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Irish Examiner
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Rory Gallagher remembered 25 years on in five iconic gigs
As the 25th anniversary of the death of the beloved Cork guitarist occurs on Sunday, Des O'Driscoll looks back at some of his seminal performances Cavern Club, Cork, 1966 By the time Rory Gallagher moved to Cork in 1956 at the age of eight, a combination of hearing US armed forces' radio in Derry where he'd been living, and growing up in a household where both parents loved music, ensured the seeds of his future career were well and truly planted. Even in his childhood years Rory had the self-discipline to spend hours practising on his acoustic guitar. His big 'breakthrough' came when he won a talent competition at Cork City Hall around 1960. In what was the first of his many encounters with the media, a delighted 12-year-old came into the offices of the Cork Examiner and Evening Echo on Academy Street in the city to proudly pose for a picture holding his guitar on the roof of the building. The first album he ever bought, The Buddy Holly Story, was purchased from a bookshop on Shandon Street, and the emergence of the new wave of British bands from 1963 onwards had spawned a small 'beat' scene in this country that provided an alternative to the dominant showbands. It was a movement the teenage Gallagher identified with, even though it was the showbands that provided an important outlet for him to hone his skills as a musician. A huge gig for his generation came in 1965 with the visit by the Rolling Stones to the Savoy, and Gallagher had saved for weeks for a ticket. That Stones gig helped inspire the burgeoning music scene in Cork, and by 1966 Rory, his brother Donal were involved in a new club on Leitrim Street in Cork. Rory Gallagher with The Taste in The Cavern in Cork in 1966. Picture: Courtesy of Donal Gallagher A labyrinth of a building, The Cavern catered for a mostly 15-to-17-year-old age group. With just a mineral bar forrefreshments, and luminous paint on the wall to up thecool-factor, that early club provided the main venue in the city for the kids who wanted to take a different path to the showbands. Donal had even set up a primitive set of record decks — basically, two record players rigged up inside a box from Harrington's bakery — and he'd play records during the breaks in between bands. By 1966, one of the most popular attractions at the venue were The Taste, fronted by his brother. By then, 18-year-old Rory had already clocked up an impressive CV of experience with other bands, touring to the UK and Spain. But this new three-piece really gave him an opportunity to forge his own path, and some of those early gigs in The Cavern are still an 'I was there' moment for Corkonians of his generation. Isle Of Wight Festival, August 28, 1970 by Ed Power Taste's acclaimed performance at the 1970 Isle Of WightFestival, saw Gallagher's band share a bill with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Leonard Cohen. Watching Gallagher, bassist Richard McCracken and drummer John Wilson proceed, loosely and louchely, through a repertoire of rollicking blues numbers at Isle of Wight, it is clear you are witnessing an outfit at the very height of their abilities. At the time, they were regarded as peers of Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin — Live At The Isle of Wight makes clear why this was so. The documentary, by respected director Murray Lerner, follows Gallagher and his crew in the days preceding the festival, providing a revealing snapshot of a young artist shortly to claim an enduring slice of rock immortality. For admirers of Gallagher — and students of early ''70s rock generally — it makes for fascinating viewing. 'When Taste hit the stage the festival ignited,' recalls Donal Gallagher. 'Murray Lerner had come to the Isle of Wight planning to shoot one of two numbers per band because he had a limited quantity of tape and he wanted to save it for The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell. When he saw Taste, he kept the cameras rolling for over an hour, which was extraordinary and speaks to the impact they had. They electrified the festival.' Alas, the wheels came off shortly after Isle of Wight as Taste split suddenly. Ambitious but also loyal and decent minded, Gallagher was scarred by the experience, his brother reveals. He'd never had any interest in a solo career. For him, Taste had been the vehicle by which he hoped to make his dreams reality. 'They broke up for managerial reasons,' says Donal. 'Rory was keen to get out of his management contract. It was a conflict between Rory and the manager. Rory knew exactly where he wanted to go. The other two sided with the manager and formed a band called Stud, which was very short-lived. They found out the hard way what Rory was trying to tell them.' With his group fallen apart and a rosy future plunged into sudden uncertainty, Gallagher faced the biggest crisis of his short career. 'At the time he felt as if the world was falling in,' says Donal. 