Casey Kasem: The Voice of My Youth

The voice I so desired to hear every Sunday morning as I was growing up is no more.  Casey Kasem, the long time host of the venerable American Top 40 has past away according to CNN.

Like tens of millions growing up in the 1980s, Mr. Kasem was like the voice of God to me.  His was the definitive voice to know where are favorite songs stood in the rankings.  We listened to Mr. Kasem on our radios and Walkmans, waiting with baited breath to find out if our song had made it to number one.  We held back the tears as he did the vaunted Long Distance Dedication and we penned our own, hoping that maybe, just maybe, we would hear them.

But the voice of my youth has been silent for many years and now may Casey Kasem rest in peace.  That is my long distance dedication.

Sir Peter O'Toole: RIP

Though many consider Sir Peter O'Toole's greatest role to be that of T.E. Lawrence in 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, I would strongly beg to differ.  To me, Sir Peter will always be King Henry II in 1968's The Lion In Winter.  He was the perfect foil to Katherine Hepburn's Eleanor of Aquitaine.

I am going to miss Sir Peter and the world is less grand than it once was due to his passing, but I can celebrate his life and his career by watching The Lion In Winter this evening.  Care to join me?