Darrell Martinie, Radio astrologer known as the Cosmic Muffin, dead at 63

[d***@comcast.net]

Radio astrologer known as the Cosmic Muffin dead at 63
July 28, 2006

SAUGUS, Mass. --Darrell Martinie, known on radio broadcasts as the
Cosmic Muffin and named the state's official astrologer by a
Massachusetts governor, died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Saugus.
He was 63.

Alerts Martinie, known for his eye-catching clothes, spent three
decades dispensing advice on radio stations in Boston, and was
syndicated to stations nationwide. He was named the state's astrologer
13 years ago by then Gov. William F. Weld.

"He was witty, clever and irreverent," Edward Boesel, who married
Martinie two years ago after they had been a couple for more than 31
years, told The Boston Globe.

He was tagged with the on-air name Cosmic Muffin by Boston radio
personality Charles Laquidara, who took it from a National Lampoon
parody song.

Born in Massachusetts, but raised in Illinois where his family had
moved, Martinie graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree
in psychology. He entered a Benedictine monastery in the early 1970s,
intending to become a monk, but left after several months.

He has a son, John Greene of Algonquin, Ill., from his first marriage,
which ended in divorce.

Besides Boesel and his son, Martinie leaves three sisters and two
grandsons.

[Charlene]

SAUGUS -- A star fell from astrology's firmament Wednesday, when Saugus
resident Darrell Martinie succumbed following a three-year battle with
cancer.
Known to millions of listeners as the "Cosmic Muffin," Martinie,
63, dispensed astrological advice on radio stations across the country
for nearly 30 years, a career that encompassed several national
television appearances, including defending his profession on PBS from
skeptics, and earning the title of official astrologer for the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1993.
"He was an extremely witty person with an acerbic tongue," said
Edward Boesel, Martinie's husband - the two were the first same sex
couple to obtain a marriage license in Saugus.
Born in Massachusetts and raised in central Illinois, Martinie
discovered astrology after graduating from the University of Illinois
with a degree in psychology. Returning to Massachusetts to live and
practice astrology in 1972, Martinie became a certified professional
astrologer with the American Federation of Astrologers in 1975. During
his 30-plus years as a professional astrologer, Martinie lectured to
astrological conventions, made personal appearance lectures, and
boasted a log list of clients.
Martinie rose to local, then national prominence after he began
delivering astrological "weather reports" with Charles Laquidara on
WBCN in 1973 - his early prediction delivered as crank calls,
eventually becoming a scripted element of Laquidara's shows. It was
during this period that he acquired the moniker "Cosmic Muffin", a
reference to a joke on the National Lampoon comedy-album, "Radio
Dinner."
On the air in Boston for a total of 25 years, Martinie's
syndicated astrological predictions were heard on both coasts and from
Florida to Portland, Maine.
A sense of humor, combined with Martinie's "weather report"
approach to astrology -eschewing the simplified "Sun Sign" form of
astrology, customarily found in newspaper horoscopes, for a system
focusing on astronomic angles and aspect- helped establish his
reputation among radio listeners and astrology buffs.
"What really set him apart from other astrologers was his ability
to entertain," said Boesel. "What really set him apart from commercial
astrologers was that he refused to do sun sign astrology - he called it
"the easy way out"- and did his astrological weather forecast."
In 1993, fan, and then-Governor William Weld, swore in Martinie as
the state's official astrologer - the posting was later included as an
answer in the Millennium edition of Trivial Pursuit. Contrasting Weld,
a blue-blooded Brahmin in a dark business suit, Martinie accepted his
office dressed in silver cowboy boots, a black tee shirt decked with
stars, and a small fortune in jewelry.
Boesel andMartinie, partners for 33 years, became the first same
sex couple presented a marriage license by the town of Saugus on May
17, 2004. A Republican supporter over the years, Martinie extended an
invitation to Gov. Mitt Romney, who declined to attend but did wish the
couple good fortune. Martinie and Boesel wed on May 28 of 2004, in a
ceremony officiated by former WBCN program director Oedipus.
Martinie's last broadcast, in Portland, ME, aired in June of this
year.His shows are remembered by many for the tag line, "It is a wise
person who rules the stars, a fool who is ruled by them. Over and out."
Over and out.

--

He sounds like an interesting guy.

wd42