Two mainstays of the Seventies when I was growing up are sadly gone. First up would be Denny who I didn’t know was a member of Wings until I was in college. I never gave much thought like a dummy, to me it was just Paul McCartney and an excuse to allow tone deaf Linda be in the band, aka the other Yoko. I do have to give him credit though, even if he didn’t get to write many songs (mostly on London Town), his guitar playing stood out to make him more than a “pity” member. Quite a rebound after being the dude behind the only hit the Moody Blues had until the late Sixties. He did come play at UT’s Cactus Cafe about a decade ago. Very expensive and I didn’t bother, now I feel a little sad about it.
Norman was a bigger deal. His TV shows, despite some being repurposed stuff from the UK, were necessarily funny…the got the conversations rolling in Amerika at a time when Tricky Dick’s “Silent Majority” wanted to keep the lid on uncomfortable stuff. I was too young to understand the preachy elements of All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude, Good Times nor The Jeffersons, I just loved fart jokes or Redd Foxx’s catchphrases. What I’m more grateful is his production company being responsible for making The Princess Bride! It was a flop initially but it lived on as a hit on cable/VCRs and goes on as a loved…ugh, classic. I hate to use that word since Boomers drove it into the ground in the Eighties, ruining it for films, TV shows, book, etc which deserve it.
Thanks everything Denny and Norman! You live on with the guitar riffs from “Band on the Run” and “Junior’s Farm” and all the times I must outwit a Vizzini type.