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Post by petert on Jun 13, 2021 13:30:22 GMT -5
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Jun 14, 2021 10:21:13 GMT -5
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Post by dex on Jul 25, 2021 18:22:34 GMT -5
NEW YORK (AP) — Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.
Mason died Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks, the celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder told The Associated Press.
The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.
“Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,” he once joked. Another Mason line was: “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.” About himself, he once said: “I was so self-conscious, every time football players went into a huddle; I thought they were talking about me.”
His death was mourned far and wide, from fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who called him “one of the best,” to Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity, who hailed Mason as “irreverent, iconoclastic, funny, smart and a great American patriot.” Henry Winkler tweeted: “Now you get to make heaven laugh.”
Mason was born Jacob Maza, the son of a rabbi. His three brothers became rabbis. So did Mason, who at one time had congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Comedy eventually proved to be a more persistent calling than God.
“A person has to feel emotionally barren or empty or frustrated in order to become a comedian,” he told The Associated Press in 1987. “I don’t think people who feel comfortable or happy are motivated to become comedians. You’re searching for something and you’re willing to pay a high price to get that attention.”
Mason started in show business as a social director at a resort in the Catskills. He was the guy who got everybody up to play Simon Says, quiz games or shuffleboard. He told jokes, too. After one season, he was playing clubs throughout the Catskills for better money.
“Nobody else knew me, but in the mountains, I was a hit,” Mason recalled.
In 1961, the pint-sized comic got a big break, an appearance on Steve Allen’s weekly television variety show. His success brought him to “The Ed Sullivan Show” and other programs.
He was banned for two years from the “Sullivan” show when he allegedly gave the host the finger when Sullivan signaled to him to wrap up his act during an appearance on Oct. 18, 1964.
Mason’s act even carried him to Broadway, where he put on several one-man shows, including “Freshly Squeezed” in 2005, “Love Thy Neighbor” in 1996 and "The World According to Me" in 1988, for which he received a special Tony Award.
“I feel like Ronald Reagan tonight,” Mason joked on Tony night. “He was an actor all his life, knew nothing about politics and became president of the United States. I’m an ex-rabbi who knew nothing about acting and I’m getting a Tony Award.”
Mason called himself an observer who watched people and learned. From those observations he said he got his jokes and then tried them out on friends. “I’d rather make a fool of myself in front of two people for nothing than a thousand people who paid for a ticket,” he told the AP.
His humor could leap from computers and designer coffee to then-Sen. John Kerry, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Donald Trump. He was able to articulate the average Joe’s anger, making the indignities of life seem funny and maybe just a little bit more bearable.
“I very rarely write anything down. I just think about life a lot and try to put it into phrases that will get a joke,” he said. “I never do a joke that has a point that I don’t believe in. To me, the message and the joke is the same.”
On TV, Mason was a reliable presence, usually with a cameo on such shows as “30 Rock” or “The Simpsons” or as a reliable guest on late night chat shows. He performed in front of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and his show “Fearless” played London’s West End in 2012.
He portrayed a Jewish ex-pajama salesman in love with an Irish-Catholic widow portrayed by Lynn Redgrave in a series called “Chicken Soup” in 1989 but it didn’t last. During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Scottish service hired Mason as a weekly commentator. He was in "Caddyshack II,” a notorious flop.
Mason’s humor sometimes went too far, as when he touched off a controversy in New York while campaigning for GOP mayoral candidate Rudolph Giuliani against Democrat David Dinkins, who was Black. Mason had to apologize after saying, among other things, that Jews would vote for Dinkins out of guilt.
Felder, his longtime friend, told the AP that Mason had a Talmudic outlook on life: “That whatever you would say to him, he would start an argument with you.”
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Post by dex on Oct 25, 2021 9:26:30 GMT -5
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Post by johnnypc on Oct 28, 2021 12:16:24 GMT -5
Jay trainer, whom I think Jay Black replaced was a local TV cameraman in the AlBany NY area who also sang in a band with a guy I worked with.
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Post by dex on Oct 30, 2021 9:49:49 GMT -5
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Cteve
Blue Chipper
Posts: 1,648
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Post by Cteve on Oct 31, 2021 14:57:50 GMT -5
Son of Somerset,Ma Jerry Remy died today.
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Passages
Nov 5, 2021 16:23:24 GMT -5
via mobile
dex likes this
Post by friarfaninindiana on Nov 5, 2021 16:23:24 GMT -5
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Passages
Nov 13, 2021 19:11:56 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by friarfaninindiana on Nov 13, 2021 19:11:56 GMT -5
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Passages
Nov 18, 2021 14:39:35 GMT -5
via mobile
pcdad likes this
Post by suspended poster on Nov 18, 2021 14:39:35 GMT -5
RIP to Joe Guatieri, the biggest Friar fan I’ve ever met. I knew something was wrong when I stopped by Joe’s seat 10 minutes prior to tip off of the Fairfield. Joe wasn’t in his seat. Since 1986 when I would go to sit in my seats at a Friar game, Joe would be sitting in his customary aisle seat. We sat side by side for 25 years. At one time, Joe and his wife, and 5 other couples occupied the entire row. In 1986, a few people passed away and we joined the row. At first, to be completely honest it wasn’t that welcoming. We were the interlopers of the row. However over time, my family became close to Joe. You could set your watch to Joe being in his seat 45 minutes prior to tip off. At each game, my father would go down to the Friar Legends club and get Joe his cookies. He loved his halftime snack. Around 8 years ago, we gave up our season tickets, but still attend around half the games. Joe was so disappointed when we gave up our tickets ( I don’t know if he missed us or the cookies) but we stayed in touch him. It was strange that a few of our calls went unanswered in the last 6 months. Then we we saw his empty seat we hoped for the best and expected the worst. RIP my friend. www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/providence/name/joseph-guatieri-obituary?id=11783387
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Post by dex on Nov 18, 2021 17:33:01 GMT -5
Yep Joe was a fixture at PC games. Charles Street boy where I hung out sometimes when not up The Hill.
