Lesley Gore died yesterday at age 68. She was part of the line-up for the Legends Of Rock’n’Roll at Expo ’86. I also brought her to Timmy’s Christmas Telethon. In the early 2000’s Lesley played the Silver Reef Casino south of the border. She called me from her home in New York and asked if I would introduce her at the Silver Reef. I agreed and said it would be an honour. Her credentials speak volumes. One of the great ladies of rock and roll. She will certainly be missed.

The radio airwaves will not be the same since Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens died in L.A. this weekend at 80. Gary was an outstanding deejay in Los Angeles before finding TV fame. He appeared in more than a dozen movies and on scores of TV shows including the Lucille Ball and Bob Hope specials. Gary was also the voice hundreds of animated characters, recorded a comedy album and wrote two books. He recorded commercials in Vancouver too, at the Little Mountain Sound studios.

Also on L.A. radio row, deejay Art Laboe finds himself without a frequency. HOT 92.3 has cancelled The Art Laboe Connection as part of a programming change. More than 10,000 have signed a petition to get him back on the air. At almost 90, he has hosted his show on a host of stations over the decades. You can still hear him in other cities like Fresno, San Diego, Bakersfield and Las Vegas. I recall driving through Los Angeles in 1958 listening to Art on K-POP. He was broadcasting from Scrivners drive-in restaurant and his special guest that day was Rick Nelson. I met Art in Cleveland in 1995 during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame salute to pioneer deejays. Art still has lots of energy and I wish him the best for a brand new outlet.