He apparently needed a hip replacement for years, but wouldn't do it because he was a Jehovah's Witness and could not accept any blood transfusions...so the addiction to pain meds makes sense.

For some reason this:

reminded me of this:

Which then reminded me of this:

RIP Greg Giraldo

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was getting these meds from multiple people. Opiates are great for cancer pain or surgery pain, but they poorly control chronic pain. They create a bigger problem. Doctors and nurse practitioners don't understand this and are prescribing them way too often and getting people addicted to these meds. Americans use something like 80% of all the prescription pain meds in the world and some of those people are also taking benzos, which is just crazy. Americans think that they should treat every little thing with a pill. Ugh.

Philip Kives died on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in Winnipeg, Canada at age 87. He was known for K-tel, Veg-O-Matic, Miracle Brush, Bonsai Blade and 25 Polka Greats, and a few others.

I don't think it's all that crazy that people abuse substances to escape from reality when everything in their lives are an altered reality. It's not a phenomenon that people in show business tend to have a high substance abuse problem.

When I was in my 20s I belonged to a group of guys who would hold impromptu fishing tournaments with the Pocketfishermen we bought from K-Tel. We had been drinking beer late at night when the ad came on.

"You want how many?"

Huge LOL.

That wasn't K-tel; it was Ronco, as in Ron Popeil.

Daniel Berrigan died, radical priest who was an anti-war celebrity back during Vietnam. I always imagined he was the radical priest mentioned in Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard.

K-tel fronted a lot of Popiel stuff pre- (and maybe a while post-) Ronco. Same with the Veg-o-matic. After they parted ways, it was mainly trucker albums.

I haven't watched late-night broadcast TV since the 80s; I wonder if the short, non-infomercial, ads still run. I still see veg-o-matics in people's homes.

http://www.ktel.com/classics_products.php?id=107

From above link:


Veg-O-Matic

After a successful release in Canada during the mid 1960’s, the product was introduced to the Australian market and then went worldwide. The product was re-introduced to the Canadian and USA markets in the early 1990’s. Although the packaging was updated, the product itself remained the same. K-tel still receives requests today from people who are looking to buy the Veg-O-Matic, or to purchase replacement cutting blades for the unit that they have been using for over 40 years!

************************

If only it could have sliced up people; then it would have been the perfect product that could not be beat. Alas.

I still have fond memories of the Veg-O-Matic and the continuous stream of jokes it spawned.

One of my faves from 40 years ago:

Mmm, that's good bass.

Michael S. Harper, poet, dead at age 78 on May 7, 2016.

Madeleine LeBeau, French actress, dead at 92.

She's probably most famous for singing La Marseillaise in Casablanca. That's actually one of my favorite scenes in the movie; I can just imagine how emotional that would have been to moviegoers watching and hearing it in 1942.

She was also the last surviving cast member of the movie.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/enter...mepage%2Fstory

Guy Clark bit the dust today.

Guy-Clark-grammy-winning-musician-dead-at-74

Guy Clark, damn I know him. Mentor to a lot of great Texas country folks.

RIP Morley Safer legendary newsman

I thought he died years ago, or was that Ed Bradley, or Mike Wallace

I was a fan. Morley was great.

RIP

Nick Menza - former Megadeth drummer, only 51.

Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet:

Alan Young, Wilbur on 'Mister Ed,' dead at 96. Willllibuurrrrrr!

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/entert...an-young-obit/

Way too few sitcoms about talking animals these days, sadly. I remember I read a smart piece about Mr. Ed on Slate a few years ago, hope I can find it.

edit: boom http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/d...jan_horse.html Makes me wanna watch the reruns, I have very little memory of it.

Beth Howland died, she played crazy waitress Vera on Alice.