Adventures in Grave Hunting by Lisa Burks

Brad Renfro Remembered

A graveside memorial held yesterday in Blaine, Tenn., marked the one year anniversary of the death of actor Brad Renfro.  Renfro died in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 15, 2008 from a heroin overdose at the age of 25.

Thanks for Frank Murphy for flagging this story as covered by Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel, and photographed by Adam Brimer.

http://knoxville.com/news/2009/jan/16/renfro-remembered-by-family-friends-fans/

Remembering Randy

Today marks the 26th anniversary of the death of influential guitar legend Randy Rhoads, who died at the tender age of 25 in a freak airplane accident in Florida while on tour with Ozzy Osbourne.

While best known today for his heavy metal licks in such popular songs as "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley," Rhoads, who was a founding member of Quiet Riot, also had the unique reputation within the music industry as being a serious student and teacher of classical guitar.

Randy Rhoads photographed in January 1982, courtesy of David Gans

According to the Osbourne family book, "Ordinary People," Sharon Osbourne admitted to having had a one-time sexual encounter with Rhoads before she and Ozzy were married.  This tid-bit, of course, got all the attention. *yawn*

What I found more insightful was Ozzy's recollection in the same book of how, just before Randy's death, the guitarist told him that he was planning to leave the band in order to enroll in university classes to earn a degree in classical music.

Can you imagine the mind-boggling cross-over effect that would have had on the world of rock-n-roll if he had lived to accomplish this?  His dedication to exploring this diversity in his musical interests and talents is why I admire him so much.

Randy's grave at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernadina, Calif. on 25th anniversary of his death, courtesy of Bobby Blue

A documetary of Randy's life by Peter Margolis was in production as this time last year, but in-depth sites for this project, including a MySpace page I was subscribed to, have vanished.  Not sure on its status today, although this February news item quotes Margolis as stating that the film is 80 percent completed.

UPDATE: Here's the new MySpace page for Peter's film! :)

When I was working at Overture (which was then bought out by Yahoo!) there was a tradition in our office that I loved and embrace today.  At precisely 5:00 p.m. every Friday, a computer was set to blast out "Crazy Train," signaling the end of another work week, prompting everyone to celebrate.

Here, for your enjoyment, and to honor him today, is one of my favorite YouTube.com clips featuring Randy at his best performing "Crazy Train."

Visiting Randy's final resting place is on my wish list of graves to pay respects at.  Until then, RIP, Randy.  You are remembered and loved.

Related Links of Interest:
Findagrave.com memorial
Wikipedia biography
Kelle Rhoads
Randy Rhoads Film
The Day The Music Died
Diary of an Axeman
Randy Rhoads' Death & Legacy
AP Story of Randy's Death
Guitar Player Magazine article from January 2000

An American in Forest Lawn - Not

Twelve years ago today film fans lost their most beloved actor-choreographer, Mr. Gene Kelly, who fell victim to strokes at the age of 83.

Eagle-eyed grave hunters who have stumbled across this memorial marker in the Garden of Heritage at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills may think that they've found movie star Kelly's final resting place....

...but they would be mistaken. 

While the headstone may look very Hollywood, complete with an autograph, and kinda-sort like "Gene Kelly" (Gene Shelly?) the dates are completely wrong (correct = 1912-1996) as is the penmanship:

"Our" Gene Kelly was cremated at Westwood Memorial Park in Westwood, Calf., and his ashes were returned to his family.  Read more about it at Scott Michaels' dishy findadeath.com.

Further recommended reading: The Gene Scene - A Gene Kelly Blog, his NY Times obituary, and  various information offered up by IMDb.com and Wikipedia.

And last, but certainly not least, I leave you with a classic Gene moment - one of the all-time classic moments in film history - as he sings in the rain, courtesy of hafizaguncesi at YouTube:

Remembering Columbia

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia re-entry tragedy, in which all seven crew members lost their lives.

The Challenger-Columbia replica memorial outside the Portal of the Folded Wings at Pierce Bros. Valhalla Cemetery in North Hollywood, CA. I took this photo on 8/26/2007 - click here to see more images.

REMEMBERING
Rick D. Husband, Commander
Willie McCool, Pilot
Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander
David M. Brown, Mission Specialist
Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist
Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Mission Specialist
Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist

Did you know that "Columbia" is a noun specific to American English, deriving from explorer Christopher Columbus?

Footage of the re-entry courtesy of CrankyJay at YouTube - note the videographer's commentary, oblivious to the fact that something has gone terribly wrong and the crew has been killed:

Click here to see rare footage of Columbia's final launch

Further reading:
Lost: Space Shuttle Columbia (CNN)
Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew (NASA)
Columbia's Debris (CollectSpace)
Arlington Memorial & Dedication news clips (ArlingtonCemetery.net)
Find A Grave memorial page

And...
Video news coverage of the first shuttle disaster, Challenger, on Jan. 28, 1986

Gussie's 6th Angel Day

Today marks the 6th deathiversary of my little cat, Gussie.

She was 17-years-old when she lost her battle with cancer.  The day I had to put her down was so painful, but now, six years later I'm able to look back at my life when she was in it and smile. 

I smile a lot, actually, whenever I think of her - which is often - because she was a little girl with a huge purr-sonality who was full of love, fun and mischief.

RIP, Gussie Girl.  You are remembered and loved, always.