R.I.P. Dear Sleepy

[Sleepy's Sister]

Sleepy/Arne passed away on Friday, Sept 9 at 11:58 pm. His sudden death left his family in shock. He was officially diagnosed with lung and pancreatic cancer on August 24th, and died less than 3 weeks later.
My brother Arne was a true renaissance man. He was a marvelous writer, and musically talented, playing the guitar, piano, and violin. Arne was a gentle soul, who was willing to help others without expecting anything in return. He loved animals, and even though he had 4 cats of his own, he always put out food and water for the stray cats in the neighborhood.
My husband, Rex, who is a PhD geologist describes Arne as the most intelligent person he has ever met, and refers to him as “mensa plus.” This is saying something, as my husband had the opportunity to have lunch with Edward Teller (the father of the hydrogen bomb) on several occasions, when he taught at Troy University in Alabama, and the Physics Dept. hosted Teller as a guest speaker. My husband says that the hardest course that he had to take as a PhD student at the University of Iowa was crystallography, and that Arne could converse with him on this subject easily, even though he never formally studied this subject. In fact, Arne could even converse at a level above what my husband had studied. When Arne was only 17 years old, and the cable TV service ON TV was in it’s infancy, Arne built his own Cable Box. This was before the internet, which made this information accessible.
Arne was always curious, and believed in life-long learning and growing. He always found the most interesting things on the internet to share. I always looked forward to discussing new technologies or new music that he enjoyed with him.
I shared with Arne all of the kind wishes that you posted on Pinball Nirvana, and I could tell that your comments touched him greatly. He enjoyed your friendships, and knowing that you all cared about him gave him comfort on his final day of life. I did want Ike to know that his comment about “ego-pumpers enamored of our faces in the mirror” brought a smile to his face.
Thank you again for the kindness that you showed my brother through the years,
Elton, Ike Savage, Lee Van Cleef, Rascal, Pinballdaveh, JohnPurpleHaze, Shooby Doo, Tii, GSGregg, Hogger42, Itchigo, SteveOz, Coil Smoke, and any others that I may be unaware of.
Let us learn, by Arne’s example, to respect everyone that we encounter in this life, because we do not know their struggles, help people who need your help, and be kind to each other.

[da_prez]

Very sorry to hear this.

Condolences to you and the family.

[shiva]

My best wishes to you and your family.

I've known sleepy since he first joined the community. He will be sorely missed by everyone. It's a sad sad day for all of us.

[LeeVanCleef]

A wonderful eulogy for a fine friend. Man, am I ever going to miss him. Goddammit.

[Tii]

My Buddy! I miss him very much!

[Ike Savage]

thank you, SS. i read your update and had a good little cry.

i want to thank you. when a friend / member of the community disappears, most of the time we are left confused, wondering, a bit depressed, and just plain longing. you did a very nice thing for us by keeping us abreast.

if there's one thing to be happy and grateful for, it's knowing that arne had a family member that cared this much about him. sometimes we got a vibe otherwise, and it could be hard.

probably more thoughts later, after a little more mourning. but arne is worth it... one of the most interesting people, ever.

[GSGregg]

Arne, Arne, Arne...

You were 'up against it' from Day One, in so many ways...but through it all, what a mind you brought to the party!

A handful of miles separates us, and yet no excursion to Molly's Pins And Needles ever happened; we'll make that trip someday, but for now, just enjoy the calm...

Rest now, young friend. The Hazers can reach you no longer.

[hogger42]

Sorry to hear of Arne's passing. Prayers to the family at this difficult time.

[Ike Savage]

is there an obit, btw?

i looked up sleepy's obit just now; couldn't find it. i have a little tribute i would like to make. sorry for any rudeness on my part.

