Country Star Porter Wagoner Dies at 80

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 29) - Porter Wagoner was known for a string of country hits in the '60s, perennial appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in his trademark rhinestone suits, and for launching the career of Dolly Parton .

Like many older performers, his star had faded in recent years. But his death from lung cancer Sunday, at 80, came only after a remarkable late-career revival that won him a new generation of fans.

The Missouri-born Wagoner signed with RCA Records in 1955 and joined the Opry in 1957, "the greatest place in the world to have a career in country music," he said in 1997. His showmanship, suits and pompadoured hair made him famous.

He had his own syndicated TV show, "The Porter Wagoner Show," for 21 years, beginning in 1960. It was one of the first syndicated shows to come out of Nashville and set a pattern for many others.

"Some shows are mechanical, but ours was not polished and slick," he said in 1982.

Among his hits, many of which he wrote or co-wrote, were "Carroll County Accident," "A Satisfied Mind," "Company's Comin'," "Skid Row Joe," "Misery Loves Company" and "Green Green Grass of Home."

The songs often told stories of tragedy or despair. In "Carroll County Accident," a married man having an affair is killed in a car crash; "Skid Row Joe" deals with a once-famous singer who's lost everything.

In 2002, he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In May, after years without a recording contract, he signed with ANTI- records, an eclectic Los Angeles label best known for alt-rock acts like Tom Waits, Nick Cave  and Neko Case.

Wagoner's final album, "Wagonmaster," was released in June and earned him some of the best reviews of his career. Over the summer, he was the opening act for the influential rock duo White Stripes at a sold-out show at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"The young people I met backstage, some of them were 20 years old. They wanted to get my autograph and tell me they really liked me," Porter said with tears in his eyes the day after the New York show. "If only they knew how that made me feel - like a new breath of fresh air."

To many music fans, Wagoner was best known as the man who boosted Parton's career. He had hired the 21-year-old singer as his duet partner in 1967, when she was just beginning to gain notice through songs such as "Dumb Blonde."

They were the Country Music Association's duo of the year in 1970 and 1971, recording hit duets including "The Last Thing on My Mind."

Parton's solo country records, such as her autobiographical "Coat of Many Colors," also began climbing the charts in the early 1970s. She wrote the pop standard "I Will Always Love You" in 1973 after Wagoner suggested she shift from story songs to focus on love songs.

The two quit singing duets in 1974 and she went on to wide stardom with pop hits and movies such as "9 to 5," whose theme song was also a hit for her.

Wagoner sued her for $3 million in assets, but they settled out of court in 1980. He said later they were always friendly, "but it's a fact that when you're involved with attorneys and companies that have them on retainer, it makes a different story."

At a charity roast for Wagoner in 1995, she explained the breakup this way: "We split over creative differences. I was creative, and Porter was different."

He said in a 1982 Associated Press interview that his show "was a training ground for her; she learned a great deal and I exposed her to very important people and the country music fans."

She was present at the ceremony in May 2007 honoring Wagoner on his silver anniversary with the Opry. At the time, he called Parton "one of my best friends today." She also visited him in the hospital as he battled cancer.

Wagoner, who had survived an abdominal aneurysm in 2006, was hospitalized again this month and his publicist disclosed he had lung cancer. He died at 8:25 p.m. CDT Sunday in a Nashville hospice, said Darlene Bieber, a spokeswoman for the Opry.

Country singer and Opry member Dierks Bentley visited Wagoner in the hospice over the weekend and said Wagoner led them in prayer, thanking God for his friends, his family and the Grand Ole Opry.

"The loss of Porter is a great loss for the Grand Ole Opry and for country music, and personally it is a great loss of a friend I was really just getting to know," Bentley said. "I feel blessed for the time I had with him."

Pete Fisher, vice president and general manager of the Opry, said the Opry family of musicians and performers was deeply saddened by the news. "His passion for the Opry and all of country music was truly immeasurable," Fisher said.

Wagoner was born in West Plains, Mo., and became known as "The Thin Man From West Plains" because of his lanky frame. He recalled that he spent hours as a child pretending to be an Opry performer, using a tree stump as a stage.

He started in radio, then became a regular on the "Ozark Jubilee," one of the first televised national country music shows. On the Opry since 1957, he joined Roy Acuff and other onetime idols.

