Singer Amy Winehouse Found Dead at the age of 27

First the good news: someone in my death pool has died. The bad news: it was Amy Winehouse. The really bad news:  Zsa Zsa Gabor is still alive.

Sultry singer Amy Winehouse was found dead today in her London flat. According to the coroner, she died from “unknown causes” (Drug overdose, *cough cough*).

Winehouse is now officially a card-carrying member of the “Forever 27 Club,” joining the ranks of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, and Robert Johnson.

Her autopsy is pending. RIP Amy!

Good Night, Columbo

Peter Faulk, best known as television’s Lieutenant Columbo has died. He was 83 years old.

Faulk died at his home in Beverly Hills. For several years, he had been suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Falk is survived by his wife and two daughters.

“Oh, just one more thing…”

Jack Kevorkian Died

Dr. Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian died today of complications from liver cancer. He was 83 years old. Kevorkian was an outspoken “right to die” activist who assisted several terminally ill patients with assisted suicide.

Earlier this week, actor Jeff Conway and musician/author Gil Scott Heron died. Gil was my hero so I’ll whip up a better article on him later.

 

 

Breaking News: The World Did Not End Today

Today the world did not end. Randy “Macho Man” Savage is dead, Zsa Zsa is still alive, and Jeff Conway is in a coma.

Back to Death Blogging… Elizabeth Taylor has Died

Bye bye!

Actress Elizabeth Taylor has died at 79. The cause of death was heart failure.

Yes you probably already know this, and like me, you have probably never seen a movie she was in. But what I do know is that she was married like a million times, a good friend of the late Michael Jackson, and was branded on a perfume that is sold in high-end department stores but smells like a cross between dead flowers and sulfur.

The big question is… When the fuck is Zsa Zsa going to die? At least I have her in my death pool.

Drummer Alex Kirst Killed in Hit and Run Accident

Alex Kirst (far right), the drummer for the iconic 1990’s band The Nymphs, was killed on January 13 in a hit-and-run car accident in which he was a pedestrian. He was 47 years old.

The Nymphs time was sadly short-lived as trouble with their record label Geffen along with some band member’s battles with drugs and alcohol lead to their early break-up in 1992. Since then, Alex and his guitarist brother Whitey Kirst played occasionally for punk-rock godfather Iggy Pop. Whitey said in a statement,

“I’m devastated. Just devastated. He was my big brother. He’s dynamite. He’s great. I loved playing with my brother, and since I was a kid, I always wanted to do that and I got to do that.”

Check out their only release in 1991 called “The Nymphs”.

On a personal note, In the 1990’s The Nymphs sold out every venue they played. I remember waiting in line with Mike Watt (The Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Iggy and the Stooges), Raymond Pettibon (artist), and Ricky Sepulveda (Guitarist for Lawndale and Nervous Gender) at Raji’s on Hollywood Boulevard when all of a sudden the fire marshal came to shut down the venue. We all scattered and ended up drinking in a seedy TV bar where the “ladies” were interested in Raymond and Mike Watt. They ignored me, and they hated Ricky.  But then again, most women hated Ricky.

 

Musician Gerry Rafferty Died

Gerry Rafferty, lead singer/guitarist for the Scottish band “Stealers Wheel” then later a solo artist has died at age 63. The cause of death was liver failure brought on by years of excessive drinking.

Rafferty was best known for his songs, “Baker Street” and “Stuck in the Middle.”

 

5 Years Ago Today: House of Freaks Singer/Guitarist Bryan Harvey, His Wife Kathryn, and Daughters Stella and Ruby Were Murdered

It was New Year’s Day 2006 when the Harvey family Bryan (49), Katheryn (39), Stella (9), and Ruby (4), were brutally murdered in the basement of their home.

Bryan Harvey and Johnny Hott (Hott is a family name – not a stage name) were a popular indie musical duo from Richmond, Virginia called “House of Freaks.” I first ran across them circa 1986 at McCabe’s Guitar shop in Santa Monica where (I think) they opened for fIREHOSE and I became an instant fan. When their first album “Monkey on a Chain Gang” came out, I loved it so much it became the only album I have ever purchased in vinyl, cassette, and CD. To this day, it is one of my top 5 favorite albums (tied with Love’s self titled album). Here is one of the few videos I could find on the band.

