Tag: R.I.P.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

He was a truly global pop star. Exhibit A: Our slideshow of Michael Jackson around the world.

Exhibit B: Jeffrey Tayler’s brand new World Hum essay, Michael and Me: Strangers in Moscow.

Exhibit C:

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R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett

R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett REUTERS/Staff
REUTERS/Staff

The actress has died at 62 after a three-year battle with cancer. Among many other roles, she starred in the cross-country road trip race movie, The Cannonball Run.


R.I.P. Ali Akbar Khan, Indian Musician

Ali Akbar Khan REUTERS/Adam Tanner
Ali Akbar Khan. REUTERS/Adam Tanner

The Bengali-born musician, who died last week at the age of 87, was regarded by many as a genius who helped popularize Indian classical music around the globe. He played the 25-string sarod.

When he arrived in the U.S. half a century ago, many he encountered were confounded by his origins.

He told Asia Week:

“When I came in ’55, because I was in Indian dress, people on the street in New York came out of the bars and shops and followed us. They asked me, ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’ When I said, ‘India,’ some of them didn’t even know where it was. Or others who knew I was a musician asked funny questions like, ‘How can you play music in India with all the tigers and snakes and monkeys you have to fight off?’”

Here he performs via YouTube:

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R.I.P. Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, South Pole Physician

R.I.P. Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, South Pole Physician REUTERS/Ho New
Dr. Jerry Nielsen FitzGerald on the ice in 1999. REUTERS/Ho New

Dr. Jerry Nielsen FitzGerald captured the world’s attention in 1999.

She was at the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station when she discovered a lump in her breast. Isolated by bad weather, she followed instructions over the internet to perform a biopsy on herself and then began cancer treatment with drugs delivered in an air-drop. In so doing, she came to personify courage in the face of adversity.

Her sister-in-law told CNN: “She would want to be remembered for the adventure and, you know, living every day, and not just the sickness.”

Her cancer went into remission but reappeared in 2005, her husband told the Associated Press. She died at the age of 57.


R.I.P. Neda Agha-Soltan

The woman who has become a symbol of Iran’s ongoing protests after her death was caught on video has been identified as Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, a student in Tehran. A tidbit from the compelling Los Angeles Times profile:

She took private classes to become a tour guide, including Turkish-language courses, friends said, hoping to someday lead groups of Iranians on trips abroad. Travel was her passion, and with her friends she saved up enough money for package tours to Dubai, Turkey and Thailand.

(Via Andrew Sullivan)


R.I.P. John Joseph Houghtaling: ‘Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed’ Inventor

Houghtaling invented the coin-operated vibrating bed, which delivered 15 minutes of “tingling relaxation and ease” and, according to the New York Times obit, “shook postwar America, or at least those Americans who stayed overnight in midprice motels.” He was 92.


R.I.P. Edith ‘Jackie’ Ronne: ‘First U.S. Woman on Antarctica’

Edith “Jackie” Ronne was 28 years old when she set foot on Antarctica in 1947. It was a journey she never intended to take.

She was, according to the Washington Post, talked into joining the expedition by her explorer husband so she could, among other things, write stories about the expedition for the North American Newspaper Alliance and the New York Times. As part of the expedition team, she became the first U.S. women on Antarctica and, along with Canadian Jennie Darlington, the first woman to spend a winter on the continent. (The first woman on Antarctica: Norwegian Caroline Mikkelsen, in 1935.)

Ronne was 89.

Here’s the trailer for the documentary about the expedition she joined:

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R.I.P. Millvina Dean, Titanic Survivor

R.I.P. Millvina Dean, Titanic Survivor REUTERS/Simon Kreitem
REUTERS/Simon Kreitem

The last survivor of the Titanic’s sinking has died at 97. Dean was just two months old when she was placed in one of the ship’s lifeboats with her mother and brother; she once said of her celebrity status: “Until the wreckage of the Titanic was found in 1985, nobody was interested in me. Who expects to become famous at that age?”


Morning Links: R.I.P. Escapes Section, the ‘Dirtiest City in Europe’ and More

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R.I.P. Paul Harvey

The radio legend joined me on many a road trip, filling the wide-open spaces of the U.S. with what the Washington Post calls his “authoritative baritone voice.” I rarely took a long drive without tuning in a crackling A.M. station and hearing Harvey deliver “the rest of the story.” Among the noteworthy achievements of his broadcasting career: He apparently invented the word “skyjacker.” He was 90.


R.I.P. Conchita Cintron, Woman Matador

The Peruvian matador’s debut performance dates back to 1937. She died in Lisbon at the age of 86.