[Sleepy's Sister]

I plan on writing an obit for Arne, not sure where to post it. He lived in the Sun Valley, California, but was born in Ford City, Pennsylvania. I may post something on legacy.com. I would welcome any contributions, Ike. I know Arne often felt like he was alone, and was often distrustful of family. It is a shame that he could not feel the love and concern that we had for him. I believe he finally understood it in the end. Life was stacked against Arne, yet he still managed to be a good person, and fought until the end to live.

[Coil_Smoke]

"Sleepy" Was a teacher. I doubt he had the patients to actually like, teach for a living(I Don't!) He just couldn't help himself. I always learned something unexpected from Arne's writings. I've never known anyone in "The Business" When Sleepy started going on about the Arts I paid attention. And I'll take that as a warning ...Bah Dump Dump Crash
"Sleepy's Sister" I am very glad you found your way here to Pinball Nirvana. Sleepy told us many stories about farm life and city life, usually with something music in there somewhere. Checking through his old posts you can find plenty of your brother to write about. Probably at other web forums too.
Well, What Do You Know...A Little Closure

[pinballdaveh]

I wish I'd known Arne personally. But thru this site i feel like I did. I consider myself a newbie to this site compared to many of you that have been here many years. Arne has given so much of himself to this site in the many years he has been here. Thank you Arne for so much you have done for all of us. Thank you Arne's sister for your time to post all the info and love in his last days. God bless your soul Arne, we will all miss you.

[Sleepy's Sister]

Our family is having an informal viewing for Arne on Sunday, and I'm trying to put together a set list of music to play. I have "Reflections of My Life," "Knockin' on Heavens Door," etc... Do any of you have any suggestions? I know that you frequently talked music with my brother. So I thought you might have some excellent recommendations.

[LeeVanCleef]

Originally Posted by Sleepy's Sister

He lived in the Sun Valley, California, but was born in Ford City, Pennsylvania.

I remember arne telling me how he crossed the continent twice in one year! I do believe I called him one travelin' sonofabitch! Maybe one of these days I'll catch up to just that one year.

I know arne liked his Neil Young. He was pretty excited when he had tickets to the Buffalo Springfield reunion show awhile back.

Neil Young - Four Strong Winds - YouTube

I think arne posted some pictures of a Fleetwood Mac concert he went to with his brother?

Fleetwood Mac - Landslide - YouTube

Originally Posted by sleepy

Damn, Bill. That was my second favorite S&G song after "The Sounds of Silence".

The rest of that post had to do with how Toto stole the song "Africa" from him. I told him he should be ashamed to admit that he wrote "Africa". So... don't play "Africa".
I'm trying to find arne's "Girls Who Sing" thread... but it's so hard. There's so much sleepy floating around there... the Sleepy's Midnight Cult Film thread... I'm not quite ready to accept the fact he won't be answering back. Well, I finally found it and thought it had a lot to do with music... but like most of our threads, it quickly went waaayyy off-point (how a trailer for House of Wax ends up in a Girls Who Sing thread is beyond me). But it started with sleepy talking about how much he liked this:



Somewhere in that Petula Clark thread, sleepy mentioned that Crystal Gayle was one of his favs:



And this one. I think. I might have posted it. Sure seems like arne liked it. And I think that's the best I can do right now.

[Ike Savage]

i think leevan leef and oiled smoke (i have a jammed "see" key over here, sorry mates),
are getting on to why sleepy was one of the most beloved in the VP s ene. (stupid missing key)

re: obit,
well, i had looked him up based on the name he had shared with us in the past. (sorry, for any parti ular rudeness / intrusiveness on my part) arne had shared that his surname was em-see-em-ur-double en, i think, so that's what i sear hed on. a lassi skots-irish name, it sounds like.

&*^%Q@! about to throw this keyboard out the window, i think...

