The puzzle’s rock band today was TAME IMPALA, “Grammy-nominated psychedelic music act with an animal in its name,” at 10 Down. But Owl Chatter will chatter instead about Lynyrd Skynyrd, in light of the death last Sunday of guitarist Gary Rossington at age 71, probably from heart problems. He was the last surviving member of the original band. He co-wrote the classic song “Sweet Home Alabama,” which I just heard playing at my dentist’s office. What are the odds?
Neil Genzlinger, who wrote the NYT obit, called the group the quintessential Southern rock band and said Rossington’s guitar helped define its sound. Rossington and some friends, including Ronnie Van Zandt, formed the band as teenagers and took the name from Leonard Skinner, their gym teacher who tormented them because of their long hair. It was a seven-piece band with three guitars. They played their asses off all over Florida and wherever they could get gigs, and when Al Kooper heard them play in Atlanta in 1973 he took them under his wing and they took off.
By 1977 they had released four albums including Sweet Home Alabama. “Free Bird” was also an enormous hit, featuring Rossington’s slide guitar solos. And then — Kaboom! On October 20, 1977, their chartered plane ran out of fuel and crashed, killing Ronnie Van Zandt, several other band members, and several other passengers. And the band shut down.
Ten years after the crash, Rossington put together a tribute tour with the surviving band members, and Van Zandt’s younger brother took over on vocals. The “new” version of the band was a hit and it continues to tour and release records.
Rossington was born in Jacksonville, FL. His dad died when he was young. His mother was a key force in his life, and he named his first serious guitar after her, Berniece. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.
When Rossington and the others gave their first concert with the tribute band in Nashville after the ten-year hiatus, they played “Free Bird” as an instrumental. The audience filled in for the absent Ronnie Van Zant. “You could hear 16,000 people singing,” Rossington said, “and it sounded like a million.”
Rest in peace, Rossington.
Here’s the original band playing Free Bird for a bunch of hippies at the Oakland Coliseum a few months before the fateful crash.
The clue at 56D was “Awful amount of time to be stuck in traffic,” and the answer was HOURS. Here’s LMS on it:
Honestly, any amount of time you’re in traffic for longer than expected, it’s awful. HOURS? Jeez Louise – a descent into hell. My sister, Meagan, and her husband got caught recently on an interstate, and after being at a standstill for like forever, Meagan (huge water drinker – this does not end well) finally had to, ya know, “go.” She left the car and went over to the shoulder where there was this short little concrete barrier. She had just jumped it when the traffic started moving. Her husband had no choice but to start going – before Meagan was able to start going, and she had to run between the cars to catch up to him. They weren’t going fast, but still. She says she imagines it was quite the spectacle. And she didn’t even get to accomplish her number one priority.
(“Number one” priority — get it?)
So glad you could drop by the grid today, Ladies. Hey, readers, it’s Marisa TOMEI at 20 across, and LAURA Dern at 27 down! C’mon in — take a load off. Move all that crap off the couch. Marisa popped by once before, but this is Laura’s first visit to Owl Chatter. What an honor!
Laura just turned 56 and has earned acting awards up the wazoo, to the delight of her actor parents no doubt (Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd). She was married to Grammy-winning musician Ben Harper from 2005 to 2013 and they have two kids, Ellery and Jaya.
Dern’s great-great-uncle was poet and writer Archibald MacLeish, who won three Pulitzers. At the behest of FDR, MacLeish also served as the Librarian of Congress for five years, and was notorious for going after Congressmen for those 5-cents-a-day overdue fees, often showing up at their homes at night with a glaring look on his face. Dern’s godmother was Shelley Winters. (Loved you in The Poseiden Adventure, SW!)
Here’s the young Laura Dern (with boyfriend Kyle MacLachlan) in Blue Velvet, way back in 1986. And, of course, the always lovely Marisa. Oooh, that reminds me — I have to get the oil changed in the Odyssey.
The clue for 7D was “Work it on the catwalk,” — STRUT.
Hot stuff!
The New Yorker today (March 13, 2023) recounts how the GOP candidates at the first primary debate back on August 6, 2015 were asked if they’d support the 2016 GOP candidate whoever that might be, and that Trump refused. And just last week the RNC said it would ask for a loyalty pledge of the candidates this time around, and some have already signaled their reluctance.
In that light, Owl Chatter suggests the RNC consider asking for a less onerous loyalty test, — maybe one that just asks the candidates to pledge not to call for any of the other candidates to be hung. Just a thought.
Here’s a drawing that’s in my kitchen. It’s by my Zoey, who drew it a while ago when she was five or six.
Thanks for dropping in for our nonsense. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 