Jim Dickson, a key architect of the '60s folk-rock sound and the original manager of the Byrds, died of unknown causes April 19 in Costa Mesa, Calif. He was 80.
Born in Los Angeles, Dickson worked as a record producer in the early '60s, cutting proto-folk-rock sides by singer-songwriter Hamilton Camp, progressive bluegrass units the Dillards and the Hillmen (which included future Byrds member Chris Hillman) and singer-songwriter David Crosby.

He took up management of Hillman and Crosby's fledgling new band, which was styling itself as an L.A. equivalent of the Beatles. Employing free studio time cadged by Dickson, then a staff producer at World Pacific Studios, the group cut early tracks as the Beefeaters and the Jet Set.

In 1964, Dickson received an acetate of the unreleased Bob Dylan song "Mr. Tambourine Man" from the singer-songwriter's publisher. His charges, a quintet now known as the Byrds, recorded it for Columbia Records (employing backup studio musicians), and it became the band's breakthrough No. 1 single.

Dickson and management partner Eddie Tickner handled the Byrds, who became the preeminent folk-rock band of the era, through a bitter split in June 1967. The pair subsequently worked with the Flying Burrito Brothers, a country-rock unit including Hillman, Byrds drummer Michael Clarke and latter-day Byrds member Gram Parsons.

Dickson produced the group's A&M albums "Burrito Deluxe," "The Flying Burrito Brothers" and the live "Last of the Red Hot Burritos," and is credited with helming some of Parsons' post-Burritos solo recordings.

In 1972, Dickson helped ex-Byrd Gene Clark re-record and remix his 1967 album "Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers."

Dickson later moved to Hawaii, where he became a competitive sailor.


http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118036322?refCatId=16


Marian Mercer, Actress With Zany Streak, Is Dead at 75

Marian Mercer, a willowy actress with a comedic flair who won a
Tony Award in 1969 for her performance in the hit musical “Promises,
Promises,” died on April 27 in Newbury Park, Calif. She was 75 and
lived in Agoura Hills, Calif.


The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, her husband,
Patrick Hogan, said.


Ms. Mercer, a 5-foot-9 blonde with green eyes and, when necessary,
a sultry voice, won the Tony for best featured actress in a musical
for her portrayal of Marge MacDougall, a pickup girl at Clancy’s
Lounge.


“She’s giving one of the most delicious performances on Broadway,
a B-girl who would rather die than have you think she’s cheap, as she
deftly maneuvers herself into Jerry Orbach’s apartment, looking
forward to bed,” The New York Times said.


But Ms. Mercer could handle more weighty characters. Among dozens
of roles in repertory theaters around the country, she was Olivia in
“Twelfth Night,” Helena in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Blanche in
“A Streetcar Named Desire.”


In the 1978 Broadway production of “Stop the World — I Want to Get
Off ,” Ms. Mercer starred with Sammy Davis Jr., playing the four
different women in his life with a mix of song, comedy and even mime.


Ms. Mercer’s zany streak led to frequent television appearances
with the likes of Johnny Carson, Jonathan Winters and Dom DeLuise. She
was seen on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Archie
Bunker’s Place” and “The Golden Girls,” among many other shows. And on
ABC from 1980 through 1982 (and later in syndication) she played the
humorless hostess, Nancy Beebe, on “It’s a Living,” a sitcom that
followed the lives of waitresses working in an expensive restaurant
atop a hotel in Los Angeles.


Marian Ethel Mercer was born in Akron, Ohio, on Nov. 26, 1935, one
of five children of Samuel and Nellie Mercer.


Besides her husband of 31 years, she is survived by her sister,
Marjorie Keith, and a daughter, Deidre Whitaker. Her first marriage,
to Martin Cassidy, an actor she met soon after coming to New York in
1957, ended in divorce.


She was 8 when she began singing lessons, a passion she pursued at
the University of Michigan. There she also began acting, taking roles
in summer stock theater. She moved to New York in 1957 and, after
stints as a model, a hostess at Schrafft’s restaurant and a file
clerk, was cast in the choruses of “Greenwillow” and “Fiorello!”


Her big break came in 1961 when she took over the title role in
Rick Besoyan‘s Off Broadway hit “Little Mary Sunshine,” a spoof of old-
fashioned operettas and musicals.

By Lenny Roberts
The acclaimed actress best known for her role in a 1956 low-budget classic, “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” died at the Ojai Valley Community Hospital’s Continuing Care Center May 5 at 5:30 p.m., according to her son, Mark Bautzer. She had suffered from heart disease in recent years, and was transferred from the hospital’s intensive care unit earlier in the day. Bautzer said she was not expected to survive, and “she stepped off the bus very peacefully” 33 days shy of her 80th birthday.

