Daily Dirt: Paying tribute to the legendary Ronnie Spector … and others we have already lost in 2022

Feel free to sing along as you work your way through today’s first of three thoughts that make up Vol. 205 of The Daily Dirt.

1. We’re barely into the second month of 2022, and the deaths of celebrities and other well-known personalities continue to mount. Here’s our list of the top 10 passings to date, a ranking we’ll continue to update as the year progresses:

1. Ronnie Spector (78): I would readily argue she possessed the finest overall female voice in rock history. Backed by producer and one-time husband Phil Spector’s famous “wall of sound,” Ronnie Spector mesmerized 1960s pop culture with “Baby, I Love You,” “Be My Baby,” “Do I Love You,” “The Best Part of Breaking Up” and much more of her legendary catalogue. I don’t think we’ll ever see another Ronnie Spector, who was still performing in 2021 before succumbing to cancer.

2. Sidney Poitier (94): For me, the Academy Award-winning actor’s finest role came as Gregory W. Miller  in “The Blackboard Jungle,” a 1955 black-and-white film classic, but not far behind was “To SIr, With Love” in 1967, with Poitier playing Mark Thackeray. “To SIr, With Love” also featured singer Lulu as a high school student, who had a big hit with the title song.

3. Meat Loaf (74): One of the most frequent questions about Meat Loaf’s monster hit “Paradise By The Dashboard Light,” has always been who was the powerhouse female voice with him on that 1977 epic? That was Ellen Foley, who at the time was the girl friend of Mick Jones of the Clash.

4. Howard Hesseman (81): He will always be remembered as disc jockey “Dr. Johnny Fever” on WKRP in Cincinnati.

5. Bob Saget (65): Before he became famous as a member of the “Full House” cast and host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Saget was a regular on late-night talk shows as a stand-up comedian.

6. Louie Anderson (68): The deadpan comic was also an actor, author and game-show host.

7. Ralph Emery (88): For many country music fans, Emery was THE man, both as a radio personality and TV host.

8. Dan Reeves (77): The former running back for the Dallas Cowboys went on to become a successful NFL coach.

9. Yvette Mimieux (80): One of the most popular film and (later TV) actresses from the 1960s and 1970s.

10. Jay Weaver (42): He was a key figure in the popular Big Daddy Weave band.

2. A friend of mine began an interesting post and others have joined in during the past week.

He used the word “ant” as both an insect and a suffix, starting with:

A good smelling ant: fragrant.

And it has built from there:

• An ant doing something valuable: important.
• Many ants in the same building: tenants.
• Unhappy ant: dissidant. (I know, I know, some liberties will be taken.)
• Over-priced ant: exorbitant.
• Repay: Ante up. (Yeah, a bit of a stretrch …)
• Svelte and graceful ant: elegant.
• Shy ant: reluctant.
• Looking for a job: applicant.
• Helper ant: assistant.
• Ant that smells good: deodorant.
• Outlandish ant: flamboyant.
• Ruling ant: dominant.
• Stubborn ant: defiant.
• Fortune-telling ant: clairvoyant.
• Ant in the armed forces: commandant.

You get the idea. Feel free to add on. (PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This might be the strangest thing Steve has ever written…and that’s saying something. JRG)

3. Let’s start the week with a few birthday wishes:

• TV host Jerry Springer will be 76 on Feb. 13. Years ago, daughter Sarah and I spent many a late night watching his show. And, yes, there were many nights when we were chanting together during some of the … ummm … “revealing” portions of the program.
• Paris Hilton will be 41 on Feb. 17. Momma once said if you can’t say something nice about someone don’t say anything at all. I think we’ll just leave this one alone.
• “Wheel of Fortune” spinmaster Vanna White will be 65 on Feb. 18.
• If George Washington were alive today, he would be 290 on Feb. 22.
• J. Robert Gough’s favorite singer, Michael Bolton, will be 69 on Feb. 26 (PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is not true. JRG).

Steve Fact O’ The Day As a wee lad, Steve dreamed of being a spinmaster.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Wheel of Fortune came into existence long after he was a wee lad.