Obit of the Day
Looking at the famous, infamous, not-so-famous, and unique lives that have shuffled off this mortal coil.
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Obit of the Day: Long, “Strange” Trip
When Nancy Sinatra put on her walking boots Billy Strange was there. When her baby shot her down, Bill Strange was there. When Elvis made memories, Bill Strange was there. When the Beach Boys recorded pet sounds, Billy Strange was there.
Billy Strange was a guitarist, songwriter, and arranger who worked with some of the best-known artists and made some of the most popular records of the 1960s. He arranged Nancy Sinatra’s hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and played guitar on “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” (“Bang Bang” was featured on the soundtrack of Kill Bill.) When Elvis came to Los Angeles, Strange wrote “Memories” and “A Little Less Conversation” for the star.
Strange began playing guitar when he was 14 years old and became a touring musician at 16. Later he became part of a group of session musicians living in L.A. They played on albums by the Beach Boys (including Pet Sounds), The Byrds, Sonny and Cher, and Frank Sinatra. The gentlemen earned the nickname “The Wrecking Crew” because older session musicians thought that rock and roll would “wreck” music.
Billy Strange and the other members of the Wrecking Crew were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee in 2007. Mr. Strange died at the age of 81.
(How Does That Grab You? is copyright of Boots Enterprises, Inc., 2006)
Obit of the Day: Another Elvis Has Left the Building
Since he was eighteen Ted Prior would become Elvis. Fifty years. Ten thousand consecutive performances. Prior’s “streak” ended when he had to cancel his New Year’s Eve performance on December 31, 2010. He was diagnosed with brain cancer and died on May 15 at age 68.
Prior considered himself an Elvis “performer” not an impersonator, in part, because he began portraying the legend while Elvis was still alive.
(Image courtesy CBSPhilly.com)
Obit of the Day: Fashionista’s Opus
When her Latvian family was finally left the refugee camp in Germany in 1949, Vija Rekevics family decided to live in Washington. State. Vija did not know they weren’t heading for DC until they had reached Chicago. The final destination did become Rekevics home for the rest of her life and the place where she established her small fashion boutique, Opus 204. (The above image is from outside the, now closed, store. Taken by “Viv” on flickr.)
Rekevics didn’t just open a store, though. In 1962, Elvis Presley kissed her at the Seattle World’s Fair. She held degrees in political science and Far East history from the University of Washington. She also travelled around the world with her husband, an architect, spending signifcant time in Italy, London, and Baghdad.
And even her store wasn’t just a store. When it was closing in 2007, Opus 204 was such an impact on Seattle fashion that it was featured in a Seattle Post-Intellgencer article.
