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25 new of 106 responses total.
dbratman
response 17 of 106: Mark Unseen   Apr 22 20:52 UTC 2002

Quotes from Staley about the tragedy of Kurt Cobain's death were hauled 
out and were effectively ironic.
katie
response 18 of 106: Mark Unseen   Jul 21 05:15 UTC 2002

Dave Carter of Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer died yesterday at age 40.
Heart attack.  (Does anyone know if Dave and Tracy are husband and wife?)
anderyn
response 19 of 106: Mark Unseen   Jul 21 14:08 UTC 2002

Damn. And I've missed them every time they were at the Ark. They   were a
really good duo, and it's really sad that he died so young.
krj
response 20 of 106: Mark Unseen   Jul 21 16:21 UTC 2002

Wow, that's a shock.  They were just starting to peek in along the edge
of my awareness. 
 
NPR and the New York Times ran substantial obituaries on Alan Lomax, 
who died this week at 87.   Alan Lomax was a folksong collector and
promoter of folk music, very important in the history of American music.
krj
response 21 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 13 05:30 UTC 2002

He's not dead yet, but Wired and Rolling Stone report that 
Warren Zevon has been diagnosed with untreatable lung cancer.
mcnally
response 22 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 13 13:20 UTC 2002

  Bummer.  <must resist the urge to make jokes about needing a
  "Miracle of Science" or about poor, poor, pitiful he.  There's
  not much funny about lung cancer.>
krj
response 23 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 13 20:48 UTC 2002

Zevon's comment was that it would be a bummer if he didn't last 
long enough to see the next James Bond film.
(which is due in November or December.)   The stories say he is 
continuing to work on recording and on spending time with his kids.
mcnally
response 24 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 14 02:02 UTC 2002

   oops..  now that I re-read my response, I think "Miracle of Science"
   was a Marshall Crenshaw album, not Warren Zevon.  I don't know why I
   sometimes confuse those two..  I'll have to remember to listen to
   the "Excitable Boy" album when I get home..:
dbratman
response 25 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 25 16:34 UTC 2002

I'm sorry that this Warren Zevon guy is terminally ill, but I wonder 
why I've never heard of him before, if he's as ubiquitous a cultural 
icon for the post-60s generation as people are now saying.

I've certainly seen his song titles used as catchphrases, but up until 
last week I never knew those were song titles at all, let alone whose; 
and somehow his name never came up.

As someone whose friends introduced him to Talking Heads back when they 
were still an obscure NYC art band (and this was apparently right 
around when Zevon was making his big impact), I didn't think I was that 
culturally obtuse.
mcnally
response 26 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 25 17:54 UTC 2002

  "ubiquitous cultural icon for the post-60s generation" is definitely
  stretching it a bit, but he did have a successful career and a dedicated
  following, despite the fact that his starkly cynical songs often weren't
  very radio-friendly.

  It's hard to believe you didn't at least hear *some* of his work
  ("Werewolves of London", anyone?) without knowing whose it was, and likely,
  too, that you often heard his songs covered by other performers without
  knowing they were his (e.g. Linda Ronstadt's cover of "Poor, Poor,
  Pitiful Me")
anderyn
response 27 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 25 18:01 UTC 2002

The only reason I ever heard Warren Zevon was because of my gaming group.
(They also introduced me to Blue Oyster Cult...) Of course, once I did hear
him, I became a fan, but I don't think he was ubiquitous unless you happened
to be in circles that had a reason to have heard of him.
other
response 28 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 25 20:50 UTC 2002

"Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"

"Lawyers, Guns and Money"

"The Envoy"
dbratman
response 29 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 26 22:07 UTC 2002

resp:27 - Twila, it turns out I -am- in circles that had a reason to 
have heard of Zevon.  It's friends of mine who are mourning his 
illness, and they're citing listening to him in the days when I knew 
them best, and was, willy-nilly, listening to what they listened to.

Yet I don't think I heard his songs, because in those contexts I knew 
who I was listening to.

And I know further that he was a cultural icon for these folks, because 
I was hearing and reading frequently in those days phrases - like "I'll 
sleep when I'm dead" and "Send lawyers, guns, and money" - that I now 
discover are Zevon song titles.  Yet up until last week I never knew 
they were song titles at all, let alone whose.

resp:26 - Mike, I believe I may have heard "Werewolves of London".  Was 
that a song whose chorus consisted of, or contained, a howl followed by 
the title phrase, the whole then repeated?  I may well have heard some 
of the music, but I never heard nor read the name.
mcnally
response 30 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 26 23:13 UTC 2002

  Yes, pretty much..