At one point his wardrobe included more than 60 handmade rhinestone suits.

"Rhinestone suits are just beautiful under the lights," he said. "They've become a big part of my career. I get more compliments on my outfits than any other entertainer - except for Liberace."

While he continued with the Opry, and even had a small part in the 1982 movie "Honky Tonk Man" starring Clint Eastwood , his recording career dried up in the 1980s - until his return this year.

"I stopped making records because I didn't like the way they were wanting me to record," he said. "When RCA dropped me from the label, I didn't really care about making records for another label because I didn't have any say in what they would release and how they would make the records and so forth."

Argentine First Lady Wins Presidency

Argentina's Presidency/AP

First lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, here in a campaign rally last week, ran on her husband's popular record and will take over from him in an unusual transfer of power between elected spouses.

Fernandez is a lawyer and senator who followed her husband as he rose from an obscure governorship to the presidency, drawing comparisons to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton . She would bring a feistier and more glamorous style to the Pink House, Argentina's presidential palace, in which she has already spent the last four years.

But it is unclear how much change she will bring. Analysts say a strong win gives Fernandez an opportunity to right the problems of her husband's administration, including high inflation, an energy crisis and a shrinking budget surplus. Some warned her not to see it as an endorsement of all of Kirchner's policies.

In her victory speech Sunday night, Fernandez, 54, pledged not to let that happen.

"We have won amply," she said. "But this, far from putting us in a position of privilege, puts us instead in a position of greater responsibilities and obligations."

With 86 percent of polling places reporting, Fernandez had about 44 percent of the vote, compared with 23 percent for former lawmaker Elisa Carrio and 17 percent for former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna. Eleven others split the rest.

According to Argentine electoral rules, Fernandez avoids a runoff with at least 40 percent and a margin of 10 percent over the runner-up.

Carrio spokesman Matias Mendez said seven parties had filed a complaint alleging missing or stolen ballots. One representative of the ruling party was arrested on suspicion of trying to vote twice, and a judge extended voting by an hour in the capital because many polling stations opened late.

Argentina's 27.1 million registered voters also filled dozens of House and Senate  seats and nine governorships. Vice President Daniel Scioli won the race for governor of Buenos Aires province, the country's second most powerful post.

Kirchner oversaw a dramatic recovery from a crippling 2001 economic crisis, repaying Argentina's entire $9.5 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund, although critics say Argentina would be riper for sustainable development if he had better managed the income from soaring commodity prices.

But while his accomplishments helped Fernandez win the presidency, they won't help her succeed in office.

"I think her husband had the advantage of everyone saying, 'He got us out of the crisis,'" said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. "Well, they can't say that about her, because they already got out of the crisis."

Riordan Roett, director of Western Hemisphere studies at Johns Hopkins University, predicted a troubled term because of rising inflation, frozen energy prices and defaulted debt to rich nations.

"This is a dynasty-in-waiting, but it will collapse as they all do if she can't get a team together to differentiate herself from Nestor Kirchner," he said.

Fernandez ran an unorthodox campaign, refusing to debate and spending much of the time abroad in photo-ops with world leaders. Her chic European dresses and designer bags drew comparisons with Evita Peron, another fashion-conscious and politically influential Argentine first lady.

She would be Argentina's second female president; Isabel Peron — who married Juan Peron after Evita's death — was his vice president when he died in 1974, and served for 20 chaotic months before a military coup ousted her.

As for Kirchner, he has said he'll be happy as "first gentleman" after he hands his wife the presidential sash and scepter on Dec. 10. But few expect him to fade too far into the background — and some even suspect the couple is plotting to reverse roles again in 2011.

"That's the million-dollar question: What will Kirchner do after handing over power?" said political scientist Gustavo Martinez Pandiani. "No one believes he's going to be in his pajamas and slippers, waiting for his wife to come home so he can say, 'Hi. How was your day?'"

Beach House Fire Kills Seven Students

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Photo Gallery: 'A Very Sad Day'

Brian Brough, Wilmington Star-News / AP

An early-morning fire ravaged a beach home in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., Sunday and killed seven college students who were vacationing there. "There were three kids sitting on the ground screaming," said one witness.

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Six of the seven killed in the fire Sunday morning in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., attended the University of South Carolina; the other attended Clemson University. Six other South Carolina students in the house survived.

