THE BUTCHER'S BILL 2008. As is my custom at every year's end, I take time out to remember those who have departed during the preceding year. And as a special addition, this being the first year I've done this during the existence of our sister audio blog, you will be able to go over to BATHED IN THE LIGHT FROM ANDROMEDA and listen to those musicians who died during 2008. But for now, here is a list of those we've lost in 2008:

• MORT GARSON, musician/songwriter "Our Day Will Come", "The Wozard of Iz"
• MAILA NURMI, actress "Plan 9 From Outer Space", "Vampira the Movie"
• SIR EDMUND HILLARY, explorer
• BRAD RENFRO, actor "The Client"
• REVERAND LYNN LEMON, actor "Plan 9 From Outer Space"
• BOBBY FISCHER, chess player
• GEORGE KEYMAS, actor "Twilight Zone - Eye of the Beholder"
• CAROLE LYNN, actress "The Ghost Train"
• ALLAN MELVIN, actor "The Brady Bunch", "All in the Family"
• LOIS NETTLETON, actress "Twilight Zone - The Midnight Sun"
• SUZANNE PLESHETTE, actress "The Birds", "The Bob Newhart Show"
• ROBERT DOQUI, actor "Coffy"
• SHELL KEPLER, actress "General Hospital"
• JOHN STEWART, folk singer "The Kingston Trio"
• HEATH LEDGER, actor "The Dark Knight", "Brokeback Mountain"
• MARGARET TRUMAN, author /daughter of Harry S. Truman
• BARRY MORSE, actor "Space: 1999", "The Fugitive"
• MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI, guru
• JOHN MCWETHY, ABC news reporter
• ROY SCHEIDER, actor "Jaws"
• STEVE GERBER, comic book writer "Howard the Duck", "The Defenders"
• DAVID GROH, actor "Rhoda"
• PERRY LOPEZ, actor "Chinatown", "The Two Jakes"
• JOE GIBBS, reggae producer
• BEN CHAPMAN, actor "Creature from the Black Lagoon"
• STEVE WHITAKER, comic book colorist "V For Vendetta"
• BUDDY MILES, musician "Them Changes"
• MIKE SMITH, singer "The Dave Clark Five"
• WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, columnist
• GARY GYGAX, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons role playing game
• LEONARD ROSENMAN, composer "Lord of the Rings"
• NORMAN "HURRICANE" SMITH, singer "Oh Babe, What Would You Say?"
• DAVE STEVENS, comic book artist "The Rocketeer"
• ANTHONY MINGHELLA, director "Truly Madly Deeply", "The English Patient"
• IVAN DIXON, actor "Hogan's Heroes"
• ARTHUR C. CLARKE, author "2001: A Space Odyssey"
• PAUL SCOFIELD, actor "A Man For All Seasons", "The Crucible"
• BRIAN WILDE, actor "Last of the Summer Wine", "Night of the Demon"
• RICHARD WIDMARK, actor "Pickup on South Street", "Kiss of Death"
• JOHN LIST, murderer
• NEIL ASPINALL, The Beatles' road manager/driver
• SEAN LEVERT, singer
• JULES DASSIN, director "Night and the City"
• JOHNNY BYRNE, writer "Doctor Who", "Space: 1999"
• CHARLTON HESTON, actor "The Ten Commandments", "Ben-Hur"
• CEDELLA BOOKER, mother of Bob Marley
• HAZEL COURT, actress "Curse of Frankenstein", "Masque of the Red Death"
• OLLIE JOHNSTON, Disney animator "Snow White", "Fantasia"
• KAY LINAKER, actress/writer "The Blob", "Drums Along the Mohawk"
• AL WILSON, singer "Show and Tell"
• PAUL DAVIS, singer "I Go Crazy"
• JOY PAGE, actress "Casablanca"
• BEBE BARRON, composer "Forbidden Planet"
• JIMMY GIUFFRE, jazz musician "Jazz on a Summer's Night"
• TRISTRAM CARY, composer "Quatermass & the Pit", "Doctor Who"
• ALBERT HOFFMAN, inventor of LSD
• JULIE EGE, actress "Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires"
• EDDY ARNOLD, country singer
• ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG, artist
• JOHN PHILIP LAW, actor "Barbarella", "Golden Voyage of Sinbad"
• ABBY MANN, writer "Judgement at Nuremberg"
• JOHN FORBES-ROBERTSON, actor "Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires"
• WILL ELDER, comic book artist "Mad Magazine", "EC Comics"
• ALEXANDER COURAGE, composer "Star Trek"
• JOSEPH PEVNEY, director "Star Trek - The Trouble with Tribbles", "Star Trek - Amok Time"
• UTAH PHILLIPS, folk singer
• DICK MARTIN, comedian "Laugh-In"
• SYDNEY POLLACK, director "Tootsie", "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
• HARVEY KORMAN, actor "High Anxiety", "The Carol Burnett Show"
