Is The Final Chapter For A&P Imminent?
Sam Martin. Nice guy. Assessing his talent is another matter. If you’re looking simply at his body of work in the 42 months he led A&P, you’d have to say his performance was poor, and perhaps that’s why Martin joined the “excised” list of other of failed Tea Company executives who held the CEO mantel over the past 15 years.
As recent history shows, A&P doesn’t really need a reason to fire key executives or go through frequent reorganizations. Things seemingly happen randomly in Montvale, NJ and virtually all the time the results are the same. Failure (“…meet the new boss, same as the old boss”).
In this case, the new boss is Greg Mays, a man with plenty of grocery industry experience, and one whose chances of restoring A&P’s image as a significant retailer are about as good as if I were to replace A-roid as the Yankees’ next third baseman. And, according to the company, it is seeking to fill the chief executive slot with somebody new sometime in the future. I would say that whomever A&P hires, that person should look at the CEO job as primarily a temporary money grab, because that individual has no chance of being a game changer either.
So, while Sam Martin wasn’t the reincarnation of A&P founder George Huntington Hartford or Pathmark’s co-founder Herb Brody, don’t blame him for The Tea Company’s recent miseries. That horror show has been playing daily in Montvale for more than 30 years.
What’s made this recent blow-up more notable is that new owner private equity firm Yucaipa Cos. (which gained controlled of A&P as a private company following its March 2012 exit from bankruptcy) promised much more.
While most of us knew that Yucaipa’s main incentive for acquiring A&P was to gain control of its valuable real estate along with an ability to utilize the retailer’s significant cash flow, there were also promises made and concessions granted. The promises: invest more capital to build new stores and refurbish others that were in dire need of remodeling and to take better care of its associates. The concessions: for those store level associates who were going to be treated better (or so they thought), they would have to sacrifice some wages and benefits so the new management at A&P could better attain its goals. Also providing concessions was C&S Wholesale Grocers, the chain’s largest supplier, which agreed to provide distribution and logistics services at a lower cost.
Twenty-two months after A&P’s bankruptcy ended, Yucaipa has shown its true colors. Sure, it received the benefits of A&P’s real estate portfolio (including the Food Emporium units in Manhattan) and has no doubt taken advantage of tens of millions of dollars in weekly cash flow to help subsidize other businesses, but as a merchant and as a “good employer” A&P’s perception is even worse than what many believed was the nadir when the chain entered Chapter 11 in December 2010.
Yucaipa has accomplished most of its mission already. Now it seems the final chapter is at hand. With rumors swirling that several blocs of stores will soon be sold (apparently financial investment advisor Credit Suisse couldn’t find a single buyer to wholly acquire the semi-dilapidated retailer), all that’s left are the final steps toward closure.
Whether it’s barely breathing today or clinically dead in 12 months, RIP A&P.
Is Cerberus Capital Accelerating Its Interest In Safeway Acquisition?
I just returned from the FMI Midwinter Conference in Scottsdale, AZ and a lot of the chatter was about Cerberus’ prospective plans to acquire all or most of Safeway and the role that private equity is playing in reshaping the supermarket business. Of course, Safeway’s last minute “no show” at the conference only heightened the speculation that a deal with Cerberus was inching closer.
And some of Safeway’s recent internal moves give even more credence that a deal might be imminent.
Last month, the big Pleasanton, CA chain whacked the four highest paid executives at its eastern division (president Steve Neibergall; VP-merchandising Rick Stein; VP-CFO Glenn Davis; and VP-retail operations Henry Bash). Numerous sources have noted that these changes are only the beginning of further cost-cutting moves. We’re told a corporate restructuring in Pleasanton is coming soon and, at its stores, Safeway has been slashing labor for the better part of the year. Additionally, Safeway is eliminating all corporate charitable events (including the annual Easter Seals fundraiser at its eastern division and its sponsorship of an LPGA golf event held annually in Phoenix). The chain has also recently implemented new vendor practices that have drawn the ire of some of the country’s leading CPG firms.