'Here was a band that had stolen the show at the Isle of Wight. And yet he felt his hands were tied contractually. He felt betrayed — and never looked back at Taste again.' Macroom Mountain Dew, June 26, 1977 Rory Gallagher in Macroom in 1977; top, the stage at the gig. Pictures: Irish Examiner Rory Gallagher didn't just headline Ireland's first majo routdoor rock festival – he also had a big hand in organising it. At least, he did via his brother Donal who was drafted in to ensure Rory's set would be a success. The guitarist had been reluctant to sign up to play at Macroom, a town which even by the standards of Ireland at the time had little experience of putting on such events. However, the fact that his mother Monica de Roiste's people were from the nearby area of Cúil Aodha was used to put some pressure on to convince him to play. The trade-off was that his trusty brother, who had been with him through his career and possessed a wealth of technical and organisational experience, would be hands on for the festival. Donal drafted in the likes of Mike Lowe, a sound system expert from Liverpool who went on to design rigs for of Pink Floyd and U2; and Joe Herlihy, the Cork man who would end up as U2's sound engineer for decades. Their hard work got the nod of approval from Rory, and the 10,000 fans who paid £2.50 a ticket for the gig were treated to a proper sound system for a typically energetic gig. It was a productive era for Rory, the gig came in the year following his Calling Card album, often ranked by fans as among his best. See the book, Macroom Mountain Dew, by Roz Crowley Rockpalast, Germany, August 28, 1982 Rory Gallagher on stage at Rockpalast in 1982. At the picturesque spot of Loreley on the Rhine, there's a legend about an enchanting woman who distracts boatmen and leads them to their death. In 1982, however, Rory Gallagher was the one doing the seducing with a storming set that was also broadcast across the continent. As with his first appearance at a Rockpalast concert in 1977, it was an event that was groundbreaking in terms of broadcasting technology, as it was among the first live broadcasts of an outdoor gig in stereo. The concert had come two years after the release of Jinx, an album that had marked the end of a six-album deal with Chrysalis. Being off the road in later years was a mixed blessing for Rory, but his brother Donal Gallagher recalls his brother being happy at that time to be free of the pressures of the annual album-and-tour grind. 'It gave him the freedom and time to work on his music and just to breathe,' says Donal. Rory was also happy to be sharing the bill with Eric Burdon, a longtime hero of his, and the two had an association that went all the way back to the Acadia in the mid-1960s when Rory and The Impact showband had supported The Animals at the Cork venue. Footage from the Rockpalast gig has been re-shown on German TV this week to mark the anniversary of Rory's death and shows Burdon and Gallagher playing together on 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' at a mass jam to finish the concert. The Marquee, New York,March 30, 1991 Rory Gallagher's final gig in the US came at a mixed time in his life. A world tour had turned into a logistical nightmare because of the outbreak of the first Gulf War, and personal issues had come to the fore that had seen him spend a few weeks in a rehab clinic. While booze seemed to be an obvious issue to those around him, it had also emerged around this time that prescribed drugs were causing even more of a problem. Medication to ease his anxieties around flying, and sleeping pills to fight his insomnia, became part of a serious issue that would take its toll on his body and eventually lead to his death following a liver transplant barely four years later. 'I thought keeping Rory on the road was better than keeping him off the road,' recalls his brother Donal of a difficult time for all concerned. But there were reasons for optimism as the band flew from Australia to California on March 2. Rory had been 'on the dry' for a few weeks, and got a kick out of having two birthdays as he crossed the International Dateline on his 43rd birthday. As the tour began, he was also reminded of the esteem he was held in by the music world when Slash from Guns N'Roses showed up backstage to pay homage at the Hollywood gig. By the time they reached New York a month later, word had seeped out that Rory was going to part company with Gerry McAvoy and Brendan O'Neill, the rhythm section who had been at the heart of his line-up for the previous ten years (with bassist McAvoy going all the way back to 1971). That news had increased the hype for the gig, and the promoter was happy to make the most of the huge demand for tickets. 'It was absolutely packed,' recalls Donal Gallagher. Somehow, the New York Fire Department got wind of how crowded the venue was and soon showed up amidst a wail of sirens. As the gig continued, Donal found himself negotiating between the fire department, the police who were threatening to arrest the promoter, and Rory who was having a great time on stage. 'I said, 'Look, if you pull the plug and he has to go off the stage, that's going to cause even more damage',' Donal recalls. 'I asked the fire department guy if he could just do two more numbers, and he replied: 'OK, he can do two more numbers, as long as one of them is 'Messin With the Kid'!' Rory duly obliged, and then finished out his set with 'Bullfrog Blues', the classic Mississippi Delta number that was a fitting choice to bring the curtain down on his association with a country that had done so much to inspire his music from an early age.
