallack.


In paying tribute to Mr McPhee, celebrant Norm Scirkovich — who was Mr McPhee's brother-in-law — spoke of the former mayor as a larger-than-life character who was a big man with an “even bigger heart”.

He loved to “get stuck in and fix things” whether that was of a mechanical nature or to right things around town but was also a talented artist, a man of loyalty and a good friend.

Carterton mayor John Booth said Mr McPhee had a monumental effect on the town and was a man who did not fit the mould of what “leaders should do or look like”.

“But that was what made Gary McPhee so bloody brilliant.”

“He was the people's mayor who could cut through red tape and bullshit.”

Mr Booth said Mr McPhee showed great vision and leadership and this had resulted in the building of the events centre “a facility we commissioned and which will prove to be his lasting legacy”.

GWRC chairman Chris Laidlaw said Mr McPhee brought practical wisdom to the council table. “I will always be grateful for his contribution.”

“He had a rare ability to read the mood, and to read people.”

“Gary had rock-solid integrity,” he said.


Mourners outside the event centre watch former Carterton mayor Ron Mark say his piece. — Photograph: Andrew Bonallack.
Mourners outside the event centre watch former Carterton mayor Ron Mark say his piece.
 — Photograph: Andrew Bonallack.


Ron Mark, who became Carterton mayor after Mr McPhee retired from the role, described Mr McPhee as a problem solver and a man who had stamped his presence “not just on Carterton, not just on Wairarapa but on the whole of the wider Wellington region”.

Mr McPhee's two sons, Harley and Jesse, proclaimed their love for their father, and his sister Andrea Scirkovich told the gathering of the happy childhood Mr McPhee had enjoyed with his siblings.

David Mansfield, father of Sandy who was Mr McPhee's second wife, said he recalled Mr McPhee arriving at his home to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage after a whirlwind romance.

He said the huge man had filled the doorway and “what could I have been expected to say, especially as he was on his way to sort out gang members who had been harassing his boss”.

Mr McPhee had been an advocate for mental health and at the service it was revealed he had been having trouble in several areas, being unable to sleep and losing his memory.

He had also endured constant pain in the last few years.

His son Harley said he had heard in the days after Mr McPhee's death that the manner in which it happened had been “selfish” but that it had been far from a selfish act.


__________________________________________________________________________

Related media:

 • VIDEO: Bikers join turnout at service for former Carterton mayor Gary McPhee


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11660280
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« Reply #418 on: August 25, 2016, 09:53:55 am »

Former Newstalk ZB host Justin du Fresne dies


Former Newstalk ZB Wellington host Justin du Fresne has died following a brief illness.

The broadcasting veteran's career spanned 50 years on Newstalk ZB before he hung up his headphones in 2013. At the time The Dominion Post reported he'd been in the job since the 1960s, when he pioneered 2ZB's first radio pop music show.

He later took a break from radio, returning in the early 80s, remaining as ZB made its way into talkback.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/83539849/former-newstalk-zb-host-justin-du-fresne-dies



I had the privilege of working with Justin throughout several of the City of Wellington Variety Concerts in the late 1980's into the 1990's. I was the Musical Director/Producer while he was one of the Comperes. Justin was fabulous to work with.

RIP Justin
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« Reply #419 on: October 26, 2016, 12:51:20 pm »


from The Washington Post....

Bob Hoover, pilot who escaped POW camp
by stealing a German plane, dies at 94


Mr. Hoover was a test pilot and stunt pilot revered by generations of aviators.

By MATT SCHUDEL | 7:36PM EDT - Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Legendary test and air-show pilot Bob Hoover in an undated photograph. — Photograph: Bob Hoover Archives.
Legendary test and air-show pilot Bob Hoover in an undated photograph. — Photograph: Bob Hoover Archives.

BOB HOOVER, a World War II fighter pilot who escaped a POW camp and flew to freedom by stealing a German airplane and who spent decades testing aircraft, thrilling spectators at air shows and training military aviators, died on October 25th at a hospital in Torrance, California. He was 94.

The cause was congestive heart failure, said his daughter-in-law, Lynn Hoover.

Mr. Hoover, who learned to fly as a teenager in Tennessee, was among the country's most revered pilots. The renowned World War II airman General Jimmy Doolittle once called Mr. Hoover “the greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived.”


Hoover with Chuck Yeager, left, on the 50th anniversary of the historic flight that broke the sound barrier. — Photograph: Reuters.
Hoover with Chuck Yeager, left, on the 50th anniversary of the historic flight
that broke the sound barrier. — Photograph: Reuters.


