Eddie Serrato, the original drummer on Question Mark and the Mysterians' song "96 Tears," passed away Thursday morning.

Serrato was due to be released from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit this morning after having surgery. Instead, his daughter told TV5 he had a heart attack. Serrato was 65.

While Serrato was from the Saginaw area, ? and the Mysterians first formed in Bay City in 1962. The band received a gold record for the song "96 Tears" and appeared on "The Dick Clark Show."


Max Wilk, Playwright, Showbiz Journalist and O'Neill Center Dramaturg,
Dead at 90

By Kenneth Jones
February 24, 2011


Max Wilk, a novelist, a nonfiction chronicler of show business
subjects, playwright, screenwriter — and a dramaturg for the National
Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center for more
tham 25 years — died Feb. 19 at his home in Westport, CT, the O'Neill
Festival reported. Mr. Wilk was 90.


At the O'Neill, Mr. Wilk helped both emerging and established
playwrights develop their new works. Among the authors who benefited
from his expertise were Pulitzer Prize winners August Wilson, David
Lindsay-Abaire and John Patrick Shanley; Lee Blessing; OyamO; James
Yoshimura; Jeffrey Hatcher; Wendy McLeod; Doug Wright; Willy Holtzman;
Judy GeBauer; Charles Shulman; Sam Hunter; Ursula Rani Sarma; and Lucy
Caldwell.


Amy Saltz, a frequent director for the National Playwrights Conference
said in a statement, "Max loved the O'Neill and he loved show
business. He was smart and sassy and blunt. He had great knowledge and
experience, both of which he was anxious to share. I was at the
O'Neill for 17 summers and he was there every year and long after,
helping writers, offering support, and demanding the best of everyone.
He made an indelible impression and will be missed."


Preston Whiteway, O'Neill executive director. said, "Max will remain a
legend at the O'Neill always. His intelligence, wit and friendship
shaped the O'Neill and the National Playwrights Conference for
decades, impacting hundreds of playwrights and the American theatre
itself. I will miss Max holding court on the porch, and his insights,
which were invariably correct."


Skip Mercier, scenic and costume designer for NPC and a longtime
friend of Mr. Wilk, said, "In typical Max form, plagued with growing
dementia for his last week, he told me how hard it was not to have any
ideas. Then his eyes got wide and he said: 'You know all the pictures
on the wall in my study?' [Many friends covered his walls; most
deceased and famous]. I nodded. 'Well they are all in train windows —
there's a train just behind the walls you know. It's waiting for me
but I don't know where it's going! I hope it's fun.' …To the end, he
was creative, funny, and with a unique take on life and whatever is
beyond."


Mr. Wilk graduated from the Yale School of Drama in 1941. Following
his graduation, he toured with Irving Berlin's This is the Army and
wrote training films in the First Motion Picture Unit AAF. After the
war, Mr. Wilk continued writing — for theatre, film and television. He
wrote three Broadway shows (the revue Small Wonder in 1948-49, the
play Cloud 7 in 1958 and the revue A Musical Jubilee in 1975-76). He
also wrote the play Mr. Williams and Ms. Wood, about Tennessee
Williams and literary agent Audrey Wood, which he adapted for the
stage from his book "Represented by Audrey Wood," which he co-wrote
with Wood.


Mr. Wilk's other books include "They're Playing Our Song: The Truth
Behind the Words and Music of Three Generations"; "OK! The Story of
Oklahoma!: A Celebration of America's Most Beloved Musical"; and "The
Golden Age of Television: Notes from the Survivors," among many
others.


Mr. Wilk won both an Emmy and Peabody award for his two-hour
television show "The Fabulous Fifties."


A memorial service to celebrate the life of Mr. Wilk is currently
being planned by the family in Westport for April. The O'Neill is
planning a gathering during its 2011 summer season.


Mr. Wilk was pre-deceased by his wife, artist Barbara Wilk, and is
survived by his three children, seven grandchildren and one great-
grandchild, according to Connecticut's The Ridgefield Press.
Serrato's daughter said in the last few years he was involved in producing Tejano music in Texas.

Still heavily into music, she estimated he owned 5000 CDs and more than 60,000 songs on his computer hard drive.

Funeral services are being arranged through Diesler Funeral Home in Saginaw Township.

http://www.wnem.com/news/26984568/detail.html

From Lightfoot News

Terry Clements was an integral part of the signature Lightfoot sound. His seamless and inventive playing added a unique imprint onto every song he played - on record or on the stage. He began playing with Lightfoot in 1971 after Lightfoot had met him in Los Angeles while Terry was working on the soundtrack to an early Burt Reynolds movie. Up until then Terry had been working with Buck Owens as a house writer and with producer Lou Adler (Mamas and the Papas). Terry told me he recorded an album of his own around that time, but I've never been able to track it down.

After their first meeting, Lightfoot asked Terry to join the band, as Red Shea was wanting to get off of the road. Eventually Terry accepted and he remained a fixture with Lightfoot for the next 40 years.

He will forever be associated with his work with Lightfoot, whether on the haunting, iconic solos of The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, the soulful grace of The Watchman's Gone, the sublime dexterity of Carefree Highway, the list of highlights of Terry's playing go on and on. He was always so creative, yet never repetitive, his style inhabiting the music, never seeming to be added on as an afterthought, but instead always feeling like a part of the fabric of the song.

He will be missed...