    " I met a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
      Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain.
      He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Phuk's   [sp?]
      Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.

      Aaaahhooooohh!  Werewolves of London..  Aaaahhhooooohh! "

  I think my favorite Zevon song is "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me."
  It's typical of his cynicism and humorous word-play and a
  fun up-tempo number..

    " I met a girl in West Hollywood,
      ah, but I ain't namin' names.
      She really worked me over good,
      she was just like Jesse James.

      She really worked me over good,
      she was a credit to her gender.
      She put me through some changes, Lord,
      sort of like a Waring blender. "

  Perhaps Zevon was overshadowed in his fame by other songwriters
  even more cynical and dark.  I know I enjoy his music but I don't
  hold him in the same esteem as Elvis Costello or Richard Thompson.
  I think in some ways I sort of see him as Elvis-Costello Lite,
  but that's definitely not being fair to Zevon.
orinoco
response 31 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 27 14:54 UTC 2002

Hell, I say "I'll sleep when I'm dead" all the time, and I haven't heard any
Zevon past "Werewolves of London" in my life.

Well, okay, I used to say it all the time.  My appreciation for sleep has gone
up in the past few years.
dbratman
response 32 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 27 22:39 UTC 2002

Judging by the tenor of the comments I've seen about Zevon in the 
weblogs of his fans, if you wrote "I enjoy his music but I don't hold 
him in the same esteem as Elvis Costello or Richard Thompson" there, 
they might stampede you.

OTOH, if it were Richard Thompson who was terminally ill, they'd 
probably be grieving even more.  Those people talked in those days (and 
still do today) about Richard Thompson the way they now claim they 
talked about Warren Zevon.  (Elvis Costello, no, but I certainly heard 
of him.  I have never been able to take seriously anyone who would 
voluntarily adopt the name Elvis, so I can't be too objective here.)
cyklone
response 33 of 106: Mark Unseen   Sep 27 22:41 UTC 2002

I'm not sure it was entirely voluntary. I think his manager came up with it.
krj
response 34 of 106: Mark Unseen   Oct 30 05:41 UTC 2002

Warren Zevon is still not dead; in fact, he must be feeling pretty 
good, he's been announced as David Letterman's guest for Wednesday
night.   11:30 pm Eastern time on CBS, channel 62/cable 14 in 
Ann Arbor.
dbratman
response 35 of 106: Mark Unseen   Oct 30 17:20 UTC 2002

Warren Zevon's ghost is haunting / Cable Channel 14 ...
scott
response 36 of 106: Mark Unseen   Nov 5 23:08 UTC 2002

Lonnie Donnegan died Sunday at the age of 71.

He'd just be a very minor footnote in music, except that the "skiffle" music
craze he started in 1960's England inspired a lot of kids (including those
who later formed The Beatles and The Who) to start playing.
krj
response 37 of 106: Mark Unseen   Nov 11 16:07 UTC 2002

Skiffle also played a large role in the 1960s British folk revival.
bruin
response 38 of 106: Mark Unseen   Dec 16 22:09 UTC 2002

IWLTA with great sadness the passing of Zal Yanovsky, who was an 
original member of the 1960's group The Lovin'Spoonful.  He left the 
Spoonful under less than friendly terms with the group, especially 
frontman John Sebastian.  More recently, he owned a restaurant in 
Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

"Zally" died of an apparent heart attack on December 13.  He would have 
turned 58 later this week.
remmers
response 39 of 106: Mark Unseen   Dec 17 15:15 UTC 2002

Sad news indeed.  The Lovin' Spoonful is one of my favorite rock groups
from the 60s; I still have some of their LPs that I acquired back then.
I always thought Zal was a great contributor to the group and was sorry
when he split.
jaklumen
response 40 of 106: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 05:35 UTC 2003

I *can't* believe someone didn't get this first!

Maurice Gibb, bassist and keyboardist of the Bee Gees, died at 53 last 
Sunday of cardiac arrest before undergoing surgery for a blocked 
intestine.

One article on the story can be found at:
http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=111793

Sad.  I really liked the Bee Gees, and thought they very talented and 
not just a disco band, although a lot of their hits were during the 
disco era.
dbratman
response 41 of 106: Mark Unseen   Jan 18 00:05 UTC 2003

Are they the guys who sang that once ubiquitous song that went "ah, ah, 
ah, ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive"?

If so, I will refrain from commenting on their talent only out of 
respect for the dead.
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