In 1947, Mr. Hoover was a test pilot flying alongside Chuck Yeager when Yeager broke the sound barrier. Mr. Hoover taught dive-bombing maneuvers to Air Force pilots during the Korean War.

He flew more than 300 varieties of airplanes and knew virtually every significant figure in the history of aviation, from Orville Wright to Charles Lindbergh to Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to walk on the moon. During his decades as a stunt pilot, Mr. Hoover handled his plane so smoothly that he could pour a cup of tea while executing a 360-degree roll. One of the airplanes he used for aerobatics, a North American Rockwell Shrike Commander 500S, is housed in the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. ­Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Virginia.




“He had such an intuitive sense of how to fly an airplane,” Dorothy S. Cochrane, a curator at the Air and Space Museum, said in an interview. “He had a stunning ability to be a part of the airplane and to figure out what was wrong and how to get out of it and recover. He just had that ability not only to do it himself but to communicate to others.”

As recently as last year, actor Harrison Ford credited lessons learned from Mr. Hoover with helping him survive a crash landing of a vintage airplane on a California golf course.




During World War II, while based in North Africa and southern Europe, Mr. Hoover flew 58 missions as a fighter pilot with the Army Air Forces. On his 59th, on February 9th, 1944, he was shot down off the coast of southern France and was plucked from the sea by a German patrol boat.

He spent 16 months in a German prison camp before he and a fellow American climbed the fence and fled into the nearby woods. With the war coming to an end, German civilians were more cooperative, and a farm woman gave Mr. Hoover and his fellow escapee a gun.

“She said it would do us a lot more good than it did her, and she was right,” Mr. Hoover later told the Los Angeles Daily News.

He and his friend came upon a field with hundreds of damaged German warplanes. Mr. Hoover found one that had a full gas tank.

When a German mechanic approached, Mr. Hoover's friend pulled the gun on him.

“We told him unless he could get us airborne fast, we were going to kill him,” Mr. Hoover recalled years later.

The German plane's engine started, but Mr. Hoover's buddy refused to get aboard, vowing never to fly in another airplane. Instead, he took his chances on foot — and years later was reunited with Mr. Hoover.

The stolen plane had a German cross painted on the side, and Mr. Hoover was fearful of being attacked by Allied forces as he flew along the coast of Germany toward the Netherlands.

“I didn't have any maps or charts,” he said in a 2007 interview with the publication Airport Journals. “I knew that if I turned west and followed the shoreline, I would be safe when I saw windmills.”

He landed in a field and was quickly surrounded by Dutch farmers with pitchforks. Soon afterward, a British army truck rolled up, and Mr. Hoover was taken to safety.

Hailed as a hero, he noted that the prison camps were loosely guarded during the waning days of the war. “People made it sound like a great escape,” he said, “but the guards had deserted us.”

Robert Anderson Hoover was born on January 24th, 1922, in Nashville. His father was an office manager and bookkeeper.

Mr. Hoover began taking flying lessons at 15 and joined the Tennessee Air National Guard at 18.

After World War II, while serving in the newly formed Air Force, he was one of the test pilots in a project to break the sound barrier with the new Bell X-1 jet aircraft. When Yeager accomplished the feat in 1947, Mr. Hoover was flying the “chase plane” and took the first photographs of Yeager's faster-than-sound flight.

He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and other decorations before leaving the military in 1948. He then became a test pilot for General Motors, North American Aviation and North American Rockwell.


Bob Hoover at the National Air and Space Museum, where he received an award for lifetime achievement in 2007. — Photograph: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post.
Bob Hoover at the National Air and Space Museum, where he received an award for lifetime achievement in 2007.
 — Photograph: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post.


He lived for years in Palos Verdes Estates, California, and appeared at air shows around the world, flying a yellow P-51 Mustang or his white-and-green Shrike Commander. In Moscow in 1966, he was briefly detained because he outshone Soviet pilots while flying a Russian-built plane.

In one of his most daring maneuvers, Mr. Hoover turned off the engines of his airplane and flew it like a glider, coming to a silent stop on the runway.

After a 1989 accident, in which his airplane was filled with the wrong fuel, Mr. Hoover invented a new kind of nozzle to prevent such mistakes from happening again.

His wife of 68 years, the former Colleen Humrickhouse, died in February. Survivors include two children, Anita Eley of Greeley, Colorado, and Robert A. Hoover Jr. of El Segundo, California; three grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.


