Phyllis Diller, 1917-2012; Scott McKenzie, 1939-2012

Well, another favorite is gone:  Phyllis Diller died today at her home in Los Angeles, aged 95.  She had quite a life, and quite a career, though - and made millions laugh.  Which is no small thing in this world of sorrow and woe. 

My contemporaries will recall how very, very funny she was at the peak of her stand-up career in the late 1960's, really the first woman to do that, overdressed to kill with feathers, rhinestones, and the most outrageous wigs and miniskirts that showed off her bony legs - and capping it all with that unforgettable cackle of a laugh:



Your Head Trucker can recommend the 7-part interview done with her in 2000 by the Archive of American Television, which covers every facet of her life and career. The link is here, and the first part is below:




And coincidentally, on Saturday Scott McKenzie also died in Los Angeles, at age 73. As far as I ever knew, he had only the one hit song, "San Francisco" - but OMG what a one-hit career to have: it was, of course, the anthem of the flower-power years of the 1960's, and though your Head Trucker was never part of the counterculture - and didn't want to be - I've always stopped whatever I was doing and cranked up the volume whenever that song came on the radio. I just always thought he had the most marvelous, manly, sexy voice. Sad to think it is forever stilled now, but the song will live on and on:



He was a good-looking rascal too, as you can see.