You’ve got to wonder if these belt-tightening moves are aimed at enhancing Safeway’s market share and consumer image, or if they are primarily a method to improve the bottom line so that potential suitor Cerberus Capital Management will sweeten its offer to possibly acquire most, if not all, of the chain.
I’m betting on the latter.
So, let’s examine these pieces and explore whether these moves make Safeway a better retailer. First of all, we wish new eastern division president Brian Baer the best of luck. We’re told he’s extremely intelligent, has excellent people skills and possesses a strong financial background. He’ll needs to utilize all of his skills, because Safeway’s morale and market share are sliding. But don’t put all the blame on the previous eastern division leadership. The truth be told, despite some of the best locations in the market, Safeway hasn’t stepped up to the plate when it comes to dealing with the realities of new and merging competitors; it simply hasn’t been aggressive enough in terms of localized marketing; its pricing strategy isn’t competitive with most of the retailers in the market and it has cut so much labor in its stores that customer service and training have consistently deteriorated over the past two years; and the division remains in dire need of a broader-based remodeling and new store program – replacing primarily its best stores is only a partial solution. These shortcomings cannot be blamed on local managers – these are strategies developed corporately, and like an increasing number of retailers, are designed to create short-term profits rather than creating a stronger long-term foundation.
As a retired retail executive (who worked for a publicly-traded grocery chain for more than 30 years) has told us: “It’s OK to sell less stuff as long as we hit our earnings objective and placate Wall Street.”
And perhaps Baer (who only has been involved in retail operations/division leadership positions for a couple of years) and Brad Spooner (a good guy who’s never been involved in merchandising) will rise to the occasion and provide the spark that Safeway needs. But it ain’t gonna happen if the corporate poobahs in Pleasanton continue to operate one of the most centralized, process-oriented systems (with a distinct West Coast slant) in the entire food and drug industry.
As for Cerberus, there’s no guarantee that an acquisition will take place. However, if you gave me $20 and ask me to bet it, I’d go directly to that window and bet it all.
Why? Cerberus has proven its desire to be a bigger factor in the grocery business and with talented industry veteran Bob Miller supervising its retail food growth under its New Albertsons unit, the company will soon operate nearly 1,200 supermarkets nationally. By the way, Miller recently resigned as chairman of sister company Supervalu to “focus on other demands” (Cerberus?). That number has been significantly bolstered over the past year with the acquisition of Supervalu’s five large supermarket divisions and a pending purchase of about 70 United Markets in Texas. Cerberus also came in second to Kroger in the Harris Teeter acquisition derby.
And what a fit Safeway would be. If you excluded Southern California (Vons) and Seattle-Portland because of existing overlap and possibly even excluded Northern California (Safeway’s most profitable division with no overlap) to preserve some continuity for Safeway if it remained a viable regional organization, Cerberus/New Albertsons would get four existing divisions – Eastern, Phoenix, Denver and Texas – that have struggled in recent years under Safeway’s leadership but would be ideal for a private equity investor who would see little overlap while gaining key real estate control and significant cash flow.
On a different level, Safeway is also an ideal candidate to be targeted by Cerberus. That’s because recently retired CEO Steve Burd practically invented the book on how to trim fat and create efficiencies in the supermarket business. And his successor, former CFO and president Robert Edwards, seems to be taking the knife sharpening to an even higher level, showing no hesitancy to create more shareholder value by selling Safeway’s Canadian operations at a premium price to another PE firm – Empire Co. – and withdrawing from Chicago (Dominick’s) despite the fact that only 15 of its 72 stores were able to be sold before that division was shuttered on December 28. With little excess fat remaining at Safeway and a very vanilla merchandising and marketing approach, the retailer is easily the best large chain turnkey opportunity for Wall Street investment firm to pursue.
