News and Notes: Artists, Entertainers and Estates

Feb 4, 2014 | 0 comments

The latest Albuquerque Death Cafe attracted 18 people over the weekend to Sheila’s Sweets for a wide-ranging conversation about mortality issues. It’s all so we can make the most out of this finite lifetime. More details in this blog post.

Sherri Burr

Prof. Sherri Burr

This week’s guest on A Good Goodbye Radio is Sherri Burr, a law professor and author or co-author of 19 books, including Wills & Trusts in a Nutshell 4th Edition and Entertainment Law in a Nutshell 3rd Edition. We’ll be discussing estate planning for those folks who make a living with their creativity and wits. More information here.

Next week’s special guest is Dr. Jeffrey M. Piehler. His thoughtful opinion column on facing his mortality and hand-building his own coffin just appeared in Sunday’s New York Times. You can read his essay here and tune in live online on Wednesday, February 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET | 3:00 p.m. PT to continue the conversation.

Top Tips from Last Week’s Show

Stay Frozen, My Friend! Frozen Dead Guy Days 2014

Stay Frozen, My Friend! Frozen Dead Guy Days 2014

The wild and wacky Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in Nederland, Colorado was the topic of last week’s A Good Goodbye Radio show. Festival director Amanda MacDonald told the whole true story. Okay, there weren’t many funeral planning tips discussed on this program, but you may find these tidbits helpful for intriguing cocktail party conversations.

  • Bredo Morstoel, the real Frozen Dead Guy, died in Norway in 1989. He spent four years in a professional cryogenic deep freeze in California before his grandson Trygve moved him to Nederland in 1993.
  • Grandpa is kept in a sarcophagus in a TUFF SHED. He’s surrounded by 1,600 pounds of dry ice that keeps his body at about -60 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Trygve started the Boulder Polar Bear Plunge event and holds the record for longest time held doing ice cold bathing – one hour and 40 minutes.
  • This year’s festival includes a hearse parade, coffin races, polar plunges, frozen turkey bowling and salmon tossing, The Newly-Dead Game (by yours truly), all-day screenings of the documentary “Grandpa’s in the TUFF SHED,” and new this year, the Frozen Dead Poets Society!
  • You can be a volunteer at Frozen Dead Guy Days and get an inside look at all the freezing fun! Visit the website at www.FrozenDeadGuyDays.org to learn more.

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Upcoming Events, Interviews and a Humorous Quote

Alfred HitchcockClick on the date for more details about each event.

February 7: Hallmarks of Hitchcock Talk – Osher UNM Continuing Education class at La Vida Llena, 10:00 a.m. to noon. $19 to enroll.

February 9: A Taste of Honey Talk – Show and Tell: Jewish Funeral Superstitions and Traditions – Open to All: 1:00 to 4:30pm, $30 Download the brochure PDF

February 19:  Buddhist funeral traditions discussed on A Good Goodbye Radio with guest Rev. Harry Gyokyo Bridge, resident minister of the Buddhist Church of Oakland.

February 24: Exit Strategies film talk at Central New Mexico Community College Death & Dying class, free and open to everyone.

“We could give plenty of examples of useless expenses. Cemetery walls: those who are inside can’t get out, and those who are outside don’t want to get in.” — Mark Twain

A Good Goodbye