I tend to take the death of of a writer whose work I have enjoyed almost as an assault on my personal universe, and this is how I felt this morning when I read of the passing of my fellow Grapevine writer, Randy Weddington.

I was introduced to Randy’s film and television reviews when I first moved to Fayetteville a few decades ago, and even when I didn’t agree with his point of view, this writing was always so good that I didn’t mind.

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In fact, in my desk is a copy of his review of “The New Avengers” from the 1970s. He trashed it so well, and so completely, that I have kept it all these years, as an example of good reviewing.

What a joy it was for me to become one of the stable of Grapevine writers myself in the early 1990s. Just to be in the same paper which had carried his writing was a thrill for me.

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Randy Weddington died in the early morning hours of Sunday morning.

Though no memorial service is planned, at his request, those of us who appreciate good writing will never forget him, whether they actually met him or not.

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The soundtrack for this blog

The only possible music when you are writing and you are melancholy is Frank Sinatra.

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Quote of the afternoon

Dollars have never been known to produce character, and character will never be produced by money. – W.K. Kellogg

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rsdrake@cox.net

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