And while cost cutting and seeking greater efficiencies are noble efforts in the “seeking greater shareholder value” objective, there’s a point when the belt gets too tight and restricts normal breathing. And, if you listen to a number of senior managers at the top consumer packaged goods firms in the U. S., Safeway’s recent tack of trying to extract additional vendor funding for 2013 is heavy-handed, unfair and perhaps even illegal.
We first started hearing about Safeway’s attempt to receive additional funding from several suppliers in late November. During the course of the next 30 days, more complaints came our way and I did some additional digging, too, noting the vitriol that was displayed by key executives at these large national manufacturers.
So here’s a collective summary of the events, according to senior executives at 10 of the biggest CPG companies that do business with Safeway.
The specific tack, according to the vendors I spoke with, involves an approximately 30 minute meeting with a Safeway executive and a consultant who offer a PowerPoint presentation detailing Safeway’s current performance with the vendor and claiming that the vendor has underfunded Safeway based on its analysis. The PowerPoint lasts for about 25 minutes. At the end of the presentation, vendors are given a bill (seven or eight figures, representing an increase of 25-40 percent over previous mutually agreed upon funding levels for 2013). Vendors told us that there was no right to redress at the meeting and that any follow up questions should be made in writing (several vendors submitted questions and said that their inquiries were not adequately answered). The term “resetting the economics” was mentioned by several of our vendor sources as a phrase that Safeway used at the meeting to seemingly justify its new vendor initiative.
Of the 10 major CPG vendors who I spoke with, all said the data that Safeway presented was either erroneous or ambiguous.
Also noted was that the Safeway executive at the meetings said that 2014 budgets would not be discussed until the 2013 bill was settled (vendors said that the payment window was only about two weeks from the time of the original meeting). Several vendors also noted potential Sarbanes-Oxley implications since contracts had been mutually agreed to and signed many months ago.
Vendors believe that Safeway is trying to strong arm its leading suppliers (I’m told the “hit list” includes the chain’s top 100 vendors), an approach that none of those vendors claim that Safeway has ever deployed, which they regard as heavy-handed and unfair.
“It’s a money grab, pure and simple,” said one senior VP at a leading CPG company. “ ‘Pay us the ransom money now or there will be repercussions later’ was clearly my take away from the meeting. No follow up questions were allowed. The data they presented was in my opinion subjective and open to interpretation and the whole episode reeked of corporate thuggery.”
Another senior executive a major manufacturer noted: “We were caught completely off guard by Safeway, of all retailers, using this strong-armed approach. But that’s only part of the issue. The amounts they are seeking are astronomical – way out of line. To me, it seems like this was a consultant-driven initiative. Maybe Safeway needs to be reminded that they are a significantly smaller company than they were a year ago with the sale of its Canadian operations and its withdrawal from Chicago. I can tell you our company is not going to acquiesce to their demands and if it comes down to it, we’ll move on and restructure our programs with our more productive customers.”
When presented with this overview, Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling responded: “We routinely meet with our vendor partners to discuss a range of mutual issues focused on how we can better serve customers.”
Bozzuto’s Gains More Momentum With Addition Of Mars’ Business
Good news for Bozzuto’s and good news for Mars Super Markets, which will be utilizing the Cheshire, CT wholesaler’s services. Officially, what’s been speculated about for several months was made official on January 8 when the Baltimore-based independent announced that it will close its distribution center on March 9 and begin using Bozzuto’s as its primary wholesaler.
About 75 warehouse associates and truck drivers will be impacted by this move.
In turn, Bozzuto’s, the fast-growing voluntary wholesaler based in Cheshire, CT, will begin supplying the 17 Mars stores for all departments except frozens and HBC/GM, which are already being serviced by Burris and AWI respectively.
Bozzuto’s has been servicing some of Mars’ dairy SKUs since September in a cross-docking arrangement and expects to fully phase-in all other departments (grocery, meat, deli, candy) by March.