[Ike Savage]

Originally Posted by Sleepy's Sister

I plan on writing an obit for Arne, not sure where to post it. He lived in the Sun Valley, California, but was born in Ford City, Pennsylvania. I may post something on legacy.com. I would welcome any contributions, Ike. I know Arne often felt like he was alone, and was often distrustful of family. It is a shame that he could not feel the love and concern that we had for him. I believe he finally understood it in the end. Life was stacked against Arne, yet he still managed to be a good person, and fought until the end to live.

huh, i'm not sure. i lost both parents the last few years and just kind of assumed that obits are auto-generated, with some family input thrown in.

i'd be beyond honored to help with sleepy's obit from the pinball side of things. (okay NOW cee-key is working against, wa-hey!)

but i'd say that among us VP folks, maybe bill (leevancleef) and i (nicolas) knew him best, altho he was without question something of a mysterious friend to ALL of us. no harshness intended, just how he came across.

at one point i remember him saying that he made his living by reclaiming gold particles from recycled cell phones and stuff like that. i mean, i'm going to say that i'm -fairly- smart myself, altho my friends tend to make me look like a monkey on a rock (haha letterman).

but point is? sometimes i got the sense from arne that just because he COULD do something brilliant and amazing... like, it wasn't always the best / healthy reason for doing so, right?

@sleepy's sister,
if you don't mind, how would you compare our memories of arne against your own? that is, i'm sorry for being a dick about pressing on across curiosity, but if there's anyone who it made sense to do so for...

[LeeVanCleef]

You know, nothing about arne's behavior really struck me as overly odd. I guess I'd be an exception since I grew up with a father with very similar issues. He was a good guy, as long as you weren't the sixth-grade teacher living next door to him that he was sure was spying on him for the CIA. It's tough to keep in that inclination to say "No, no, no! What you're thinking isn't sane or rational! Here's what the majority of people think, therefore it must be sane and rational!" Because the majority is always the best expert on mental health. Yep, my dad's monomaniacal paranoid focus on the government spying on him sure was crazy. If he had only lived ten more years, he would have known that the NSA was recording every one of our cell phone calls and keeping all our emails on file. I had a pretty good idea where I could poke arne in the ribs... and I'm pretty sure I knew when to let sleeping landmines lie. I sure hope I was right in my decisions.
Sleepy's Sister may be unaware of the long and storied pinball forum tradition where many members' lack of sanity is their most defining character trait. Too many of them weren't pleasant people. There's over 4,000 posts from one member who shall remain nameless that proves that point ad nauseum. Arne was far too fun and interesting to ever be defined by his crazy, especially compared to some of the real Froot Loops that ranted and raved through here. To me, arne and all the other nitwits that are still left here will always be a friend first and a nut second. I hope arne and everyone else can think the same about me. Otherwise, I'll have to change my meds again.

[GSGregg]

Hey Bill, as long as you're up---

In his thread, 'For Your Listening Pleasure', Post #2, Arne asked you about his Mystery Ballad. I don't know who John Pachelbel is, but the first seven bars of Arne's eight-bar phrase are almost exactly "Red Sails in the Sunset" by the Platters and others. His bridge is completely different, but he osmosed the 'first eight'.....

Also to Bill; If you haven't already found it, the thread you mentioned earlier is 'How Do You Like Petula Clark, and Other Ladies Who Sing?' started Feb 18, 2015, which is much more recent than I thought.

To SleepySis; I will defer to Ike (Joined June 2003) and Lee (Joined Sept 2005) for having time-in-grade with Arne, plus, they probably go back with him to the turn of the millenium at the first Visual Pinball Forums(dot-COM) which may have been 'listing' by the time Arne came over here, and finally sank in around August 2008. Paul 'Noah Fentz' Maletich had begun saving what he could, and opened the current Visual Pinball Forums (dot-ORG) in January of 2009. Arne joined shortly afterward and beat me by just over a year (Feb 22). So, I'm the NOOB.