News18
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Gailard Sartain, Hee Haw And Mississippi Burning Actor, Dies At 81
Last Updated: Gailard Sartain, known for his roles in Hee Haw, Ernest films, The Buddy Holly Story, and Mississippi Burning, has died at 81. Veteran actor Gailard Sartain, whose career spanned decades of television, stage, and film, including a 20‑year run on Hee Haw and memorable roles in Spider‑Man and Mississippi Burning, has passed away at the age of 81. His wife of 36 years, Mary Jo Sartain, shared the news with The Hollywood Reporter, saying he died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 'Actually, he died of silliness," she added. His friendship with Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts stood out as one of his most long‑lasting bonds; they lived together until Roberts's death in 2016. She even directed his play Screen Test: Take One, based on his love for soap operas. Sartain first captured attention on local Tulsa television as Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi, he hosted the spooky The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting—before finding fame on Hee Haw in 1972. He stayed on the show for nearly two decades, playing everything from Orville the cook to rambling clerks. His film résumé is vast and varied: he debuted in Nashville (1975), portrayed Jerry 'The Big Bopper" Richardson in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), and dabbled in spaghetti Westerns. On TV, audiences loved his cameos on shows like Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends. A key turning point came with his chilling depiction of a racist sheriff in Mississippi Burning (1988), a role he felt broke his comedy mold. 'Nobody likes to be typecast as a barefooted hillbilly… that kind of turned things around," he told the Tulsa World in 2017. Sartain's film career included nine collaborations with director Alan Rudolph (Choose Me, Songwriter, Love at Large, and more), as well as roles under Carl Reiner in The Jerk and All of Me, Francis Ford Coppola in The Outsiders, Stephen Frears in The Grifters, and Michael Mann in Ali. In the 1980s, he teamed up with Bill Byrge to play Chuck in Hey, Vern, It's Ernest!—a role born from local commercials and later featured in Ernest films like Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, and Ernest Goes to Jail. He even took on Broadway, starring in Dracula beginning in 1977, and lent his voice to creating Leon Russell's album art in 1975. But by 2005, with Elizabethtown, Sartain quietly stepped away from acting. Survived by his wife Mary Jo, their three children – Sarah, Esther, and Ben- along with granddaughter Chloe and great‑grandson Teddy, Sartain leaves behind a legacy. The Beverly Hills Playhouse paid tribute to his memory on Instagram, writing: 'There was only ever one like this, and we are the richer for having his presence in our theatre. Rest in peace, Jack." May his soul rest in peace! First Published:
Perth Now
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Actor Gailard Sartain dead aged 78
Gailard Sartain has died aged 78. The actor, comedian and artist, best known for his roles in The Outsiders, The Buddy Holly Story and Fried Green Tomatoes, has been remembered as a 'beloved' and 'one-of-a-kind' performer after his passing on 17 June came to light on Saturday. (21.06.25) Tributes have poured in for the actor, with one fan saying online: 'I owe much of my warped sense of humour to watching his Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting in high school and college. 'His wacky comedy will always make me smile. What a legacy!' Gailard's death earlier this month was confirmed by his family and the Tulsa World, though no cause of death has been made public. His passing comes just months after that of his Ernest co-star Bill Byrge, who died in January aged 89. Among the other tributes to the star, one fan said on Facebook: 'Rest in peace, Gailard Sartain.' Another added: 'Heartbroken to hear of the passing of Gailard Sartain — beloved actor, comedian, and artist. Gailard brought warmth and heart to every role he played. A proud Okie and one-of-a-kind talent, he'll be dearly missed and always remembered. Stay gold, Gailard.' Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gailard began his entertainment career on the comedy and country music variety show Hee Haw, appearing for nearly two decades from the early 1970s. His breakout on screen led to more than 70 film and TV credits, including Mississippi Burning, The Grifters, Elizabethtown and Ali. His first credited film role was in 1978's The Buddy Holly Story, in which he portrayed musician Jerry 'The Big Bopper' Richardson opposite Gary Busey. He later appeared in The Jerk with Steve Martin and in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, where he shared scenes with C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise. Gailard also featured in the Jim Varney-led Ernest film franchise, including appearances with Bill Byrge, whose character Chuck was paired with Byrge's Bobby. The Church Studio in Tulsa, where Gailard would visit after filming his late-night show Mazeppa, also issued a statement on his passing. It said: 'We are saddened by the loss of Gailard Sartain, an extraordinary actor, artist, and comedian. 'Gailard's artwork is showcased on the cover of Leon Russell's 1975 album Will O' the Wisp. Our condolences are with Mary Jo, Gailard's wife and a committed volunteer at The Church Studio.' Misty Rowe, 75, who appeared alongside Gailard on Hee Haw Honeys, said: 'God bless you, Gailard Sartain. You were my brother on Hee Haw Honeys and my friend on Hee Haw for 19 years! I will never forget you.' After retiring from acting more than 20 years ago, Gailard was frequently asked about his long career. In a 2017 interview, he reflected: 'Not every single thing I did (made me happy.) 'But, for the most part, I'm happy about it.'