This is a huge move for both Mars and Bozzuto’s. Despite a more challenging and competitive landscape and the continued aging of an already inefficient warehouse (the old 300,000 square foot Food Fair depot which was built in the 1940s), the D’Anna family, which owns Mars, had steadfastly continued to serve its stores on a direct basis for most of its departments.
Certainly part of that had to do with local control, but Mars’ strong connection and loyalty to its associates have reportedly been important considerations in its minimal use of outside distributors in the past.
However, times are continuing to change for all supermarket operators as retailers, from the largest chains to one-store independents, seek greater efficiencies and productivity. That said, Bozzuto’s will certainly enhance those qualities by helping expand Mars’ product line, utilizing its buying power to extract better deals and giving Mars a broader perspective and periphery about the entire business.
We’re told that Mars’ current merchandising/procurement staff will remain intact and that the regional operator will still be handling product decisions, ad planning and strategic merchandising objectives from its Baltimore headquarters (although product will be drayed from Bozzuto’s large depot in Central Connecticut). Several sources told us that it was important for Mars to stay closely connected to the local vendor/broker community.
Sources have indicated that Bozzuto’s will occupy some, if not all, of the space in the Mars DC and could rehire some of the warehouse workers who were impacted by the depot closure.
For Bozzuto’s, the addition of the Mars business represents a potentially major opportunity – not only in the volume of new business that will be gained, but in the fact that it positions the family-owned wholesaler for greater growth in the Mid-Atlantic and southward. And it’s already been a big year for Bozzuto’s with the gaining of the Food Bazaar business and an additional King Kullen volume in the Metro New York market.
In the Mid-Atlantic, we’ve heard from several independent retailers who were visited by Bozzuto’s in the past few years. All said they were impressed with Bozzuto’s presentations and recognized their strong reputation with the independent retailer community. However, they were reluctant to switch to a wholesaler with a limited customer base in the region and one that might have distance issues in terms of potential drayage.
Now, with the addition of Mars’ business, Bozzuto’s gains further credibility and traction in terms of supplying a foundational customer in the region. Additionally, we’ve learned that Bozzuto’s is exploring sites in the northern Maryland/Delaware area to build a potential one million square foot new distribution center which would certainly resolve the drayage/distance issue.
Having known the Bozzuto’s leadership team for many years, I wouldn’t underestimate their talent, resolve and risk-taking abilities to expand their business.
‘Round The Trade
Ahold reported less than stellar fourth quarter sales (ended December 28), with its U.S. business being hit the hardest. Company-wide, the Amsterdam-based merchant saw net sale decline 1.1 percent to $10.2 billion (at constant exchange rates). In the U.S., its largest segment, the chain’s volume dropped 2.1 percent to $6 billion and ID sales also decreased 2.1 percent. Ahold’s full earnings report will be issued late next month. The big global retailers said that “a contracting food market and the sales effects of Hurricane Sandy” impacted sales. Ahold also consolidated some of its European business. According to an announcement, Ahold Europe as a business division will no longer exist. The company will refocus its current Ahold Europe operations and its leadership on building the Albert Heijn business in the Netherlands and adjacent markets through its various formats and channels. Executive committee member Sander van der Laan will continue to lead Albert Heijn, and report to CEO Dick Boer. The company’s CzechRepublic business will also report directly to Boer. Bol.com (Ahold’s European online offering) will continue to report to executive committee member and chief commercial officer Hanneke Faber and remains an important area of growth for Ahold according to the company. Boer noted: “The food retail industry continues to evolve rapidly and we see significant opportunities for growth to cater for the changes in the way that our customers shop. Today’s decision will bring management closer to running the business. By further strengthening the Albert Heijn brand in both the Netherlands as well as neighboring markets, combined with a growing omni-channel offering via Albert Heijn online, Albert Heijn pick-up points, and Albert Heijn to go, we will be better positioned to meet customer needs and accelerate future growth.” Ahold said it will continue to pursue other important areas of growth within Europe such as further strengthening the market position of Albert in the Czech Republic, the roll-out of Albert Heijn and bol.com in Belgium, and Etos and Gall & Gall in the Netherlands. At the same time, Ahold stated that it is continuing to look for ways to streamline and simplify the organization’s support functions across the company, as part of its Simplicity program. “This will ensure that the company can maintain and strengthen its successful market positions and continually reinvest resources in its customer proposition and organizational capabilities.”