2016 has started on a somber note for music fans. In the past few weeks we've seen the passing of Lemmy, David Bowie, Stevie Wright (lead singer on The Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind"), Gary Loizzo (lead singer on The American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me"), Kevin Junior of The Chamber Strings, Mic Gillette, trumpeter for Tower Of Power, Dale "Buffin" Griffin, drummer of Mott The Hoople and Glenn Frey of The Eagles. All of these musicians were under 70 years old which makes it all the more painful.
Some people grouse at my insistent posting of musician obituaries on social media. I'm certainly not part of some dead pool. I only wish to have people remember what music they've left for us. Songs that will live on in their absence. I enjoyed the quote that was making the rounds last week, "the earth is 4.6 billion years old and I was lucky enough to exist when David Bowie was here".
The sobering fact is that our musical icons are aging. These milestone deaths will become more frequent. Certainly this round of premature passings is an anomaly and a stunning one at that.
I tend to pull out all of the albums I have by an artist when they pass and play them in honor. It's cathartic. I was just putting away my Bowie collection when I got word that, local artist, Kevin Junior died. Out came The Chamber Strings albums which I bought at the turn of the century when the band caught a cult wave. At that time I had no idea Junior was from Akron or that I'd end up meeting him and have good friends playing music with him.
24 hours later and I get a text that says Glenn Frey has died. A quick google search confirmed the breaking news and out came my Eagles collection. Oh, and those that have come to find it hip to dis The Eagles are way off base. Overplayed? Perhaps, but so are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
I hate to ponder who's next but I did hear rumor that Glenn Campbell has been moved to hospice. Sigh.
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