Althouse: Leonard Skinner has died.

September 21, 2010

Leonard Skinner has died.

Leonard Skinner.

28 comments:

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Free as a bird.; 9/21/10, 7:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: This year has seen a lot of deaths among the pioneers of pop culture. Everybody needs to make a will, but who can we leave our Bob Dylan collection to? The young folks are going to throw them out like we did the Al Jolson 78s from our parents.; 9/21/10, 8:03 PM
rhhardin said...: I've heard the name. Played Spock or something.; 9/21/10, 8:04 PM
KCFleming said...: If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?; 9/21/10, 8:05 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Tuesday's gone
with the wind; 9/21/10, 8:09 PM
jungatheart said...: Lord help me, I can't change.; 9/21/10, 8:33 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: PLAY SOME FREE BIRD!

*Flicks Bic ligher^; 9/21/10, 8:41 PM
SteveR said...: He was a simple kind of man.; 9/21/10, 8:54 PM
KCFleming said...: Fall, 1979.
Small rivertown in southeast MN.
It's 10 a.m., 8 teenage boys gathered around a beat up Dodge before the afternoon game.
Football pants and cleats on, white t-shirts, helmet inside the pads, carried together.

Jimmy's car, more important, his stereo, is on, blaring Freebird, to psyche us up for the game.

Such a small memory, but it has always stuck with me, that minor ritual of senior year.

One of those guys died just last week; he was found slumped in his chair at home.

For I must be traveling on, now...; 9/21/10, 9:03 PM
TML said...: I worked at an ad agency in Jacksonville FL in the mid eighties, Husk Jennings Overman. I was working one day when the receptionist, April, got on the PA to tell the president, Gary Husk, that Leonard Skinner was there to see him. She said it with an accent that made it sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Out of curiosity I ambled to the front of the office to ask her about it. Sure enough, it was the man himself. I got to meet him. He was our president's insurance agent. Such a heady cultural experience.; 9/21/10, 9:05 PM
jungatheart said...: That's a good story, Pogo.; 9/21/10, 9:07 PM
Rialby said...: ewwww that smell; 9/21/10, 9:12 PM
DADvocate said...: Thank you, Mr. Skinner, for inspiring some great rock 'n roll.; 9/21/10, 9:12 PM
Rialby said...: When I was in high school in the very early 90s, all we listened to was classic rock (anything pre-1981). By the time I hit college, I was told I was so totally lame for enjoying Bad Company, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles. I remember throwing away a Best of Lynyrd because I was embarrassed. I'm not now... a solid band.; 9/21/10, 9:20 PM
KCFleming said...: Thx, deborah.

He was a good and honest man. I missed him at the last class reunion because of a death in my own family.

I thought I would catch him next time.; 9/21/10, 9:32 PM
Alex said...: Yeah why should we mourn pop celebrities more then some random high school gym teacher. I bet he affected more lives positively then those putrid pop idols.; 9/21/10, 10:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Can't say I'm a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd, but I have to admit I was surprised to find out that Mr. Leonard Skinner was "only" 77 - it would mean he was in his 30s, maybe even 20s, back when the members of the band were in school. (Anything more depressing than a young guy acting like a middle-aged authoritarian?)

Word verification: euibi.; 9/21/10, 10:15 PM
ndspinelli said...: I would have thought this band was named after their crystal meth dealer, or some software guy addicted to meth.; 9/21/10, 10:23 PM
RichardS said...: Leonard Skinner was a rare double. Don't forget Alan Sherman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Hx_X84LC0; 9/22/10, 12:07 AM
Robert Cook said...: I'm from Indiana originally, but we moved to Jacksonville, Florida when I was still in grade school. Lynyrd Skynrd were just becoming a local band of note when I was a teenager, and I remember them playing my high school quite a number of times. I never saw them there, but I can still visualize the home-made poster-board and marker posters announcing their appearance at this school dance or that Friday morning Key Club event or another. Their debut album came out a month after I graduated high school, and I remember telling a friend, "With that name, they'll never make it."

I did see them, actually, once: a few months later, as opening act for The Who in Atlanta in Fall 1973, (they had last played my high school just the year before!). Although I was not a fan of "southern rock," they were, actually, excellent.; 9/22/10, 7:17 AM
Robert Cook said...: TML said:

"I worked at an ad agency in Jacksonville FL in the mid eighties, Husk Jennings Overman."

My uncle was in the ad business in Jacksonville back then...owned his own agency...same last name as mine. Familiar with it?; 9/22/10, 7:19 AM
Triangle Man said...: @Robert Cook

How could he not be familiar with William Cook, or at least "The Beef People" slogan?; 9/22/10, 8:38 AM
Robert Cook said...: Triangle Man:

Bingo.; 9/22/10, 8:51 AM
TML said...: Robert, I do, actually. We were on Baymeadows at HJO.; 9/22/10, 9:40 AM
FormerTucsonan said...: Ironically, Mr. Skinner outlived most of the original band members. Only Gary Rossington, Rickey Medlocke, and Bob Burns are still kicking around.; 9/22/10, 10:10 AM
Phil 314 said...: Neil Young will not shed a tear

(Not that anyone there cares what Mr. Young thinks.); 9/22/10, 11:29 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: c3 beat me to it - easily one of the greatest (conservative/liberal, American/Canadian) disses in Rock history.

Thanks, LS, for one of the best Pop song-inspired belly laughs I've ever had - and a lot of other really good music.; 9/22/10, 1:03 PM
Robert Cook said...: Triangle Man said:

"How could he not be familiar with William Cook, or at least "The Beef People" slogan?"

Not that this is pertinent to anything, but I took a look at the video about the Cook agency that was embedded in the article you linked to. In it, it's stated that staffers at Cook's agency came up with the term "First Coast," which has been adopted to refer to Jacksonville (or, more specifically, I guess, its beaches, where I grew up). I may be mistaken, but I seem to remember my father--William's younger brother and not in the ad business--saying he had come up with that name. If I'm not wrong, I have to assume he must have mentioned it to his brother, (who, knowing him, probably would not have credited my father with the term's creation).

If there's anyone out there who knows better, I'll accept that my memory may be faulty on this point.; 9/22/10, 1:28 PM