“There are so many little dyings that it doesn’t matter which of them is death,” wrote esteemed poet/ author Kenneth Patchen. Yet the accrual of such dying over the course of a calendar year belies such “little”ness. As we nudge into the 21st century, the luminaries of the previous one begin to wane, the architects and innovators of prime American music forms: blues, jazz, folk, rock. The obituary page for 2008 may not feature so many marquee names, but the crucial people behind the stage—the gurus, the producers, the poster artists, the record executives, the session men—all continued to vanish as well.
We lost studio drummers like Earl Palmer and guitarist Robert Ward, Phil Spector’s engineer Phil Levine, jazz photographer William Claxton, Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black, Thelonious Monk saxophonist Johnny Griffin. Number groups diminished by one, be they the Count Five, the Four Tops, the Dave Clark Five, or the Kingston Trio. Here are a few of the folks-–some well-known, some never heard of— whose work and influence created a great resonance here and whose efforts will hopefully continue to reverberate in the generations to come.
The $200 price tag and the irresistible lure of Dr. Mario have so far prevented me from getting into Rock Band, but the first volume has proven to be quite popular–and rumors of which bands will have music featured in part two have already started to swirl. More »
Rolling Stone is reporting that pioneering rock guitarist Bo Diddley died this morning at age 79 in Florida because of heart failure. Diddley, born Elias Bates in 1928, had been recovering from a heart attack and stroke that he suffered last year. More »
Following a heart attack last Friday–which seems to have at least happened while he was already at the doctor’s office–and attendant surgery, rock legend Bo Diddley is convalescing in a Florida hospital and thankfully now on the stable list, according to Rolling Stone. More »
– Sanjaya Malakar claims that producers of the Ford-sponsored American Idol wouldn’t let him perform Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” on the show. Why stop there? [The Scoop] – Korean pop star Rain is coming to the states; get ready for EW’s inevitable “Blame It On This Rain” headline. More »
– A Florida businessman is threatening to auction off several “salacious” items from Michael Jackson’s estate, including “paintings Jackson made of children, of boys – naked…[and] some sex aids.” Sold! To the man who likes naked boys and used sex aids! More »
