The RIP thread...

None of the obituaries mention his role as Alex Haley in Roots, probably one of his most important ones at least to me.

Herbie Flowers RIP

Bass master.

Indeed, whoda thunk one of the monuments of hiphop was driven by a British bass player
https://youtu.be/O3pyCGnZzYA

To come across as stupid, was roots on UK terrestrial TV?

It was.

No, but why would that matter?

It was absolutely riveting Sunday night viewing IIRC

I get the question. It’s a legendary series and I never recall it being on or referred to, so didn’t know myself.

BBC news at ten had it in - I’d never heard of it…

Is the remake any good?

For white Brits/NI people, this will be (in descending order) partly an age thing, partly a measure of what your parents chose to watch or let you watch (I don't think even TS was old enough to be deciding what the family watched when Roots was shown), partly a measure of the breadth of their own interests (although Roots and any discussion of it pretty much disappeared from mainstream media only a few years after it broadcast). There were plagiarism accusations and the accuracy of Haley's genealogical research was challenged, which gave white society here and over there an excuse to say "None of that was real and we don't have to think about it any more, let alone talk about it".

My parents did watch it and let me watch. As a kid in very white, rural Aberdeenshire, I'd never seen anything like it before. But even a lot of white Brits my age are more likely to have seen (and remember) "lost cause" bullshit like North and South (a real fucking low point for some of its actors).

Nope/yep, we watched every episode when it aired, it was a huge event when it came out. Loved that fucking show, so epic, great education for a young lad.

Didn't have you down as a Patrick Swayze fan.

💥

1 Attachment

Word...

1 Attachment

James Earl Jones

LeVar Burton isn’t dead

There are, admittedly, more appropriate threads for derails, or at least ones where the results would be less confusing.

As I had not heard of roots till the last 10 years, through mentions on TV shows. The one that springs to mind was community when LeVar Burton was a guest star.

Looking online it was shown in 77 and recently but not in-between so English people might not heard of him in that role.

@JurekB @EcuriePeril I iz old fam

Also I'd never heard of reading rainbow till the last 10 years

Genuine sad times, he was the best of the best.

The BBC should rerun Roots: Next Generation. In fact let’s have a season of his glorious acting.

I can only imagine how many people he inspired to become fine actors on stage, on the small screen, on the big screen.

And indeed inspired many more from that series to search their own roots from the US, Caribbean even South America

Spoiler alert

https://youtu.be/AANgnQEk-go?si=RCmE2yZu3TOx6y9A

🙃

1 Attachment

Frankie Beverly

https://youtu.be/gBB8RVZ3a4E?si=dCJlq9Ypl7bJQnNH

Rest in Power Howard ‘Frankie’ Beverly
Great band, incredible baritone singing voice 💚 his homecoming in New Orleans will be huge 💚

actually I can’t think of a family gathering, wedding, reunion without hearing Frankie & Maze.. his passing will affect many friends and mi-soul will no doubt play tribute for days, and maybe some of those interviews too.

Earlier this year, Beverly announced a farewell tour, and performed his last show in Philadelphia in July. When he announced the tour in February, he told Billboard that he wanted to “share with my lifelong fans and associates that I'll be going out on the road one last time, then retire

https://youtu.be/rM-EhH00_4E?si=ThVqob3E2pysSMKd

Pre Maze Frankie

https://youtu.be/vbBHMKt9fzk?feature=shared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa3LTtBisiA

RIP Herbie Flowers. Notable for playing the bass on Walk On The Wild Side among many, many other classics.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Flowers