RIP (2007)

[Phoenix]

RIP Pavarotti.

[Pulpmariachi]

My favorite childhood author died this past weekend and I just found out about it now. I'm pretty sad.

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Author Madeleine L'Engle, whose novel "A Wrinkle in Time" has been enjoyed by generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 88.

L'Engle died Thursday at a nursing home in Litchfield of natural causes, according to Jennifer Doerr, publicity manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The Newbery Medal winner wrote more than 60 books, including fantasies, poetry and memoirs, often highlighting spiritual themes and her Christian faith.

Although L'Engle was often labeled a children's author, she disliked that classification. In a 1993 Associated Press interview, she said she did not write down to children.

"In my dreams, I never have an age," she said. "I never write for any age group in mind. When people do, they tend to be tolerant and condescending and they don't write as well as they can write.

"When you underestimate your audience, you're cutting yourself off from your best work."

"A Wrinkle in Time" -- which L'Engle said was rejected repeatedly before it found a publisher in 1962 -- won the American Library Association's 1963 Newbery Medal for best American children's book. Her "A Ring of Endless Light" was a Newbery Honor Book, or medal runner-up, in 1981.

In 2004, President Bush awarded her a National Humanities Medal.

"Wrinkle" tells the story of adolescent Meg Murry, her genius little brother Charles Wallace, and their battle against evil as they search across the universe for their missing father, a scientist.

L'Engle followed it up with further adventures of the Murry children, including "A Wind in the Door," 1973; "A Swiftly Tilting Planet," 1978, which won an American Book Award; and "Many Waters," 1986.

Rest in peace Madeline L'Engle.

[frankenjohn]

Could never get into Wrinkle in Time. Started it three or four times but I just didn't like it. R.I.P. anyway.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Quiet Riot lead singer Kevin Dubrow dies

Kevin Dubrow, lead singer for the 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot that scored a hit with "Cum on Feel the Noize," was found dead in a Las Vegas home. He was 52. The cause was not immediately known.

A neighbor summoned police and paramedics Sunday to the house where he was pronounced dead, police and coroner's officials said.

There was no forced entry, and no suspicious circumstances were reported, police Officer Jose Montoya said Monday.

Quiet Riot was perhaps best known for its 1983 cover of "Cum on Feel the Noize." The song, featuring Dubrow's powerful, gravelly voice, appeared on the band's album "Metal Health" — which was the first by a metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.

DuBrow recorded his first solo album in 2004, "In for the Kill," and the band's last studio CD, "Rehab," came out in October 2006.

"I can't even find words to say," Quiet Riot drummer Frank Banali wrote on his Web site. "Please respect my privacy as I mourn the passing and honor the memory of my dearest friend Kevin DuBrow."

Determination of the cause of death was pending an autopsy and toxicology results, Clark County coroner's spokeswoman Samantha Charles said.

Quiet Riot was the opening act at my first concert, Black Sabbath. Kevin can finally reunite with his former bandmate and good friend, the late Randy Rhoades.
R.I.P.

[slayrrr666]

Part of a scene I never could care for, but the song was inspiriational into getting me into my current musical tastes, so RIP indeed.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Wow! I hadn't heard about that! RIP!

Also RIP to the Redskin's Sean Taylor who was shot & later died during an apparent burglary at his home.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Evel Knievel dies at 69

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.

Although he dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, Knievel always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years. In later years he still made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.

Some of you guys are probably too young to realize how huge Knievel was in the 70's. He had his own Saturday morning cartoon, there was a theatrical bio-pic and tons of memorabilia, toys, lunchboxes, etc. I even had the Evil Knievel action figure which came with a toy stunt motorcycle you revved up, it would then take off and ultimately crash into whatever obstacles you set up.

R.I.P.

[Pulpmariachi]

Whoa...this was a guy no one ever thought would die, huh?

RIP.

[slayrrr666]

I have to admit, I thought he was already dead. I get him and his son mixed up quite often, in terms of biographical events and records. RIP nonetheless.

[frankenjohn]

Yeah, I heard about this a couple of hours ago. R.I.P.

[Phoenix]

RIP evil