Posts Tagged Eulogy
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June 19, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Janet Malcom
Janet Malcolm has died. She was 86. I only ever wrote about Janet Malcolm as part of a university essay – that is where I met her work. I’m so pleased to have met with it, the best of her work stays with me forever. She wrote several books – many of them great, two […]Archive
June 18, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Fane Flaws
Fane Flaws has died. Sad news indeed, a creative giant – a force – one of New Zealand’s greatest ever multi-discipline artists has left the studio. Fane was a musician, visual artist, filmmaker, creator of music videos and co-author of books. He was a prolific multimedia experimenter – and he created some of the greatest […]Archive
May 22, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Roger Hawkins
Roger Hawkins has died. The legendary session drummer was 75. A member of The Swampers, a supergroup of session stalwarts, the backbone of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, Hawkins was one of most tasteful, dependable players – no ego in dominance, all empathy for the tune. Even if you don’t recognise the name you have […]Archive
May 20, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Paul Mooney
Paul Mooney has died, just a few months shy of his 80th birthday. The comedian, writer and firebrand was a fearless critic of race and racism – and had one of the most important roles in the development of comedy: He wrote for Richard Pryor. Mooney, a comic in his own right, creator of characters […]Archive
April 21, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Jim Steinman
Jim Steinman has died. He was 73. He is best known for his collaboration with Meat Loaf, he is the writer of the albums Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell. In total he wrote four albums for Meat Loaf, and there were certainly hits on 1981’s Dead Ringer […]Archive
March 26, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Larry McMurtry
The author and screenwriter Larry McMurtry has died. He was 84. McMurtry is best known for his sprawling old west novel, Lonesome Dove. Released in 1985, it won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a multi Emmy-award winning TV mini-series in 1989 – and remains much loved to this day. McMurtry’s other great novels […]Archive
February 24, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti has died. He was 101, a month off turning 102 in fact. What a life. The poet and publisher would have been important had he never written a word himself – he was a founder and co-owner of the legendary San Francisco bookstore and imprint City Lights and as a publisher he was […]Archive
February 13, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Milford Graves
Milford Graves, one of the pioneering free-jazz drummers, has died. He was 79. One of the players to free the drum kit from its primary time-keeping role, Graves played the trap set like it was a set of percussion instruments, disparate, like he was a percussionist. He would sometimes hold two sticks in each hand […]Archive
February 12, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Chick Corea
Chick Corea has died. He was 79. The legendary pianist and composer was one of the greats in modern jazz – as both bandleader and sideman; a constant innovator. He could be remembered alone for his hand in Miles Davis’ turn to the electric, Corea’s Rhodes such a crucial element on the classic album, Bitches […]Archive
January 31, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Double K (Michael Turner)
Sad news overnight to hear of the passing of Michael Turner aka Double K from the brilliant hip-hop duo People Under The Stairs. No cause of death announced as yet but he was just 43. Sad news indeed for hip-hop fans, perhaps particularly on the back of the recent shock announcement of the death of […]Archive
January 1, 2021 by Simon Sweetman