The killings, dubbed the “Richmond Spree Murders”, were committed over a 7-day period by ex-cons Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Javon Gray.  Dandridge and Gray brutally murdered seven people including the Harvey family. Ultimately they were caught and are both confessed. They were both sentenced to death and are currently waiting on the court appeals process.

If you knew Bryan or Kathryn Harvey, or have photos of them and are willing to release them for publication, please call (310) 439-9979 to leave a message or email me at editor@zzzlist.com.

 

Musician Teena Marie Died. Questo Got All “Kanye” for a Few Minutes.

Part 1: Teena Marie Dies

Teena Marie, the only white female artist (besides Michael Jackson) to break into the R&B music scene to a urban majority audience has died of  “natural causes” at the age of 54.

On the evening of December 26, Marie was found dead in her bedroom by her daughter Alia Rose (also known under stage name Rose LeBeau) one day after Alia’s December 25th Birthday.

Teena Marie was an R&B singer/guitarist and a protégé of soul artist Rick James. Romantically and professionally linked to James,  the duo often collaborated and toured together.

Stemming from her lawsuit against Motown records, she leaves behind as her legacy “The Teena Marie Law”, which states that a record company cannot hold an artist under contract without publishing their material.

Part 2: Twitter Goes Apeshit

It started with rumors and speculation on Twitter. Did Teena Marie die or not? After all, there was a Teena Marie death hoax a few years ago. And she admittedly had a prior addiction to prescription medication. But no one wants to look stupid claiming that she died and looking like a sucker if the person in question did not actually die.

It all appeared to start with Shelia E’s announcement:

Then Questo from The Roots replied to Sheila and said he needed a whiter source of news.  (I know the time stamps are off, but I just took screenshots at different times):

Ron Isley from The Isley Brothers chimed in:

But Questo wasn’t buying it. He still needed verification from “The Man”:

Next, Questo links to The Huffington Post’s article and wonders if this is “white enough.” Me thinks it is. :

Incoming! CNN:

Ok now the Q-Man is convinced:

Then came the Twitter backlash against Questlove ranging from things like his Courtney Love comment, his need for a “whiter” news source, his seemingly contrived grieving for Teena Marie, etc.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of the Roots and I love Questlove on twitter because he talks politics, love, and usually keeps it real and makes people think. But for a few minutes, I thought that this had the potential to be his Rick Sanchez moment and his downfall. Remember when CNN fired Rick Sanchez during his tirade against Jon Stewart? It went like this:

“I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah.” – Rick Sanchez

But the music business is more forgiving if you keep making hit records. So rock-on Questo!

By the way, here are Teena Marie’s last twats, a quote about living forever and birthday wishes for her daughter. Very sad. My condolences to Rose. :

 

Here is Rick James and Teena Marie singing, “I’m Just a Sucker for Your Love”

25 Years Ago Today: D Boon from the Minutemen Died at Age 27

On December 22, 1985, D. Boon, the 27-year-old singer/guitarist for the band Minutemen died tragically. He was killed in a single car accident on I-10 in Arizona after the van that he was a passenger in ran off the road and ejected him from the rear doors.

 I went by his grave on Thanksgiving and cleaned it during my   annual grave-cleaning trek (My father, aunt, father-in-law, and lots of friends are buried in the same cemetery). But his grave is at the bottom of a hill and was caked in mud and oil (as you can see from the greasy tire mark made from a riding mower).

 Another tragedy is that the Minutemen albums are big sellers for SST records (owned by Greg Ginn), and I can tell you on behalf of George Hurley that he hasn’t seen a lick of royalties ever. Time to lawyer-up, I say. If it weren’t illegal, I’d recommend that you go and download “3-Way Tie (For Last)” on the torrents. But that’s illegal so don’t do it.