Tragic end in search for drummer

FORMER Genesis drummer John Mayhew has died just days after his brother mounted a search for him, the Evening Star can today reveal. Mr Mayhew died of a heart-related condition on March 26, just two days after his Ipswich-based brother Paul began a search for him to heal a decades-old family rift.

Paul, 71, of Roundwood Road, had not seen his brother for 18 years and had little to do with him since the early 1970s. He had wanted to patch things up with his sibling and had believed he was living in New Zealand.

Paul said: My brother passed away last week just a day before his birthday. I had found where he was - he was in Scotland working for a furniture company.

He was an alcoholic and had heart problems.

Paul, who is planning to visit Scotland to attend the funeral, said he was very upset that he was unable to put things right between he and his brother. Fighting back the tears he said: "Someone contacted me who had known John and where he was. They had seen I was looking for him on the Evening Star website. I don't have all the details yet. I'm very, very upset to get this news".

The brothers, who had a ten year age difference, grew up together at the family home in Macaulay Road.

Speaking to the Star previously, Paul said: I was in my 20s when we lost touch. Our parents split up and I went with our mother and John went with our dad.

TRIBUTES have been paid today by one of John Mayhew's closest friends. Theresa Howie said she knew Mr Mayhew for the last four years of his life. She said: John was friends with my younger brother since he moved to Glasgow and John lived round the corner from us. We knew he was a drummer with Genesis but he didn't like to boast about it, though he would talk about it if we asked him.

Theresa said she had asked John about his family but said he thought his brother had died.She added: When he died the state was going to pay for his funeral but I thought I better check if there was any family. There was no wife or children. I looked on the internet and found the story that his brother was looking for him just days before he died. It was very strange.

John had heart problems and he was being looked after in hospital when he died. It was very sad he didn't see his family, it was a tragic end".

Paying tribute to Mr Mayhew, Theresa said: "John was a legend and deserves recognition. He was a wonderful man, he was always smiling and would help out anybody. He was very good to my family. That's how I'll remember him."

Actor, Writer, Producer and former adult film star Jack Wrangler, died Tuesday at age 62. Wrangler had been struggling with complications from lung disease.

Wrangler, who got his start as a child television actor, went on to star in over 85 adult movies and became a porn legend. He married vocalist Margaret Whiting, and later found success in New York's legitimate theatre scene. An award-winning Cabaret director, Wrangler conceived and co-produced the 1997 Broadway Musical DREAM.

A documentary on Jack's life, "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon" recently won the GayVN Award For Best Alternative Release. The film documents the life and career of one of the biggest porn icons of the 1970s.

And while Wrangler was extremely popular within the gay community, he eventually fell in love with Margaret Whiting, the famous vocalist who was 22 years his senior. Wrangler went on to cross over to straight adult films and still maintained his popularity.

TMZ has learned Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a felony hit-and-run car accident in Fullerton, California early this morning -- hours after he pitched in a game last night.

Cops say someone driving a minivan blew through a red light, causing the Mitsubishi that Adenhart was riding in to hit a light pole. Three people were killed in the crash, including Nick. Cops say the person driving the van fled the scene -- but was later caught and charged with felony hit-and-run. The suspect is currently being treated for injuries in a local hospital. We're told one of the other men killed in the crash was also affiliated with the Angels organization. Nick was 22-years-old.

Frank Springer, R.I.P.Veteran comic book and strip artist Frank Springer died last Thursday at the age of 79. The cause is being reported as prostate cancer.

Born December 6, 1929 in Queens, New York, Springer graduated Syracuse University with a degree in art in 1952 and promptly went into the army, where he did mostly illustration work at Fort Dix. Upon his discharge in '54, he began assisting George Wunder on the comic strip, Terry and the Pirates, a post he held until 1960 and returned to on occasion when Mr. Wunder was behind and needed help. In later years, Springer also occasionally worked on other strips including several years of Rex Morgan, M.D., plus ghosting on The Heart of Juliet Jones, On Stage, Friday Foster, The Phantom and many others. He also did strips he originated like The Virtue of Vera Valiant, written by Stan Lee.

His comic book career began in '60 and he later recalled Brain Boy, a Dell comic, as his first assignment. He drew many books for Dell including Charlie Chan, Ghost Stories and Toka, Jungle King. He also began drawing for DC and later, Marvel. Fans recall his byline on the DC series, The Secret Six, and for a time on Marvel's Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD and later on many Spider-Man titles and Dazzler. He also did a lot of uncredited work, including a few Batman tales under the "Bob Kane" signature.

In the late sixties, he teamed with writer Michael O'Donoghue and produced several adult comic features for Evergreen Review, the most notable being The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist, the episodes of which were collected into a best-selling book. When O'Donoghue became an editor for National Lampoon, he brought Frank in and soon Springer was drawing many of their comic book parodies to great acclaim.

Frank was admired and loved by his peers, and the National Cartoonists Society three times awarded him its trophy as Best Comic Book Artist of the year and once elected him its president. He was a guest of honor at the 2004 Comic-Con International in San Diego where I had the privilege of interviewing him twice before his many fans. On one of those panels, he said of his career, "There were some raggedy times, but I always had work, raised five kids, bought some houses, bought some cars...I've been lucky."

Personally, I think skill and dedication had a lot to do with that.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Barbara, as well as four children and seven grandchildren.

Bud Shank, Alto Saxophonist, Dies at 82By Jeff TamarkinJazzTimes Magazine

Bud Shank, an alto saxophonist and flutist whose career spanned more than a half century, died April 2 at his home in Tucson, Ariz. The cause was not available but Shank was said to have had “some ongoing health issues.”

A day earlier Shank had been in San Diego recording a new album. Shank was 82.

Shank first recorded as a leader in the mid-’50s, for the Pacific Jazz label. He is considered part of the emerging West Coast cool school, but he continued to develop beyond that sound as the years went on. In those early years, he also played with Maynard Ferguson, Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Cooper and, in 1962, with Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar on the latter’s Improvisations album. In the ’60s, Shank also aligned with artists as diverse as Sergio Mendes, the Mamas and the Papas —that’s his flute on the classic hit “California Dreamin’”— and also Chet Baker, who appeared on Shank’s 1966 album Michelle, a collection of covers of then-contemporary pop hits. The latter became Shank’s only album to reach the Billboard charts.

Shank continued to evolve during the ’70s and ’80s, eventually giving up the flute to concentrate on his alto work. He put together a band called the L.A. Four with Almeida, bassist Ray Brown and a revolving cast of drummers, and recorded a number of albums for such labels as Concord, Contemporary and Candid. In 2004 Mosaic released Mosaic Select 10, a three-disc collection of Shank’s Pacific Jazz collaborations with Cooper.

In 2005 Shank formed the Bud Shank Big Band and in 2007 he released Beyond the Red Door, with pianist Bill Mays.