Here’s a fun (if awfully fuzzy) appearance by the Collins Kids on the old Steve Allen show. Little Larry has his trademark double-neck guitar with him (it probably weighs more than he does) and proceeds to bounce around the stage like a superball on crystal meth.

As a special bonus, the clip kicks off with a corny little comedy bit by the kids. Enjoy, y’all!

He’s stared at me from a corner in my local used-book store for five years.

Now he’s staring at you.

Perhaps the greatest living American film director died this past Monday.

Robert Altman, American maverick, dies aged 81

Robert Altman, arguably the most colourful and distinctive film-maker of his generation, has died in a hospital in Los Angeles, California. He was 81 years old.

A late bloomer, Altman was a middle-aged TV director when he took over the reins of 1969’s Korean war satire MASH, reportedly after 15 other directors had turned it down. The movie tapped into a groundswell of opposition to the war in Vietnam and became a mammoth hit. It also established the director’s genius for loose-limbed narratives and overlapping dialogue; a kind of controlled chaos that caught the mood of a culture in flux….

Even in white-bearded old age he was an unapologetic dope smoker, a famous raconteur and a fierce critic of George Bush’s policies. He also continued to make films that beguiled and exasperated in equal measure….

Earlier this year Altman was presented with a lifetime achievement Oscar at the annual Academy Awards. Accepting the statue, he admitted that he had received a heart transplant from a female donor who was in her late-30s. “By that calculation you may have given me this award too early,” he told the audience. “Because I think I’ve probably got another 40 years left in me.”….

—READ THE ENTIRE OBITUARY AT THE GUARDIAN—

I was fortunate enough to interview Mr. Altman in 2000, when NASHVILLE was released on DVD.

The Q/A is located here. Please give it a read.