…C&S Wholesale Grocers, which supplies most of Ahold’s U.S. stores, has named Mark Verdi as its president, a new position for the large Keene, NH-based wholesaler. Verdi, a native of nearby Springfield, VT, comes to C&S from the accounting and consultant industries and will officially join C&S on March 1. C&S’s current chairman, CEO and patriarch Rick Cohen, will remain in his position but transition to a role driving strategy and innovation at the wholesaler, C&S said. This is potentially a huge change for C&S, the nation’s largest grocery wholesaler and also for Cohen, who helped revolutionize the retail distribution business and has been a hands-on, innovative game changer since taking over from his father, the great Lester Cohen, in the late 1970s. We wish Verdi well – he’s got a huge challenge to fulfill….Acme will shutter two stores within the next month as part of a 26 unit closing by parent firm New Albertsons/Cerberus nationally. Acme units in West Chester, PA and Exton, PA (both were victims of high-volume Wegmans stores in Malvern, PA and Downingtown, PA) will be shuttered by February 20. Other Albertsons news: William Emmons, who was part of CEO Bob Miller’s “posse,” has retired as president of the company’s Jewel unit based in Oak Ridge, IL. Emmons who spent 40 years with Albertsons before retiring in 2011, was lured out of retirement by Miller after (New) Albertson acquired Jewel from Supervalu last March…according to an SEC filing, Fairway has extended its lease at its flagship unit on Broadway and W. 74th Street for another 15 years. In a complicated arrangement, the property that the maze-like supermarket stands on was owned by two parties (one of whom was Howie Glickberg, vice-chairman of development whose family founded Fairway in 1932). The other was an unrelated landlord who could have potentially closed the building for renovations in 2017. A new deal was hammered out that will allow Fairway to continue to operate on Manhattan’s eclectic and tony Upper West Side until 2029…Whole Foods, which had a gangbusters opening at its first Brooklyn store in Gowanus last month, has signed a lease and will build a new store in the Bryant park section of Manhattan (Sixth Avenue between 41st and 43rd Streets). The new Midtown unit will be a two-floor store encompassing 32,000 square feet and will add to Whole Foods’ growing presence in NYC where stores in Harlem, the Upper East Side and Williamsburg (Brooklyn) are also under development…after more than three months of sometimes contentious bargaining, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500 and members from Stop & Shop and King Kullen Supermarkets overwhelmingly ratified new collective bargaining agreements with their employers. The new collective bargaining agreement will cover more than 8,000 store associates across the New York metropolitan area for 14 months, dating retroactively on September 29, 2013 through December 6, 2014. Throughout the lengthy negotiation process, high cost mandates from the Affordable Care Act were often noted as the most difficult hurdle to overcome. “Both negotiating committees did an excellent job. We were able to come under compliance with Affordable Care Act mandates and still achieve affordable coverage for Full-Timers with no paycheck deductions, and maintain dental, vision and affordable health coverage for Part-Timers,” said UFCW Local 1500 president, Bruce Both, “While many retail companies like Trader Joe’s, Home Depot and Walgreen’s have cut health insurance for their part-time workers and pushed them to inferior plans on exchanges, our contracts secured affordable health plans for all workers,” Both concluded. The agreement secured all employees’ pension plans, increased hours for all part-timers, and provided multiple wage increases over 14 months to all members. Due to the short length of the agreement, the union said it has already started the process of mobilizing members at both Stop & Shop and King Kullen in preparation for negotiations in the coming months. A few days before the UFCW Local 1500 deal was ratified, so was a similar three year agreement between Giant/Landover and Safeway with