"My heart goes out to everyone involved," South Carolina student Lindsey Riddick, 19, said Sunday evening. "I just can't fathom that at all."

Dennis Pruitt, the school's dean of students, said many of the students were friends from the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The father of one survivor said several had gone to high school together in Greenville.

Officials said the students were staying at a house owned by the parents of one of the students.

The fire struck sometime before 7 a.m. and burned completely through the first and second floors, leaving only part of the frame standing. The waterfront home — named "Changing Channels" — was built on stilts, forcing firefighters to climb a ladder onto the house's deck to reach the first living floor.

One witness described seeing three students sitting on the ground screaming as the home burned, and another jumping from a window into a waterway. The six survivors were hospitalized and released, Mayor Debbie Smith said.

The fire's cause was being investigated.

As news of the fire spread around the South Carolina campus on Sunday, so did rumors of the victims. Officials said identifications might not be made publicly until Wednesday, but that grief counselors would be available for the 27,000 students here when classes resume Monday.

"These are young people in the prime of their life," school President Andrew Sorensen said at a news conference. "They had so much to look forward to, and it's just profoundly tragic."

"When any one member of our family is lost, we are all diminished," he said, adding his thoughts also went out to the Clemson community.

South Carolina freshman J.P. Shorter said he and was talking with friends about the fire and that there were all kinds of rumors about what happened. "Some people I know are in Delta Delta Delta," said Shorter, 18, of Charleston. "I feel bad."

Several houses near the one that burned were filled with college students. Neighbor Jeff Newsome said the students were going back and forth between the houses all weekend long.

"We didn't have any big complaints," Newsome said. "The lights were on all night. They were having a good time."

Some of the people in the house had been friends since high school, said Rick Wylie of Greenville, who said his son Tripp jumped from the burning home.

"He's in shock," Wylie said. "It's just an incomprehensible thing for these parents."

The victims' bodies were to be taken to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill, N.C. Authorities from the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were leading the investigation, said Randy Thompson, Brunswick County's emergency services director.

Ocean Isle Beach is at the southern end of North Carolina's Atlantic Coast, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach. Only about 500 people live there year-round, but the town is home to several thousand rental and vacation homes and condos.

Associated Press writers Estes Thompson in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., Mike Baker in Raleigh and Daniel Yee in Atlanta contributed to this report. 

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Oct. 15) - The skeleton of what is believed to be a new dinosaur species - a 105-foot plant-eater that is among the largest dinosaurs ever found - has been uncovered in Argentina, scientists said Monday.

Scientists from Argentina and Brazil said the Patagonian dinosaur appears to represent a previously unknown species of Titanosaur because of the unique structure of its neck. They named it Futalognkosaurus dukei after the Mapuche Indian words for "giant" and "chief," and for Duke Energy Argentina, which helped fund the skeleton's excavation.

"This is one of the biggest in the world and one of the most complete of these giants that exist," said Jorge Calvo, director of paleontology center of National University of Comahue, Argentina, lead author of a study on the dinosaur published in the peer-reviewed Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Scientists said the giant herbivore walked the Earth some 88 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.

Since the first bones were found on the banks of Lake Barreales in the Argentine province of Neuquen in 2000, paleontologists have dug up the dinosaur's neck, back region, hips and the first vertebra of its tail.

"I'm pretty certain it's a new species," agreed Peter Mackovicky, associate curator for dinosaurs at Chicago's Field Museum, who was not involved with the discovery. "I've seen some of the remains of Futalognkosaurus and it is truly gigantic."

Calvo said the neck alone must have been 56 feet long, and by studying the vertebrae, they figured the tail probably measured 49 feet. The dinosaur reached over 43 feet tall, and the excavated spinal column alone weighed about 9 tons when excavated.

Patagonia also was home to the other two largest dinosaur skeletons found to date - Argentinosaurus, at around 115 feet long, and Puertasaurus reuili, 115 feet to 131 feet long.

Comparison between the three herbivores, however, is difficult because scientists have only found few vertebrae of Puertasaurus and while the skeleton of Futalognkosaurus (FOO-ta-long-koh-SOHR-us) is fairly complete, scientists have not uncovered any bones from its limbs.

Scientists in Utah this month announced the discovery of Gryposaurus monumentensis, a huge new species that was called the "Arnold Schwarzenegger of duckbilled dinosaurs" by one paleontologist.