Arne made almost 4100 posts in his twelve years here, and I'll swear it's impossible to QUICKLY scan my way through them, as for every handful with which I can do that, there's always one that I can't escape without reading all the way through. I did get some ideas for music, though:

From his thread, R.I.P. Alvin Lee (Post #1)--Ten Years After "I'd Love to Change the World"
Foreigner "Cold As Ice"
Bob Dylan "Isis" from the album, "Desire"
Chic "Good Times"
Simon and Garfunkel "American Tune"

Simon & Garfunkel - American Tune - YouTube

While scanning, but not looking at the time, I brushed by "Anyone Who Had A Heart' a couple of times, and one of them had a comment by Arne that those two tunes were ******to him. I thought his expression was 'timely', but searching for that produces nothing, and I don't know what the other of the two was. Hopefully I can come across it/them in whatever time is left.

Gregg

[Shooby Doo]

There's so much stuff that Sleepy wrote that always made me curious to know more, or it just made me smile. I was never very active on this forum, but would click here maybe once a week to see what was going on, and this post from 2012 never left my mind. It's a great example of his writing, his anecdotes, and his humor.

There is Some Tush On The Streets Out Here - Pinball Nirvana Forums

There is Some Tush On The Streets Out Here - Pinball Nirvana Forums

There is Some Tush On The Streets Out Here

---

It is 91 degrees in the desert outskirts of Los Angeles. In the San Fernando Valley low rent district inhabited by many a cheap millionaire recluse and those who prefer the simple life in spite of their success.

I start my walk up The Road. 7 A.M. There's a working girl walking The Road in a very mini skirt and no panties. She pretends that her skirt is riding up as a pretense to flash some cheek. She is walking to the flow of traffic, looking for attention, hoping to flag a john at 7 A.M., but she will end up returning to The Pink Motel where the working girls often reside for a short time.

http://www.cadillac-jacks.com/

As I walk past the motel, there is a set up for a shoot at "Cadillac Jack's", formerly the diner for the motel, now closed but preserved and rented out for movies and t.v. Never mind what they might be shooting. Don't ask because Cadillac Jack's personnel won't tell you under studio contract, but later you might see the shoot in something like The OC, or Dexter, or the film, "The Whole Ten Yards".

Somebody from The Seventh Day Adventists actually made a t.v. movie based on Cadillac Jack's:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1159925/combined

Later, 2: P.M, and it is hot. On the bus, and I see an attractive 20-something lady at one stop wearing a very mini Tutu which barely covers, but then the breeze lifts the tutu to reveal a hot pink thong and two buns.

So I stop at the store and at another bus stop a young woman walks by, again wearing an ultra mini skirt, kilt-like. The breeze appears and I see buns and no panties.

There were also several other women showing extended cleavage.

Are the ladies dressing up where you live?

Have you ever seen Cadillac Jack's in a movie or t.v. show? I've never caught it myself.

[JonPurpleHaze]

I'm very sorry to hear about this, thanks for the information and accept our condolences.

Arne/sleepy will be missed, I need to mention that he has helped this site with technical issues many more times than any of you are aware of. He had declined any kind of moderator/admin status offers numerous times over the years. The latest help I received from him was in January when vBulletin had to be upgraded because the entire site was going to cease to function, he always amazed me about his offers of help and knowledge. Most of the past knowledge I attributed to google searches (which by itself would take a lot of time) but he taught me lots of stuff, I love the teacher reference but he was just very smart.

A long time ago, I think when we moved from phpbb to vBulletin there's a option of when to mark the forums read for users (not done by users, a system setting) and sleepy hated one of the database settings it was set on. I liked the setting and wasn't going to change it until sleepy suggested I look into it, I researched and reluctantly changed the setting. It's been on sleepy's setting since then and every time I see it I chuckle about sleepy's setting.

[Sleepy's Sister]

Arne's obituary. I'm going to post it on Legacy.com and the Leader Times in Pennsylvania.