• YVES SAINT-LAURENT, fashion designer
• BO DIDDLEY, singer
• MEL FERRER, actor "Fall of the Roman Empire", "War and Peace"
• JIM MCKAY, sportscaster
• BOB ANDERSON, actor "It's A Wonderful Life", "The Bishop's Wife"
• BRUCE PURCHASE, actor "Dr Who - The Pirate Planet", "I Claudius"
• TIM RUSSERT, TV newsman "Meet the Press"
• TONY SCHWARTZ, sound recorder "New York Taxi Driver", "Nueva York"
• STAN WINSTON, special effects artist "Aliens", "Terminator 2"
• CYD CHARISSE, actress "The Band Wagon", "Singin' in the Rain"
• DODY GOODMAN, actress "Grease", "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"
• GEORGE CARLIN, comedian
• DON S. DAVIS, actor "Twin Peaks"
• ELISABETH SPRIGGS, actress "We, the Accused", "Spider's Web"
• LARRY HARMON, Bozo the Clown
• JESSE HELMS, Bozo the Senator
• EVELYN KEYES, actress "The Seven Year Itch", "Before I Hang"
• JO STAFFORD, singer "You Belong To Me"
• ESTELLE GETTY, actress "The Golden Girls"
• ERIK DARLING, singer
• JACK KAMEN, comic book artist "Tales From the Crypt", "Vault of Horror"
• ROBERT HAZARD, singer "The Escalator of Life"
• BERNIE MAC, comedian
• ISAAC HAYES, singer/actor "Shaft", "South Park", "Wattstax"
• JOHN ESMONDE, writer "The Good Life aka Good Neighbors"
• JERRY WEXLER, songwriter/producer "Atlantic Records"
• JOHNNY MOORE, trumpeter "The Skatalites"
• LEROI MOORE, musician "The Dave Matthews Band"
• PERVIS JACKSON, musician "The Spinners"
• BILL MELENDEZ, animator/producer "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
• DON LAFONTAINE, voice announcer
• MICHAEL PATE, actor "The Black Castle", "The Strange Door"
• JERRY REED, singer/actor "Hot Stuff"
• ANITA PAGE, actress "The Broadway Melody"
• NORMAN WHITFIELD, songwriter "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
• CONNIE HAINES, singer "The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra"
• PAUL NEWMAN, actor "Nobody's Fool", "The Hustler"
• PETER COPLEY, actor "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed", "Quatermass & the Pit"
• NICK REYNOLDS, folk singer "The Kingston Trio"
• ALTON ELLIS, reggae singer
• NEAL HEFTI, composer "Batman", "The Odd Couple"
• CHRISTOPHER WICKING, screenwriter "To the Devil-A Daughter", "Scream and Scream Again"
• EDIE ADAMS, singer/actress "The Ernie Kovacs Show", "The Apartment"
• LEVI STUBBS, singer "The Four Tops"
• DEE DEE WARWICK, singer "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"
• RUDY RAY MOORE, comedian "Dolemite"
• STUDS TERKEL, author
• DELMAR WATSON, actor "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington"
• ESTELLE REINER, actress "When Harry Met Sally"
• YMA SUMAC, singer "Voice of the Xtabay"
• MICHAEL CRICHTON, author "The Andromeda Strain", "Jurassic Park"
• MIRIAM MAKEBA, singer
• MITCH MITCHELL, drummer "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
• IRVING BRECHER, screenwriter "Go West", "The Big Store", "Bye Bye Birdie"
• JOHN MICHAEL HAYES, screenwriter "Rear Window", "The Trouble With Harry", "To Catch A Thief"
• PAUL BENEDICT, actor "The Jefferson"
• ODETTA, folk singer "No More Auction Block For Me", "Water Boy"
• FORREST J. ACKERMAN, writer/editor "Famous Monsters of Filmland"
• NINA FOCH, actress "Executive Suite", "My Name is Julia Ross"
• BEVERLY GARLAND, actress "The Alligator People", "It Conquered the World", "Not of This Earth"
• SUNNY VON BULOW, heiress
• BOB SPIERS, director "Absolutely Fabulous", "Fawlty Towers", "Are You Being Served?"
• DENNIS YOST, singer "Classics IV"
• ROBERT PROSKY, actor "Hill Street Blues", "Mrs Doubtfire"
• BETTIE PAGE, pin-up queen
• VAN JOHNSON, actor "The Caine Mutiny"
• KATHY STAFF, actress "Last of the Summer Wine", "Open All Hours"
• MAJEL BARRETT, actress "Star Trek"
• SAM BOTTOMS, actor "Apocalypse Now", "The Last Picture Show"
• ROBERT MULLIGAN, director "To Kill A Mockingbird"
• EARTHA KITT, singer/actress
• ANN SAVAGE, actress "Detour"
• DELANEY BRAMLETT, musician "Delaney & Bonnie & Friends"
• FREDDIE HUBBARD, musician "Hub-Tones"
• DONALD E. WESTLAKE, author