R.I.P. Celebrities(Non Wrestlers or Sports related) 2023

[jimsteel]

Annie Wersching, Star Trek: Picard's Borg Queen and The Last of Us' Tess, Dies at 45

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Lisa Loring, the Original Wednesday Addams, Dead at 64

Loring played Addams on the series for two seasons before moving onto shows like The Pruitts of Southampton, The Girl From UNCLE, Fantasy Island, Barnaby Jones, and more.

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Adama Niane, the French actor from Baise-Moi, Get In and Lupin, has died. He was 56.

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Barrett Strong, one of Motown’s founding artists and most gifted songwriters who sang lead on the company’s breakthrough single “Money (That’s What I Want)” and later collaborated with Norman Whitfield on such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “War” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” has died. He was 81.

[jimsteel]

Rickey Smiley Announces His Son Brandon Smiley Has Passed Away at 32

Rickey Smiley is mourning the loss of his eldest child, Brandon Smiley. The radio personality announced on social media Jan. 29 that his son has passed away.

Rickey Smiley is mourning the loss of his eldest child, comedian Brandon Smiley.

[TTX]

Was just thinking about Lisa the other day during the Philly Con discussion.

Crazy that John Astin is the one still alive from that show.

[jimsteel]

RIP Floyd Sneed, drummer with Three Dog Night. At 79

You know his work because the very successful band had 21 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1969 and 1975 including "Mama Told Me Not to Come", "An Old Fashioned Love Song", "Black and White" and "Joy to the World". He was one of the first black musicians in an all-white rock band.
The story goes that Floyd was playing with his band Heat Wave at a club on the Sunset Strip when Three Dog Night's bass player Joe Schermie was walking by. He thought he heard two drummers inside and went in to see who they were.

Once inside, he discovered it was only one drummer, and asked Floyd if he would like to join Three Dog Night.
Floyd Sneed talked about the experience of working with a band featuring three lead vocalists: "It felt like I was playing with three different bands at times. I had to learn each of the singers' personalities. One would say 'a little faster', the other, 'slow down', and the last one was somewhere in between. It was a constant juggling of 'you're dragging, you're rushing, you're tired tonight.' I had to say 'I'm the drummer, this is where it is supposed to be!'. But I always felt very free in my playing with Three Dog Night."

Floyd Sneed played on a signature clear acrylic drum set made by Zickos Drums (similar to Billy Cobham's clear Fibes double-bass drum set of the same period). Here it is on the video for one of the band's biggest hits, "Joy to the World". The song also features his only vocal backup with the band

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Stand up comic C.J. Burney passed away

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John Adams was a former dedicated fan of the Cleveland Guardians, a Major League Baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Adams has played his bass drum in the bleacher seats during nearly every Indians home game from late August 1973 through 2019, which has brought him positive recognition from the Indians and other organizations. He passed away at the age of 71.

The Indians pay for two season tickets for Adams and his drum, he has been involved in two ceremonial first pitches, and he is the only fan for whom the Indians have dedicated a bobblehead day.

Adams first drummed at an Indians game on August 24, 1973, at Cleveland Stadium, at a game in which the Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 11–5. Adams, who was 21 years old at the time, has stated that he brought his bass drum to that first game because he wanted to add to the noise of "seat banging", a tradition at Cleveland Stadium in which fans would bang the swivel seat of their chairs against the chair's base during tense moments in the game. But Adams preferred to sit in the bleachers, where there were no seats to bang.

During the game, Bob Sudyk, a reporter for the Cleveland Press, interviewed Adams and asked if he was going to drum again at the following game. Adams said no, but Sudyk wrote in his article that he would. According to Adams, "not to make a liar out of Bob, I showed up with my drum, and then I came to the next game and the next game and the next game." The Indians' promotions director at the time, Jackie York, also approached Adams and asked him to play at every game. Adams formally declined but continued to attend games with his drum.

Ever since, Adams has sat in the highest bleacher seat in left-center field with his bass drum; through the 2019 season, he missed only about 45 home games in 47 seasons. Adams played at Cleveland Stadium until October 1993, when the Indians played their last game there. The following spring he moved with the team to its new ballpark, Jacobs Field (renamed Progressive Field in 2008).[8] Adams played the drum at his 3,000th game on April 27, 2011. During his tenure, he has witnessed Indians pitcher Len Barker pitch a perfect game on May 15, 1981, and witnessed the Indians play in the 1995, 1997, and 2016 World Series.

Recent health issues have caused Adams to miss the last two seasons.

[jimsteel]

Pixies Producer Gary Smith Dies At 64

The creator previously worked on a number of records for select bands including Pixies, Throwing Muses, Billy Bragg, Blake Babies and more. In the span of his career, many iconic albums produced for these bands were created with the help of Smith.