UFCW Locals 400 and 27 in Baltimore-Washington. However, three weeks after the deal was blessed by retail clerks at both chains and meatcutters at Safeway, a separate meatcutters voted was taken and ratified by approximately 600 meatcutters who work for Giant. That’s because of the future impact of Ahold USA’s new case ready plant which opened late last year in Lower Allen Township, PA. The opening of that facility allows Giant/Landover (and Giant/Carlisle which is non-union) to send pre-packaged case ready meats directly to its stores, which in turns would allow the chain to reduce its number of meatcutters. About 60 of its most tenured meatcutters were offered buyouts (about $40,000) with a second round of buyouts reportedly to be offered next year. It’s anybody’s guess what the ultimate reduction in staff will be, but I’m betting that it will be substantial. I certainly understand the need for efficiencies, however, there are existing customers (me included) who don’t like the gas flushed product, and by further diluting its meat labor force, it’s one more level of potential disconnection from its customers. …MOM’s (My Organic Market), the Rockville, MD organics retailer with 10 locations in the B-W market (and an additional four more units reportedly planned), will open its first store in the Delaware Valley, a 17,000 square foot former Borders stor
e in the Main Line suburb of Bryn Mawr, PA perhaps as early as next month…up north a bit, it’s no wonder that competitors fear Market Basket (Demoulas). The uber high-volume family-owned regional chain announced that it will offer a 4 percent discount on all purchases until December 27 as a strategy to increase sales and gain new customers. And we’re talking about a supermarket merchant which may already have the lowest everyday retails in the country. As one of its New England competitors noted: “Our best hope when dealing with Market Basket on a head-to-head basis is that we hope the family keeps on quarrelling which will further delay new stores from being built.” Apparently, that won’t happen either, as the company’s board of directors announced that it is not seeking to replace its embattled president Arthur T. Demoulas, who has been at odds with his first cousin Arthur S. Demoulas (who controls the board). The Market Basket machine is indeed a powerful entity…in national news, Aldi said it will accelerate new store development in the U.S., with a goal of 650 new stores in the next five years. Plans call for the discounter to open about 130 new stores per year. One reported growth target is the Richmond/Charlottesville area. Additionally, Aldi’s growth plan includes the construction of a Southern California warehouse and headquarters to be located in Moreno Valley, CA, which will serve as a foundation for the German retailer’s entry into SoCal. “We’re ramping up our expansion plans to meet growing demand for Aldi from customers across the country,” said Jason Hart, president of Aldi. “Recently, we successfully entered new markets such as Houston, and expanded our presence in competitive markets like South Florida and New York City. At Aldi, we believe that great quality can be affordable, and we are eager to bring the Aldi difference to new markets like Southern California.” Aldi currently operates 1,300 stores in a geography that ranges from the East Coast to as far west as Kansas. Late last month, the extreme value merchant also said it would soon launch a natural and organic brand called Simply Nature…a couple of thoughts about the recent FMI Midwinter Conference in Scottsdale, AZ: 1) it was the best Midwinter event that I’ve ever attended, with lots of time for business planning and social networking, and 2) for the most part, the business sessions were very strong with a very comprehensive view on how “big data’ is shaping the business and our lives. My favorite speaker was former FBI director Robert Mueller, who provided retailer, wholesalers and suppliers with an update on the state of cyber-security. Mueller’s folksy style belied a very strong message: be concerned and be vigilant. That was my takeaway a few weeks earlier when Target Corp. announced a data breach in which at least 40 million customers who made credit and debit card purchases from November 27 to December 15 may have been affected (since then similar breaches have occurred at Neiman Marcus and two other unnamed merchants). The overall learning from this should be that all retailers, no matter how protected and secure their networks, are vulnerable. In a recent article that appeared in American Banker magazine, here’s how industry experts viewed the situation. “While (trade association) The Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) data security council provides merchants and issuers as much information as possible to keep data