Dead, Not Forgotten

Tom S. Blackstone died today, February 15, 2008. He succumbed to prostate cancer in Plano, Texas at 63 years of age.

Born in Palistine, Texas to school teacher parents Tom H. and Christine (Lively) Blackstone in 1944, Tom Blackstone’s youth was spent in the rural East-Texas countryside where the summers were hot, oil was gold, and high school football was king. To the people of Palestine, TX, education was a civic responsibility, and young people kept in touch with their crushes in the next town through weekly letters. Only a few weeks ago, when we were discussing his small town upbringing, Tom told me that when he was a child it wasn’t just at his parents’ insistence that he get an education — his entire community pushed its children to succeed. Everybody knew who wasn’t doing well in school and they used their influence to provide more motivation to the student and their family, so to speak.

Tom Blackstone earned his degree in Chemistry from the University of Texas, where he quarterbacked the football team. After college his friendly manner and competitive spirit soon had him in a sales position. Those who knew him in this context only needed a short time to realize two things; for Tom, selling was another way of making friends, and, Tom was a Texan.

In fact, the more he lived in California. the more his Texas accent thickened. On the occasion of his 40th birthday in Diamond Bar, California, I recognized this with a t-shirt that read: “Tom Blackstone - Professional Texan.”

Tom retired in November 2007 from more than 40 years in medical marketing, including a 30 year stint as Marketing Director and Associate Publisher of Dialysis & Transplantation, a leading journal in the medical field of kidney dialysis and transplantation.

His time there typified Tom’s “style.” Tom Blackstone knew the people in the field of dialysis. He knew the doctors, he knew the researchers, he knew the suppliers and he put them together in ways they hadn’t thought about. The result was a cohesive industry finding an resonate voice in a dynamic journal. And that’s how he did business. He personified the industry. He was Mr. D&T.

I met Tom Blackstone in 1979 in California when I accepted a position at Creative Age Publications (then the publisher of Dialysis & Transplantation). We worked from 6am - 2pm together, we shared sales strategies, breakfast and more than a few after-work drinks. And we always shared the fundamental points of view that dominated the sales department at Dialysis & Transplantation during those days. I came from a publishing point of view, and he came from a sales point of view. We both found out soon that we agreed on the basics: We sell by making friends. We want to have a reason to call a client other than to sell them something. We want to enjoy ourselves and contribute more than to the bottom line.

In the end we shared something else, a life-long friendship.

Tom leaves this life having deeply influenced those who knew him — we can’t think of Tom Blackstone without thinking of words like kindness, humor, love and tolerance. He will be missed for those qualities and many more.

In his last public comment he related a biblical verse that gave him great comfort and that he meant to comfort those that he would leave behind:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord makes his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6: 24-26

Tom Blackstone is survived by his wife, Debbie Blackstone of Plano, Texas, his daughters, Denise Blackstone of Plano, Texas and Kristene Blackstone of Austin, Texas, and his brother Ed Blackstone of Gladewater, Texas.

A service of celebration will be held at 1:00 p.m., Monday, February 18, 2008 at First United Methodist Church of Plano. In lieu of flowers, Tom requested that donations be made to the National Kidney Foundation, the First United Methodist Church of Plano, or, to the church of your choice.

Popularity: 26%

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen died Wednsday December 5, 2007 at his home in Kuerten-Kettenberg and is to be buried in the Waldfriedhor Cemetary in Kuerten, Germany. The cause of his death has not been announced.

In the memorial booklet distributed on his website, Stockhausen said shortly before his death, ““My life is extremely one-sided: what counts are the works as scores, recordings, films, and books. That is my spirit formed into music and a sonic universe of moments of my soul.”

Always bluntly forward, when asked how he became involved in electronic music Karlheinz Stockhausen said in the Nov./Dec. 1977 issue of Synapse Magazine,”The question is wrong. I started the electronic music.” While his claim can be debated, his contribution to the world of avant garde and electronic music is weighty indeed. And although his non-electronic output was larger, it is not what he is best remembered for.

Extending his controversial nature into his greater life, Karlheinz Stockhausen found himself embattled in 2001 when he stated that the 911 attacks in New York were “the greatest work of art one can imagine.” He later apologized for his comments.

Orphaned in WWII, Stockhausen went on to study under composer Olivier Messiaen in Paris from 1952 to 1953. There he also met his French contemporary Pierre Boulez.

Read Synapse Magazine’s 1977 interview with Karlheinz Stockhausen
Visit Karlheinz Stockhausen’s website

Popularity: 31%

Merv Griffin was at the forefront of some of the most visible industries of the second half of the 20th century. His multi-decade success as a talk show host, the wildly successful game shows his production company created and his well publicized deals in the real estate industry made him a standout among his peers.

After a childhood of entertaining the neighborhood and producing “shows” with the local kids, Griffin began his professional career as a singer when he was 19 on San Francisco Sketchbook, a nationally syndicated radio program based at KFRC in San Francisco. Being overweight at the time, Griffin did not easily move on from radio. After trimming down, however, he started a four year stint as a singer known for his good looks with big band leader Freddy Martin. Soon his entrepreneurial spirit kicked into high gear and he launched his own record label, Panda Records. His release Songs by Merv Griffin is reported to be the first American album recorded on magnetic tape.

After considerable success in the music business, including his hit “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts”, which sold over three million copies, a chance nightclub performance in front of Doris Day started him on the next step in his career when she helped him land a screen test at Warner Bros. and subsequent film roles.

In the late 50s Merv Griffin began what would become the first of the three major paths of his career; the game show business. He started as a host, first on the Mark Goodson and Bill Todman production called Play Your Hunch and then on an evening game show for ABC called Keep Talking.