Time of India
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Gailard Sartain, ‘Hee Haw' and ‘Fried Green Tomatoes' actor, passes away at 78
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook) Gailard Sartain, the beloved character actor known for his comedic flair on Hee Haw and memorable performances in films like Fried Green Tomatoes and Mississippi Burning, has passed away . He was 78. His death was announced Thursday night by The Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Gailard Sartain was a regular visitor and his wife, Mary Jo, was a longtime volunteer. The cause of death has not been disclosed, though TMZ cited a 'long decline in health.' Big break in 'Hee Haw' Born on September 18, 1946, in Tulsa, Sartain's journey in entertainment began in the early 1970s with the creation of "The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting," the city's first late-night sketch comedy show. His big break came in 1972 when he joined the iconic variety show Hee Haw, where he appeared over 170 times during a nearly 20-year tenure. He became a fan favorite as Sheriff Orville P. Bullmoose. Final Destination Scene Turns Real? Ceiling COLLAPSES on Moviegoer Mid-Screening | WATCH A memorable film career Sartain's filmography spans decades. He portrayed Big Bopper in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), appeared in the Francis Ford Coppola-produced The Outsiders (1983), and held significant roles in The Big Easy, Blaze, and The Spitfire Grill. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 임플란트 29만원 이벤트 임플란트 더 알아보기 Undo In the Oscar-nominated Mississippi Burning (1988), he played the menacing Sheriff Ray Stuckey opposite Gene Hackman. One of his most recognized roles came in the comedy drama 'Fried Green Tomatoes' (1991). He played the memorable character Ed Couch, the distant husband to Kathy Bates' character, Evelyn in the comedy drama. A respected artist and illustrator In addition to his acting career, Sartain was also a respected artist and illustrator. He worked in New York City as an assistant to famed illustrator Paul Davis and contributed to national magazines. Sartain even designed the album cover for Leon Russell's 1975 record, "Will O' the Wisp." A double loss for 'Hee Haw' fans Sartain's passing marks a second recent loss for 'Hee Haw' fans. His co-star Lulu Roman, known for her comedic skits on the show, passed away in late April. Together, they represented a golden era of television variety shows that blended country charm with humor.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sara Burack Dies: ‘Million Dollar Beach House' Real Estate Agent Was 40
Sara Burack, a real estate agent who appeared on Netflix's Million Dollar Beach House, has died following a hit-and-run accident in Hampton Bays, NY, according to multiple media reports. She was 40. Burack was found unconscious on Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays at around 2:45 a.m. Thursday. She was rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries consistent with a hit-and-run, where she later died, according to local media outlet Dan's Papers, citing Southhampton Town Police. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Anne Burrell Dies: Food Network's 'Worst Cooks In America' Host & Celebrity Chef Was 55 Gailard Sartain Dies: 'Hee Haw,' 'The Buddy Holly Story' Actor Was 78 Police were searching for the driver. Burack appeared on Million Dollar Beach House, a six-episode reality series that aired on Netflix for one season in 2020. The show followed a group of young and ambitious agents from Nest Seekers International who sealed multimillion-dollar deals on luxurious listings in The Hamptons. Burack previously sold properties in Manhattan and the Hamptons as an employee for Nest Seekers International, according to her LinkedIn. She also worked as the events and new business development coordinator for Social Life magazine. Best of Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries 2024 Hollywood & Media Deaths: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Remembering Shelley Duvall: A Career In Photos
