Still from Manhattan, by Gordon Willis When thinking of an era in the arts where there’s a strong zeitgeist, I always feel that there a large field of people working within a style, doing this […]
Category: obituary
Al Feldstein 1925-2014
A bigger cultural milestone than most people know has been passed today: Al Feldstein, the editor of Mad Magazine for many years, has passed away. From Huffington Post: Before “The Daily Show,” ”The Simpsons” or […]
You know what, I think I’m over this whole gun thing.
George Wasson Non-musical post today, sorry. A cousin of mine, and one of my older living relatives, was murdered with a gun this week in Eugene, Oregon, in the house where he lived since I […]
Sid Caesar 1922-2014
Very sorry to lose the great Sid Caesar today— even if it seems incredible we had him around as long as we did. I was a kid in the 70’s, and knew him best from […]
Dick Berk 1939-2014
Just learned that the drummer Dick Berk has died. He was best known for being Billy Holliday’s last drummer; he is also on recordings by Ted Curson, Nick Brignola, Milt Jackson, George Duke, Cal Tjader, […]
Lou Reed 1942-2013
It’s a good day to give White Light, White Heat a listen in its entirety— news that Lou Reed has died is breaking all over the Internet right now. I first heard this record on […]
Ronald Shannon Jackson 1940-2013
Very sorry to hear that the drummer and avant-garde master Ronald Shannon Jackson died today. This would be a great time to revisit his Modern Drummer interview from 1984, by friend of the blog Chip […]
George Duke 1946-2013
There was some kind of magnetism about George Duke that made you think he was going to live forever, but then it doesn’t work out that way. Hearing him on Frank Zappa’s Roxy & Elsewhere […]
DBMITW: Steve Berrios 1945-2013
Very sorry that the drummer Steve Berrios, who played a lot of great music, passed away this week. On this recording he plays trumpet, as well as drums: More after the break: Playing drumset: On […]
Alan Myers 1955-2013
Mark Mothersbaugh and Alan Myers, way back when. Very sorry to hear Devo drummer Alan Myers died today, of cancer. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was the first record I ever […]
Ed Shaughnessy 1929-2013
I couldn’t possibly improve on what Jon McCaslin has said about the passing of this great drummer, so just go read his notice.
Jonathan Winters 1925-2013
The great comedian Jonathan Winters has just died— I guess if his name means anything to you, you probably know about it already. As usual, I have nothing significant to add, but there’s a very […]