Luck came his way when Jack Paar mistakenly walked on the live set of Play Your Hunch and launched him on the second major path of his career: television talk shows. Griffin took advantage of the moment and got an impromptu, walk through interview with Paar and soon was invited to substitute for Paar on The Tonight Show. His own daytime talk show followed, but soon failed. NBC offered him a new game show to host and produce, Word for Word, in 1963. The next year his production company created the iconic Jeopardy! which still enjoys great success.

When NBC canceled Jeopardy! in 1975, a short lived situation, Griffin produced the show’s successor, Wheel of Fortune. Though it was only moderately successful in its original version, a syndicated version starring Pat Sajak and Vanna White is a television mainstay to this day.

Meanwhile, back in 1965, Griffin also began a nearly non-stop presence as a talk show host on American TV that ended in 1986 when he retired from is then long running The Merv Griffin Show and sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to Columbia Pictures Television unit for $250 million. His TV game show legacy turns out not to be over though. His current production company, Merv Griffin Entertainment, began pre-production on a new syndicated game show set to air in September 2007, Merv Griffin’s Crosswords.

After his retirement Griffin was quick to get bored and soon, after making considerable gains through investments he started on his third major career path in real estate. A notable event was his well publicized feud with Donald Trump for control of Resorts International, an operator of hotels and casinos from Atlantic City to the Caribbean. Griffin eventually acquired Resorts International for $240 million. Over his career in real estate he has also owned the Beverly Hilton Hotel (Beverly Hills), St. Clerans Manor (an Irish hotel), and Paradise Island (the Bahamas).

Merv Griffin’s phenomenal success in all that he tried left him one of America’s richest men.

Merv Griffin was born in San Mateo, California. He died in Los Angeles California of prostate cancer August 12, 2007. He was 82 years old. He said once that his tombstone would say, “I won’t be back after this message.”

For more information:
See Merv Griffin’s filmography

Popularity: 72%

Art Davis was a brilliant black bassist who acquired a doctorate in clinical psychology when his music career waned in the 1970s due to the pressures of racism in the music industry.

Davis showed an interest in music early on, playing tuba and piano and eventually switching to bass in high school in Harrisburg, PA. After graduation he moved to New York to study under scholarships at both the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music. He earned a B.A. degree with a triple major in psychology, music and physics from Hunter College, City University of New York.

Art Davis fashioned a musical career that took dual paths into jazz and orchestral work. But from a practical point of view it was hard to maintain a double personality when it had to apply both to the racially accepting world of jazz and the conservative world of “serious” music. He got an early taste of the latter when at age 17 he was unreasonably criticized by the audition committee of his hometown orchestra. The conductor, Edwin MacArthur, was taken aback and questioned their decision. He was even more taken aback when he learned that their objection was that he was black. To his great credit, Edwin MacArthur said, “If you don’t want him, then you don’t want me.” Davis was accepted.

Art Davis’ recording debut came in 1958 at the Newport Jazz Festival, with Max Roach. The group included George Coleman and Booker Little, who became one of his best friends. Soon after Art Davis met John Coltrane while working with Max Roach’s group at Small’s Paradise in Harlem. That started a musical collaboration, one that Davis considered the richest in his life, which would last until Coltrane’s death in 1967. Davis performed on the saxophonist’s albums Ascension, Volumes 1 and 2 of The Africa/Brass Sessions, and Ole Coltrane. Davis also performed with musicians as diverse as Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, John Denver, Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary.

On the orchestral track, Art Davis performed with the National Symphony, NBC Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Radio City Music Hall Symphony, Westchester Symphony and the Orange County Symphony, among others.

However, in the 1970s Davis decided to expose his experience of racism in the music industry and launched a job discrimination lawsuit against the New York Philharmonic. Though the lawsuit was unsuccessful in the courts, it did help musicians who came after him because it helped to establish the practice of “blind auditions” where the auditioning judges can only hear the player, not see them.

The other result was that Davis was blacklisted and could no longer find sufficient work as a musician. The jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal once called Davis a “forgotten genius” because of it.

So, Art Davis decided it was time to put “Dr.” in front of his name and returned to college to pursue his parallel love of psychology. He received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from New York University 1982 and practiced in New York until moving to Southern California in 1986. There Davis taught music in college, maintained a professional psychology practice and played live and on recordings until his death.

Art Davis died July 29, 2007 at age 73 at his home in Long Beach, CA of a heart attack.

For more information:
Visit ArtDavis.com
Read an Art Davis biography on the Verve Records site

Popularity: 35%

If you live in America and love Irish music you have a lot to thank Tommy Makem for. Known as the “Godfather of Irish music,” Makem played the banjo and tin whistle but was best known for his singing. Born in Northern Ireland to a famous Irish singer, Sarah Makem, Tommy Makem teamed up with the Clancy Brothers after moving to the U.S. in 1955 to pursue a career in acting.

The group recorded and performed successfully until breaking up in 1969 and paved the way for the many Irish artists that have found an audience in America. Tommy Makem embarked on a solo career and in 1975 he teamed up again with Liam Clancy and they performed together until 1988. He continued his solo career until his death.

Makem had always been an amassador for Ireland and its culture and in 1997, St. Martin’s Press in New York published Makem’s “TOMMY MAKEM’S SECRET IRELAND.” It spawned a new career in the travel business which included future travel related projects with WMHT PUBLIC TELEVISION in Schenectady, N.Y.

Makem also produced a series of concert specials for PBS where he appeared with many other Irish artists.

Tommy Makem died of lung cancer at his home in Dover, New Hampshire on August 1, 2007. He was age 74.

For more information:
See Tommy Makem’s website
Learn about the group The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

Popularity: 15%