R.I.P. Leila Hadley

The author of Give Me the World and other travel books passed away last week. She also wrote a series of guidebooks about traveling with children.

In the New York Times obit, William Grimes writes that she earned praise for her “sharp-eyed, vivid descriptions and for the author’s enthusiasm for leaving the beaten path, wherever she was.”

In the New York Post, Liz Smith said farewell with the words: “Do not rest in peace, dear Leila, just tear things up wherever you are!”

Hadley was 83.


R.I.P. Muzak?

The company that brought elevator music into the world has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the AP reports. Muzak Holdings LLC could be as much as $500 million in debt, but—so says a company statement—it is expected to survive the bankruptcy reorganization and continue to operate “as is.” Let’s hope so—otherwise, a future of uncomfortably silent elevator rides could be in the cards for hotel-goers everywhere.


R.I.P. Oscar Wilde Bookshop

The Greenwich Village landmark will close on March 29, after 42 years in business. The Oscar Wilde Bookshop is widely believed to be America’s oldest gay and lesbian bookstore; its first owner, Craig Rodwell, was also one of the founders of New York City’s Pride Parade. A thoughtful 2005 New York Times essay about the bookshop and its history remains available online.


R.I.P. John Updike

The prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning author has died at age 76. Though probably best-known for his novels—and particularly for his “Rabbit” series—Updike also produced numerous collections of short stories, poetry, essays and literary criticism. Whether he was chronicling one man’s desperate attempts to escape his pedestrian life in Brewer, Pennsylvania (in Rabbit, Run), or the simple joys of a small-town, Friday night football game (“In Football Season”; find it in The Early Stories), John Updike never failed to make the places, and times, that his characters moved through come vividly, memorably alive. The Los Angeles Times has a thoughtful obit.


R.I.P. London’s Astoria

R.I.P. London’s Astoria Photo by Sheep purple via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by Sheep purple via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The legendary London venue is closing down this week to make way for a new rail line. The Astoria and its annex, Astoria 2, have hosted everyone from Nirvana and David Bowie to Iggy Pop and Eminem over the years.

“People tend to get misty-eyed about the demise of historic dives, and in this sense the Astoria does not disappoint,” Ian Winwood writes in the Guardian. “The security people can be difficult, the beer is always too warm and if it weren’t for the musicians on stage the loudest sound in the room would be people’s feet un-sticking themselves from the floor. ... The Astoria is inconvenient and exciting, just like London itself.”


R.I.P. Alfred Shaheen, Aloha Shirt Revolutionary

He’s credited with advances in manufacturing aloha shirts and raising “the garments to the level of high fashion with artistic prints, high-grade materials and quality construction.” He also designed the shirt Elvis wore on the cover of the “Blue Hawaii” soundtrack. Shaheen was 86.


R.I.P. 2008: From Philip Agee to Papa Wendo

R.I.P. 2008: From Philip Agee to Papa Wendo Photo: Steve Rhodes via Flickr, (Creative Commons)

We said goodbye to great writers, adventurers, musicians and others in 2008—all people who, as we see it, had an impact on the world of travel.

R.I.P.:

 


R.I.P. Samuel Huntington

The author of The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order and other influential books has died at the age of 81.

I read “The Clash of Civilizations” while traveling in Asia in early 2001 and found Huntington’s theories about culture and the world fascinating, even if I didn’t always agree with them. (The book was based on this article.) I always thought the book should be essential reading for any traveler with even a slightly wonkish bent trying to make sense of the world.

In retrospect, early 2001 was an interesting time to be reading the book. As the New York Times obituary points out, Huntington was startling prescient, writing: “Somewhere in the Middle East, a half-dozen young men could well be dressed in jeans, drinking Coke, listening to rap, and between their bows to Mecca, putting together a bomb to blow up an American airliner.”

Other writers, like Benjamin Barber in Jihad vs. McWorld, have offered what I thought were compelling counter-arguments to Huntington’s theory, suggesting that it’s not so much a clash of civilizations but other factors behind many of today’s terrorist attacks. The two books could well be read together.

Huntington wrote many books, including, more recently, a controversial volume about American culture and immigration. It angered many.

Regardless, he was a thoughtful writer and an important thinker. Many readers—including travelers—will miss him and his contributions to political science and our understanding of the world.


R.I.P. World Hum’s Old Globe

Jim’s right. It was time for a change. We needed a new look, and our designer Joe Rivera developed a great one, all the way down to the new World Hum globe. I love it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss the old one. I do. It had been a constant on the site—the only constant element, I believe—since the beginning. Now, after more than seven years anchoring World Hum, it’s retired.

It deserves a small tribute.

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