movies

Dick Parry Dead: Sax Player On Pink Floyd Classics Was 83

Published

3 months ago

May 22, 2026

Dick Parry, whose saxophone solos on Pink Floyd‘s classic albums The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here helped places such songs as “Money”, “Us and Them” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” in the classic rock firmament, died today, May 22. He was 83.

His death was announced by David Gilmour, the singer-guitarist of Pink Floyd’s iconic line-up and a lifelong friend. No cause of death was stated.

“My dear friend Dick Parry died this morning,” Gilmour wrote on Instagram (see the post below). “Since I was seventeen, I have played in bands with Dick on saxophone, including Pink Floyd. His feel and tone make his saxophone playing unmistakable, a signature of enormous beauty that is known to millions and is such a big part of songs such as Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, Us and Them and Money. He played in the last band I had that included Rick Wright for the On An Island Tour and at Live 8 with Pink Floyd.”

In his post, Gilmour shared photos of the two friends through the years, including one at a performance in Cambridge 1963.

In addition to 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon and 1975’s Wish You Were Here, Parry contributed saxophone on such albums as Let’s Make Up and Be Friendly by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (1972), Mad Dog by The Who’s John Entwistle (1975), Love Is a Five Letter Word by Jimmy Witherspoon (1975), and Jinx by Rory Gallagher (1982), among others.

He appeared on other Pink Floyd albums The Division Bell (1994) and Pulse (1995), as well as several Gilmour solo albums in the early 2000s. A recording of a 1974 Floyd concert was released in 2023 as The Dark Side of the Moon Live at Wembley 1974. He also played sax for The Who during the band’s tours in 1979 and 1980.

Born in Kentford, Suffolk on December 22, 1942, Parry launched his career as a professional musician in the early- to mid-1960s as part of the Cambridge-based band The Soul Committee. It was in Cambridge where he met Gilmour, who played for another local band. Gilmour would later invite Parry to Pink Floyd’s recording sessions, where Parry would create the sax solos that brought a mesmerizing, dreamy quality to “Us and Them” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and a down-and-dirty grit to “Money,” sounds that became an indelible part of the decade’s progressive FM landscape and remain so on today’s classic rock radio.

Information on survivors was not immediately available.

movies

Ben Jones Dead: Cooter On ‘Dukes Of Hazzard,’ Georgia Congressman Was 84

Published

10 minutes ago

August 10, 2026

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Ben Jones, known to millions as the affable — if mischievous — mechanic Cooter on The Dukes of Hazzard, died today at the age of 84. His wife, Alma Vitor, said that Jones had died of a massive heart attack while “resting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees.”

Jones played “Crazy” Cooter Davenport on all seven seasons of the original show from 1979-1985 as well as in the made for TV “Reunion” movie in 1997 and the 2000 one-off Hazzard in Hollywood. While many may remember Cooter as a gregarious good ‘ol boy, the character had a wild, rebellious side in the first season of the show. Often called an “honorary Duke,” he owned the local garage which just happened to be across the street from the Sheriff’s station, allowing him to keep an eye on the comings and going for the Duke cousins.

Jones’ second act was an auspicious one. After serving as president of SAG’s Georgia Branch and as chairman of the Georgia Film Commission, Jones won the race for Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District in 1988. He was re-elected in 1990. While on Capitol Hill, Jones was Democratic whip, a member of the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs and a member of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. In 1994, he ran against Newt Gingrich in another district and lost.

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Here is the full text of Alma Vitor’s statement on social media:

I lost the love of my life today. Ben passed from a massive heart attack. He was home resting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees. Ben had the most amazing rich full life. He loved and was loved by so many. He will be missed. I loved him so so much.

movies

James Gray Learned About a Locarno Award. His Wife Mentioned the Trash

Published

4 hours ago

August 9, 2026

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Sunday is family day. So, it just made sense for the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival to book Paper Tiger, written and directed by James Gray and starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller, for Sunday evening. After all, the loosely autobiographical movie tells the story of a suburban family that becomes entangled with the Russian mob.

Just before the Paper Tiger screening, Gray received the Career Leopard honor from the Swiss festival in a moment that seemed worthy of a big cat pun.

Looking out at the city’s big central square, the Piazza Grande, which seats 8,000 people, the U.S. auteur shared the mix of excitement and nervousness that he was feeling.

“I didn’t expect this crowd. I sort of feel like I’m in the Beatles or something,” he told the big crowd. “This is very strange. I’m very nervous because usually I’m behind the camera and I’m yelling at other people to do things and telling them what to do. And now I’ve got to do some talking. It’s vaguely terrifying.”

Gray also called the experience “very moving,” before resorting to some deadpan humor. “When I told my wife, I said, ‘Hey, they want to give me this prize in Locarno,’” the filmmaker shared. “My wife said, ‘That’s very nice. Now, can you take out the garbage?’”

Continued the U.S. honoree: “So this … gives you a kind of perspective in life. But my wife’s feelings aside, it’s very moving to me.”

Continuing with the family theme, Gray told the Locarno outdoor audience about Paper Tiger: “You’re going to see pretty much where I grew up. A lot of it is autobiographical. You’ll see my neighborhood, and you’ll say, ‘Oh my God.’ Because I got here with this [award], and I came from that.”

Gray also concluded that just because he received this year’s Career Leopard, film fans shouldn’t write him off yet. “I’m not old,” he said. “I have many good films, hopefully, left, and maybe better. So don’t age me out yet.”

movies

Wagner Moura Compares ‘The Last House’ To COVID Isolation

Published

4 hours ago

August 9, 2026

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SPOILERS: This post contains details about the Netflix movie The Last House

As Wagner Moura traps fans at home with his new movie The Last House, he can’t help but recall the isolation of the COVID pandemic.

While discussing the ending of the Louis Leterrier-helmed Netflix film, now available to stream, the Oscar nominee said he hopes the Delgado family finds “good things about that change” after escaping their house five years into a phenomena that floods the world and unleashes monsters from the ocean.

“Well, I hope they discover that of course, the world changed,” he told CinemaBlend. “But I hope that they discover that there are good things about that change.”

Moura continued, “I think that we came out of COVID when, when COVID sort of happened in the end of the whole pandemic, I was like, ‘Okay, the world is gonna change. We are gonna come out of this with a different mindset.’ And I don’t think we did. So I hope it’s different for the characters of the film.”

In The Last House, Jason (Moura) and his wife Ann (Greta Lee) find that they are trapped along with their two children in their Seattle home when a mysterious heavy rain seals everyone in their homes. As the days go by, the family must learn to survive with what they have.

Wagner Moura as Jason in ‘The Last House’ (2026) (Courtesy of Netflix)

Netflix has promoted the sci-fi drama by trapping a man in a house atop a billboard on Sunset Boulevard, where he has been living and communicating with passersby via whiteboard.