Arnold Lynn McMunn - January 10, 1954 - September 9, 2016

With great sadness we share that our dear son and brother, Arnold L. McMunn, age 62, passed away on Friday, September 9, 2016 in Mission Hills, CA following a brief illness. Arnold was born in Ford City, PA on January 10, 1954. He attended Burbank High School in Burbank, CA and John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, CA, graduating in 1972.
He is survived by his mother, Gladys McMunn of North Hollywood, CA, brothers Alan (Pam) McMunn of Davenport, IA, and Sean McMunn of Reseda, CA, sisters Kathy (Rex) Price of Abita Springs, LA, and Lisa (Jeff) Woods of Las Vegas, NV, 8 nieces and nephews, and 2 great nephews. He is preceded in death by his father, Raymond McMunn of Sun Valley, CA.
Arnold, worked for a time at Warner Brothers. He had an amazing intellect, and enjoyed learning and sharing his knowledge of computer programming, vintage pinball machines, mineralogy, music, and the entertainment business. His friends referred to him as a teacher, although he never formally taught in a classroom. Arnold was talented musically, playing the piano, guitar, and violin. He was tender hearted with a gentle soul, and believed in helping people and animals in need. Arnold was an original, whose family loved him deeply, and will miss him greatly, until we meet again.
The family will have a memorial service in Mission Hills, CA on Sunday, September 18, and Arnold will be interred at Ford City Cemetery in Ford City, PA.

[Sleepy's Sister]

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Steve Jobs

[Ike Savage]

@shooby doo,
thanks for sharing that excellent bit of sleepy's writing. as a part-time arts guy who's been working on my writing / communication since my time with webforums (directly coinciding getting involved with VP), sleepy sometimes shared a piece (in the form of a post) that left me seriously moved and goggle-eyed. his talent for doing almost poetic slice-of-life narratives was equal to just about anything published i've ever read.

@bill,
i came back to talk about what you in fact just covered, i.e. what a madhouse this place was at times, and how arne simply rode out the turbulence every time, never getting pulled under like so many of us errant, overgrown teenagers did now and again.

@sleepy's sister,
really nice obit. webforums being fairly anonymous in nature, most of us barely know each all that well. being able to learn more about arne's life is a privilege.

[LeeVanCleef]

Originally Posted by GSGregg

Hey Bill, as long as you're up---

In his thread, 'For Your Listening Pleasure', Post #2, Arne asked you about his Mystery Ballad. I don't know who John Pachelbel is, but the first seven bars of Arne's eight-bar phrase are almost exactly "Red Sails in the Sunset" by the Platters and others. His bridge is completely different, but he osmosed the 'first eight'.....

I think arne is referencing Johann Pachelbel and Pachelbel's Canon in "D". Wow! I answered that question like I listen to classical music more than once a decade! Have fun sleeping. I'll keep a pot of rock'n'roll on the back burner for when you want to wake up.

pachelbel's Canon in D--Soothing music(the best version) - YouTube

Originally Posted by Sleepy's Sister

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Steve Jobs

I wish we had a "fuck, yeah!" button. arne would have been able to create one. Goddamnmit, arne, that Pachalbel's Canon wasn't bad.

[LeeVanCleef]

You know, for being a big bag of weirdos, we all put on a pretty good internet Irish wake.

[GSGregg]

I thought we were celebrating a Scotsman!

In related news, I'm afraid there isn't much; I finally got through Arne's posts, and couldn't come up with any musical ideas that we haven't already pulled up. So, apologies to all, and I'm late for a short night's sleep.

Gregg

[Sleepy's Sister]

Well, if we're having an Irish/Scottish wake, I'll have to add this song, by the Albadukes, that Arne loved. I hope I'm posting this correctly. Arne would have graciously offered to teach me how to post videos.