safe, it is somewhat in vain because it is just too easy to perpetrate fraud against the magnetic-stripe product,” said Mark Horwedel, CEO of the Merchant Advisory Group. “Merchants, acquirers and hardware providers continue to be frustrated by this, and it is never going to end because there is no sunset rule on magnetic-stripe.” Magnetic-stripe data is a frequent target of fraudsters. Stolen data from a magnetic-stripe card can be written to any other type of card, even a hotel room key, and used to make swiped card payments. If the fraudster has a stolen PIN, the cloned cards will enable ATM withdrawals as well. “As long as mag-stripes are still on cards and POS devices, no matter how much we spend on PCI, you can’t protect the public from this kind of breach,” Horwedel added. Such a notion is frightening, considering 24 of the nation’s gross domestic product comes from card payments, said Gray Taylor, executive director of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). The U.S. payments system needs to “totally rethink” its approach to data security, Taylor noted. “We have to stop thinking we can make pristine computing environments and need to start thinking of how we can process secure transactions in the dirtiest environment,” Taylor asserted. “Until we take that total rethink, even under EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa – the global standard for inter-operation of chip-driven “smart” cards), I don’t think we will ever be away from these types of hacks.”… several obituaries to report this month, all outside of the food business. Jerry Coleman, former All-Star second baseman for the New York Yankees and a hero of both World War II and the Korean War (the only major leaguer to have actively served in both wars), has died. Coleman was part of four World Series championship teams (he was the MVP of the 1950 series against the Phillies) and for the past 40 years served as an announcer for the San Diego Padres (his hometown). He also did color analysis on TV and radio for the Yankees (he was famous for his malapropism including, “I see Rich Folkers throwing up in the bullpen,” and “Dave Winfield goes back to the wall; he hits his head against the wall and it rolls off! It’s rolling all the way back to second base. This is a terrible thing for the Padres.” Coleman was more proud of his military career as a Marine Corps pilot in which he flew 120 missions and was awarded two distinguished Flying Crosses, 13 Air Medals and three Navy citations. A great American, Jerry Coleman was 89. From the world of music two icons from the world of country and country pop have died. Ray Price, 87, passed away last month at his home in Mount Pleasant, TX. For those unfamiliar with Price, suffice it to say he had one of the greatest country music voices ever. During a career that spanned 65 years, Price had seven number one hits and had more than 100 songs appear on the Billboard Magazine country charts (“including Willie Nelson’s “Crazy Arms” and Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night”). He was elected to the Country Music hall of Fame in 1996. Phil Everly also ascended to harmony heaven. The youngest of the two Everly Brothers, Phil, 74, and his brother Don revolutionized rock and roll music in the late 1950s with their unique sound which blended beautiful melodies with incredible high harmonies. While hit songs such as “Wake Up Little Suzie” and “Bye Bye Love” defined their careers, the Everlys’ catalogue included many dark, haunting songs with beautiful lyrics that also captured their signature harmonious sound. The Everlys were also one of the charter members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Bob Dylan perhaps summed it up best when he said: “We owe these guys everything. They started it all.” And just before presstime, we learned of the deaths of two supporting actors from classic 1960s-1970s TV sitcoms. Entering the gates of Nickelodeon-land, is Dave Madden, 82, who played Reuben Kincaid, the on-screen manager of the Partridge Family (1970-1974) band. Madden’s career spanned 35 years and also included major roles in “Laugh In” and “Alice.” Also passing through those gates was veteran character actor Russell Johnson, 89. Johnson’s career began in 1950 and he appeared in more than 160 TV shows and movies. However, by far his most famous role was as “The Professor” in “Gilligan’s Island (1964-1967).” With Johnson’s passing and the earlier deaths of other cast members Bob Denver (Gilligan); Alan Hale Jr. (The Skipper); Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III); and Natalie Schafer (L
ovey), that leaves only Dawn Wells (Mary Anne) and Tina Louise (Ginger) as the only surviving cast members from the corny but iconic series. And as many an aging male baby boomer might still ask: Ginger or Mary Anne?