In this January 16th, 2015, file photo, Bob Hoover attends the 12th annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Robert A. “Bob” Hoover, a World War II fighter pilot who became an aviation legend for his skills in testing aircraft and demonstrating their capabilities in air shows, has died at age 94. Bill Fanning, a close family friend and a fellow pilot, says Hoover died early on Tuesday, October 25th, 2016, in Southern California. — Photograph: Rob Latour/Invision/Associated Press.
In this January 16th, 2015, file photo, Bob Hoover attends the 12th annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards at The Beverly Hilton
Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Robert A. “Bob” Hoover, a World War II fighter pilot who became an aviation legend for his skills
in testing aircraft and demonstrating their capabilities in air shows, has died at age 94. Bill Fanning, a close family friend
and a fellow pilot, says Hoover died early on Tuesday, October 25th, 2016, in Southern California.
 — Photograph: Rob Latour/Invision/Associated Press.


In 1994, federal officials threatened to ground Mr. Hoover for failing medical tests. The outpouring from flying fans was so great that he was re-examined, and his pilot's license was reinstated. He retired from aerobatics in his late 70s and piloted his last plane when he was 85.

Filmmaker Kim Furst premiered a documentary about Mr. Hoover, Flying the Feathered Edge, in 2014. Mr. Hoover published at autobiography, Forever Flying, in 1996.

In his book, Mr. Hoover wrote, “Hell, I would fly an old Dodge truck if they put wings on the side.”


• Matt Schudel has been an obituary writer at The Washington Post since 2004.

__________________________________________________________________________

Related Washington Post obituaries:

 • William H. Pietsch Jr., who led a commando team in World War II, dies at 94

 • Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo astronaut who walked on the moon, dies at 85

 • Jerrie Mock, first female pilot to fly solo around the world, dies at 88


https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bob-hoover-pilot-who-escaped-pow-camp-by-stealing-a-german-plane-dies-at-94/2016/10/25/c3dfd16c-9ad2-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html
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« Reply #420 on: November 26, 2016, 05:40:49 pm »


CASTRO DEAD
(click on the picture to read the news story)
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« Reply #421 on: November 29, 2016, 01:17:03 pm »

Castro’s rotting in hell, but Cuba’s not free yet



The dancing in the streets of Miami tells you all you need to know: The people who knew Fidel Castro best, and are free to express their opinion, are ecstatic that he’s burning in hell.

He led a revolution promising liberty in the island nation — then instead transformed it into an island prison. Along with the rest of his inner circle, he lived a life of luxury — 20 homes, including a private island, Cayo Piedra, that his former bodyguard called a “millionaire’s paradise.”

He jailed, tortured and “disappeared” countless thousands of his people, including many who’d helped lead the revolution. His utter denial of basic human rights — freedoms of speech and assembly, for starters — drove more than a fifth of Cuba’s population into exile.

Castro deceived from the start, and fools around the world chose to believe the lies long after the truth was obvious. He took power claiming to be a nationalist, then came out as a fervent Communist — with firing squads for any who complained.

Yes, he removed US influence over his country — and sold it to the Soviet Union. His bid to host a Soviet atomic arsenal on the island brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

He outlawed not only private enterprise, but also labor unions, and put gays in concentration camps.

His policies impoverished what had once been the most prosperous nation in Latin America. The regime blamed the US embargo, without ever noting that the rest of the world hadn’t joined in: The problem was that Castro’s Cuba had next to nothing to export — beyond mercenaries, terrorism and secret police.

By the 1990s, he was even bragging about Cuba’s legions of prostitutes, who served the tourist trade he’d been forced to embrace to replace the subsidies he lost with the fall of the USSR.

In 2006, ill health forced him to hand power over to younger brother Raul, who continues the oppression.

So, while you cheer the death of one of history’s bloodiest tyrants, temper your joy: Cuba is not yet free.

http://nypost.com/2016/11/26/castros-rotting-in-hell-but-cubas-not-free-yet/
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« Reply #422 on: November 29, 2016, 03:06:31 pm »


Castro outlasted John F. Kennedy by many, many decades.

He also survived more than 600 failed assassination attempts.

And....Donald Trump's term as President of the USA will be but the timespan of a mere pimple on Castro's butt-cheek compared to the length of time Castro was Prez of Cuba.
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« Reply #423 on: November 29, 2016, 03:06:44 pm »


MODFATHER
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« Reply #424 on: November 29, 2016, 03:16:28 pm »

Castro was a murderous thug good riddance to bad rubbish
only the good die young

he only lived so long because he had the best of everything while his people suffered in poverty
goodbye to a worthless pile of commie crap
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