Category deaths
A LION, A COBRA, A PHOENIX FROM THE FLAME: Sinead O’Connor (1966-2023)
When my wife and I watched the superb 2022 Sinead O’Connor documentary, “Nothing Compares,” a month or so ago, my ultimate takeaway — besides being struck, again, by Sinead’s singularly arresting voice, artistic fearlessness, and political courage in speaking truth to power — was this: She was right about pretty much everything she spoke out […]
BROTHERS IN AMPS: The Clean’s Kilgours of Kiwi (In Memory of Hamish Kilgour, 1957-2022)
Apologies if the original post of this piece contained text and/or formatting glitches that made it difficult/impossible to read, er, cleanly. Here is the (hopefully) corrected version. Aside from a title tweak, I’ve decided to forego replacing or replicating the video bells and whistles of the original post and present the text straight-up as a companion to the faulty original. I invite you to give it another go with my thanks. Again, sorry the HAL 3000 has decided to get drunk and insubordinate. Now, where the hell is the plug and outlet to that bleary red eye of his?
‘I NEVER MEANT TO BE A SINGER’: REMEMBERING DETROIT COBRAS’ VOCAL POWERHOUSE RACHEL NAGY
“Dear friends, family and fans, It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we announce the loss of our beloved friend and musical colleague, Rachel Lee Nagy. There are no words to fully articulate our grief as we remember a life cut short, still vital and inspirational to all who knew and loved […]
HEART OF THE STONES: In Praise of Charlie Watts, June 2, 1941-August 24, 2021
“Charlie’s good tonight in’nit he?” — Mick Jagger, Madison Square Garden, 1969. Charlie Watts’s drum kit was a pitch-perfect reflection of the man who sat behind it for The Rolling Stones for nearly 60 years: modest yet essential. Charlie famously eschewed rock drum solos as frivolous, show-offy expressions of ego. A lifelong jazz devotee and […]
THE COST OF A SONG: HONKY TONK HEARTBREAKER JAMES HAND DIES AT 67
Texas troubadour James Hand, a reverent Country & Western traditionalist whose music sounded beamed in from an earlier age of rodeos and radios — and who, later in life, enjoyed success and won a devoted following of fans, musicians, and critics — died early yesterday morning at a hospital in Waco, Texas, surrounded by his […]
EYES EVERYWHERE: Remembering Deep Heaven Now’s Jinsen Liu, Boston’s “Dark Lord of the Shoegazer Scene”
I’m saddened to learn of the death of Jinsen Liu, one of Boston’s most adventurous musicians, listeners, and advocates for a burgeoning, always shape-shifting psychedelic-space-rock scene in and around the city during the first decade of the new millenium. In addition to releasing a clutch of albums with his own lushly textured dream-pop band, 28 […]
A LATE BLOOMER IN FULL FLOWER: Becoming Asa Brebner (1953-2019)
“I don’t believe in God, but I believe in music and sharing that with other people. That’s kind of my religion. If I have a religion, that’s what it is.”
— Asa Brebner
A ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD: Tom Petty, 1950-2017
He became a stadium superstar in later years, but Tom Petty’s early, brilliant records of underdog striving were what got us (and many other kids tuned in to their radios during the ’70s) hooked. Our appreciation of the man on what would have been his 67th birthday Friday.
A TIME FOR DREAMING: Charles Bradley, Eagle At Rest, 1948-2017
Rest your wings, “Screaming Eagle of Soul.” One of the most profoundly moving documentaries I have ever seen, “Charles Bradley: Soul of America,” had everything to do with the kind of man and artist Mr. Bradley was, and the kind of life he lived. He met every hardship with grace, every obstacle with optimism, and […]
WALTER BECKER (1950-2017), STEELY DAN’S CO-ARCHITECT OF IMPOSSIBLE COOL
What sometimes seemed like so much shiny “Pop” on the outside — and yes, much of it certainly was intelligent, immaculately crafted pop music (“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”; “Hey Nineteen,” “FM” etc.) — Steely Dan’s music held a far more slippery substance, both instrumentally and lyrically, that simmered and squirmed inside that lacquered shell of crisp studio perfection.
RPM: Jonathan Perry's Life in Analog 