Thursday, January 31, 2013

From the "Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated" Department....

Category:  News

Every now and then someone makes news by not dying.  In 1981 People magazine incorrectly reported the death of Barney Miller and Fish star Abe Vigoda, prompting the very much alive Vigoda to pose sitting in a coffin, reading his own obituary.  To this day there is a very comical web site that keeps people up-to-date on Vigoda's status.  In 2008 several national news outlets reported that Slim Whitman had passed away one day after his birthday.  Whitman quickly released a press statement assuring everyone he was alive and well and working on a new album.

We can now add songwriter Sandy Pinkard to the list.  On January 30 a syndicated radio show reported that the 66-year-old Pinkard, who wrote such songs as Vern Gosdin's "I Can Tell By the Way You Dance" and Shelly West & David Frizzell's "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," had been found dead in a Nashville hotel from a drug overdose.  I e-mailed Pinkard's Pinkard & Bowden partner in crime, Richard Bowden, and he said that he had been contacted in regard to the news, so he called Pinkard's home...and Sandy answered.

Fear not, Mr. Pinkard is doing well and will be contributing to music and mayhem for years to come.

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