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Clay Risen
Posts
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Dino Danelli, Whose Drums Drove the Rascals, Is Dead at 78
His percussion virtuosity was a key to the band’s many hits of the late 1960s, including the chart-topping “Good Lovin’,” “Groovin’” and “People Got to...
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Marion Smith, the World’s Most Prolific Cave Explorer, Dies at 80
He was particularly fond of vertical caving, often dangling freely in a hundred-foot abyss on a rope no thicker than a thumb.
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Don Lewis, Unsung Pioneer of Electronic Music, Dies at 81
He invented the first system for integrating multiple instruments using a single control panel, predating the MIDI controller by years.
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Pablo Milanés, Troubadour of the Cuban Revolution, Dies at 79
His music blended traditional idioms with pop inflections and social themes, earning him comparisons with Bob Dylan.
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Edward C. Prescott, 81, Dies; Won Nobel for Studying Business Cycles
He was among the leading thinkers to explain the economic shocks of the 1970s, and his work was critical to the supply-side economics of the...
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Budd Friedman, Who Built an Empire of Comedy Clubs, Dies at 90
Starting with the original Improv in Midtown Manhattan, he gave Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin and countless other comedians a launching pad to fame.
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James Giffen, Who Was Embroiled in ‘Kazakhgate,’ Dies at 81
The government charged him with funneling $78 million in bribes to Kazakhstan, but dropped the case after a judge decided he had acted with C.I.A....
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Joanna Simon, Opera Singer from Famously Musical Family, Dies at 85
A renowned mezzo-soprano, she grew up alongside her younger sisters, Carly and Lucy, both of whom became singer-songwriters.
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Lenny Lipton, ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ Lyricist and 3-D Film Pioneer, Dies at 82
He used the royalties earned from the hit folk song to fund decades of research into stereoscopic projection.
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Roger Welsch, ‘America’s Premier Storyteller,’ Dies at 85
Author, humorist and tractor buff, he quit academia and found fame as a correspondent from the Nebraska heartland for the CBS News program “Sunday Morning.”