Wanskuck Boys Club has had a long history of helping kids and developing many terrific athletes. My family contributed to that organization and some were members.
I played them in basketball and baseball. Tough kids indeed, but generally respectful of the Club's administrative. Or Else!!!
Thyank you Joe for your service and may you Rest In Peace
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Post by thumper on Dec 1, 2021 6:38:08 GMT -5
RIP to Joe Guatieri, the biggest Friar fan I’ve ever met. I knew something was wrong when I stopped by Joe’s seat 10 minutes prior to tip off of the Fairfield. Joe wasn’t in his seat. Since 1986 when I would go to sit in my seats at a Friar game, Joe would be sitting in his customary aisle seat. We sat side by side for 25 years. At one time, Joe and his wife, and 5 other couples occupied the entire row. In 1986, a few people passed away and we joined the row. At first, to be completely honest it wasn’t that welcoming. We were the interlopers of the row. However over time, my family became close to Joe. You could set your watch to Joe being in his seat 45 minutes prior to tip off. At each game, my father would go down to the Friar Legends club and get Joe his cookies. He loved his halftime snack. Around 8 years ago, we gave up our season tickets, but still attend around half the games. Joe was so disappointed when we gave up our tickets ( I don’t know if he missed us or the cookies) but we stayed in touch him. It was strange that a few of our calls went unanswered in the last 6 months. Then we we saw his empty seat we hoped for the best and expected the worst. RIP my friend. www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/providence/name/joseph-guatieri-obituary?id=11783387Nice post, suspended. Wish I got the chance to meet Joe. Loyal Friar fan. PIZZA, SODA, GRINDERS!!!
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Dec 5, 2021 12:08:39 GMT -5
RIP to former Senator Bob Dole, who passed away at the age of 98
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Post by dex on Jan 14, 2022 12:13:46 GMT -5
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pcdad
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,708
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Post by pcdad on Jan 14, 2022 20:18:40 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/arts/music/ronnie-spector-dead.html... The Ronettes racked up a string of hits through 1965, including “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up” and “Walking in the Rain,” and for a time they were ubiquitous stars. They were part of the Beatles’ 1966 American tour, and Estelle Bennett, Ms. Spector’s older sister, dated both George Harrison and Mick Jagger. ... In the late 1980s, the Ronettes sued Mr. Spector for royalties, arguing that they had been paid less than $15,000 when they signed with Mr. Spector’s Philles Records in 1963 and that they never saw another payment. The court battle would last 15 years. During the trial, Ms. Spector said that her husband had stifled her singing career and threatened her into signing a 1974 divorce settlement that forfeited all future record profits. “He told me, ‘I’ll kill you,’ and said, ‘I’ll have a hit man kill you,’” she testified. The group won an award of $2.6 million in 2000, but the decision was overturned on appeal two years later, and their families later said they wound up earning substantially less. “I was so controlled by Phil, and now I have my own ideas,” Ms. Spector said at the time. “With this lawsuit over, I’m only looking forward: to my future, to singing rock ’n’ roll.” Veronica Yvette Bennett was born in New York on Aug. 10, 1943, and grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. By her teens she was singing with her sister and cousin, inspired by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Estelle, who had a job at Macy’s and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, helped devise the group’s look of beehive hair, tight dresses and heavy makeup. In a segregated era, the young women’s racial and ethnic backgrounds made them stand out. The Bennett sisters had Black, American Indian and Irish blood, while Ms. Talley was Black, Indian and Puerto Rican. In 1961, the Ronettes were signed to Colpix Records, which released “I Want a Boy” and other singles under the name Ronnie and the Relatives. After an audition in 1963, Mr. Spector signed the group to Philles. “Be My Baby,” written by Mr. Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, was released that summer. Throughout the 1970s, in an attempt to rebuild her career without her ex-husband, Ms. Spector collaborated with Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. But she didn’t find major success again until 1986, when her duet with Eddie Money, “Take Me Home Tonight,” reached No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart and earned a Grammy nomination. She played a regular Christmas show at the B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York, and she released a holiday EP in 2010. For longtime fans, it was a throwback to Phil Spector’s classic 1963 holiday album, “A Christmas Gift for You,” on which the Ronettes sang “Frosty the Snowman,” “Sleigh Ride” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” “Every song is a little piece of my life,” she said in 2007. “I’m just a girl from the ghetto who wanted to sing.”
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