Wynter, a longtime Upper Ojai resident, was born Dagmar Winter in Germany in 1931. Her ashes will be buried at her other home in her beloved Ireland, according to Bautzer.

http://ovnblog.com/?p=4343


James "Deacon" Anderson
Anonymous CNHI The Port Arthur News Mon May 02, 2011, 04:02 PM CDT

Singer, Song Writer, Steel Guitarist

James "Deacon" Anderson passed away April 30th 2011 in Montgomery, TX he was 86.

He raised his family in Groves Texas, three daughters Sheena and Judy Anderson of Montgomery Texas and Sherry Zumo of Groves Texas and one son James Dee Anderson Jr. of Montgomery Texas. He had a recording studio in Port Neches. He wrote the hit song Ragg-Mopp and other country swing tunes such as "Red Hot Flame", and "I Hate To See You Cry", he was inducted into the steel guitar hall of fame in 2003 and numerous other country swing halls of fame including our own music hall of fame in Vidor and the Port Arthur Hall of Fame. He was a sergeant in the Army during World War II which is when he wrote Ragg-Mopp and he has played music with many fellow musicians such as Cotton Thompson, Johnnie Lee Wills band,J.L. Jenkins, Darrell Jones, Richard Prine, Mutt Collins,and Mancel Tierney .He was an endowed member of the Masonic Lodge in Port Arthur. He is survived by his four children, five grand daughters and fifteen great- grandchildren also one brother Tom Anderson of Cold Springs Texas and one sister Viola Wakefield of California.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years Rita Vivian (Hinds) Anderson.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at Levingston Funeral Home in Groves, Texas.

Oklahoma City musician Gary ‘Speedy’ West dies
A memorial concert is planned at the UCO Jazz Lab for May 22 for the well-known local guitarist.

BY GENE TRIPLETT Oklahoman Published: May 5, 2011

Well-known Oklahoma City guitarist Gary “Speedy” West Jr. died Wednesday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 58.

Born in Hollywood, Calif., West played and taught guitar in Oklahoma for 30 years. He was lead guitarist of Maya, a popular Oklahoma City rock band in the 1970s and ’80s, and had played with the Clique, the house band at Friends Restaurant and Club at Memorial Road and Portland for the last several years.

“He was a wonderful guy, he was a lot of fun,” former Maya bass guitarist and vocalist Jerry Wilson said Wednesday. “Of course he was a wonderful player and entertainer. It’s a sad day.”

Brent Saulsbury, former Clique bass guitarist, called West a “true friend.”

“He helped me out so much,” Saulsbury said. “He got me that gig at Friends. He was always positive. Anything new I wanted to try, he’d always back me up if there was a new song I wanted to sing or something. He was real positive about it, real complimentary. He gave me a real positive attitude and basically made me feel like trying to do new things musically.”

Many local musicians had held a series of benefit shows to help raise money to pay medical bills for West, who, like many professional musicians, did not have health insurance.

A memorial concert featuring many veteran Oklahoma City players is planned for May 22 at the University of Central Oklahoma Jazz Lab in Edmond.

Survivors include his wife, Kristen; a son, Andrew; his mother, Opal Dunham, his stepmother, Mary West, and two sisters, Tauni Oakley and Deanna Snyder. He was preceded in death by his father, Wesley Webb “Speedy” West, noted steel guitarist who recorded with Loretta Lynn, Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others.

Services are pending with Buchanan Funeral Service.



Read more: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-musician-gary-speedy-west-dies/article/3564848#ixzz1LVV9lBLM


THE BEATLES' 'PENNY LANE' TRUMPETER DEAD AT 85


5/5/2011


Legendary Beatles session man classical trumpeter David Mason, best
known for his work on the Beatles' 1967 works has died at the age of
85, according to Brassmusician.com. Mason, who spent the past three
decades as a trumpeter professor for the Royal College of Music, is
immortalized for his piccolo trumpet solo on the group's "Penny Lane"
single, for which he was paid a one-time standard session fee of about
$47. Paul McCartney personally requested Mason record the part after
watching him play the instrument during a TV performance of Bach's 2nd
Brandenburg Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra.


Mason recalled the session in Mark Lewisohn's groundbreaking 1988
book, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, saying, "We spent three
hours working it out. Paul sang the parts he wanted, George Martin
wrote them out, I tried them. But the actual recording was done quite
quickly. They were jolly high notes, but with the tapes rolling we did
two takes as overdubs on top of the existing song. I've spent a
lifetime playing with top orchestras yet I'm most famous for playing
on 'Penny Lane!'"


* In addition to "Penny Lane," Mason also took part in sessions
for "A Day In The Life," "Magical Mystery Tour," "It's All Too Much,"
and "All You Need Is Love."