Albadukes - Mary Mack vs. Drunken sailor - YouTube

[GSGregg]

I thought there was something familiar about "Mary Mack...", so I ran a Search and Arne had started a thread by that songtitle June 17, 2014:

The Tale of Mary Mac and The Drunken Sailor - Pinball Nirvana Forums

The Tale of Mary Mac and The Drunken Sailor - Pinball Nirvana Forums

Arne's affection for the tune is pretty obvious, in retrospect, and I don't know how I missed it when looking for selections...other than perhaps the listing by date of LAST post instead of first may have somehow addled my brain. Sorry, Kathy; I don't know if there's enough time to modify your setlist.

I hit the Albadukes webpage linked by Arne in post #2, but couldn't get the Audio Player to start; Arne saved the day by loading a video with four songs (later expanded to thirteen) in post #9.

Arne had commented on their Facebook page, and when John encountered a problem with his travel visa, Sofie emailed Arne to fill him in! Arne copied it to post #11. I guess maybe it IS possible to meet nice people on social media.....

The 14th and last post, Dec 22, 2015, contains The Albadukes covering The Pogues' Xmas tune, "Fairytale of New York"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Wv...ature=youtu.be

[Ike Savage]

@grand stationmaster gregg,
i used to believe that scotland and ireland were almost thoroughly distinct, but learned through the years that so much mixing happened the centuries that it's just as practical to call them all "scots-irish" in general. i suppose the great houses and clans tended to remain geographically distinct, but overall the people tended to flow back and forth like stout and scottish ale. no doubt aided by a common hatred for the english and all that sort of thing, don't you know.

so if the surname starts out "mc" or "mac," look for them in eire. if it starts out "O'" then the cosmos will probably direct you to scotland. me? i'll settle for kathy ireland. *badump-kssh*


re: sleepy's music,
he shared maybe half a dozen or more of his short piano ditties here. i guess we lost those from the site when the attachments got recently wiped, but i think i have most of them on my older, crash-prone PC. if anybody wants, i could probably extract them.

going by those songs, arne had an interesting playing style in which he kind of played a straight melody with one hand and rhythmically improvised with the other. he didn't seem to mind that his two hands sort of drifted in and out of accord with each other. sometimes this came off pretty atonally to me, and other times it was like a secret message-- "ah, you got past the patch of tall, waving grass and found the reward i left for you."


re: youtube fame,
one time arne and i accidentally collaborated on a youtube music video.

around 10 years ago he shared with me a lovely hawaiian tune and i thought "that's rather beautiful and uplifting," but later forgot all about it. a year or two later, i was watching a friend's homemade vacation video and the same tune popped up again. this time it started looping in my head relentlessly, and i knew i had to do something about that. the power of the tune was that striking.

so i put together a slideshow with the tune and posted it to youtube. it's moving towards a million views at this point, so i'm beyond pleased so many people have enjoyed it. if i ever work on that video again, i'll be sure to include arne's part in it. here it is:

Hapa - Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai (studio version) - YouTube

[Ike Savage]

as i was searching for sleepy's piano attachments, i bumped in to this post below. another one of his short, interesting narratives that i quite liked:

So one day I cut out to Long Beach, Ca. On a soft and hazy majestic sunny windblown afternoon I was flying at 55 M.P.H. on a suspended freeway overlooking the harbor and the Queen Mary in the bay. And as I glided along a soft and expansive curve, high above the civic cacophony below, the radio played "Sailing". It was the first time that I heard the recording, and the third or fourth time that I had heard the tune, for having created it on the family piano.

I went to Long Beach to catch the last glimpse of the New Pike Amusement Park. But it was in ruins. A closed and ragged tin pan alleyway of carney antiquate from an era now dead, obscured by taggers, and torn down several months later.

http://www.pinballnirvana.com/forums...34&postcount=6

in this case he also touches on another issue, eternally kind of mysterious to us-- that of his inventions / creations and his relationship with those who would use them for their own purposes.

it's none of our business, of course, yet he talked about this kind of stuff so consistently through the years that it's very common for it to get mixed in to any particular discussion (as in the post above). just another singular aspect of his personality, i guess.