Dropping Like Flies

Bob Gibson, to continue the Hall of Fame deaths trend….
Poor Cardinal fans
Eddie Van Halen dead at 65.

vansmack wrote:
Eddie Van Halen dead at 65.

Yowza.    That hits a whole generation headon.
Damn


Mosdef legend
This was not a surprise but sad nonetheless. An amazing talent.
vansmack wrote:
Eddie Van Halen dead at 65.

Very on brand 2020
One of my favorite guitarists,  just changed my ideas about a guitar
Guy was a piece of work but may have had as much to do with the 80s as anyone


Listen to the debut as I been doing this afternoon (along with Diver Down); one of the best first albums - and it sounds like an 80s record..it’s from 1978


I love how they spent four years playing backyard parties in Southern California building up their chops and fanbase … to have been at one would have been a kick


I was born in the US and lived here a few years then didn’t make it back til 1985…freshman year of high school in the Bay Area VH was the biggest thing going

When 1984 came out the year and change before moving to NorCal I was in Japan…the videos were completely defining…those videos were gold and just a huge part of growing up at that time

It’s been a rough stretch for an almost 50 year old…2020 feels like a before and after for me…kind of hating it…is this it?
Yes, as a 5th grader waking up Saturday mornings and watching Friday Night Videos taped on Betamax when Jump then Panama then Hot For Teacher were on was the absolute greatest
Johnny Nash of “I Can See Clearly Now” fame at age 80.

He was one of the first non-Jamaican singers to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica and helped launched his friend named Bob Marley.
Bunny “Striker” Lee



Jamaican producer, record label owner etc….legend recorded and put out a ton of great stuff…also was active early on licensing reggae for distribution in UK… had King Tubby dub mix a shitload of stuff…some  of my favorites in fact…a lot of the stuff put out in the 90s/00s on Blood and Fire (real quality reissues) was provided to Steve Barrow by Bunny Lee…
As per usual in time of death I’m listening to albums not heard in decades … and yup I know this first Van Halen like the back of my hand… memorable albums just become part of one’s DNA
My interest in Van Halen waned after the first two records… Definitely due to more interest in new wave/punk/power pop/college rock from the 80s onward at the time.  of course the singles from 1984 were pretty much unavoidable due to MTV and they were amazing even for a jaded college student
I was thinking that with the loss of both Toots, Bunny and also Johnny Nash who helped bring Reggae into the pop mainstream, there can’t be a whole lot of the Pioneers left.. Jimmy Cliff is still with us..

What I did notice about Bunny Lee is it took awhile for the mainstream press to start reporting on his death,  guess that ready to go Obit wasn’t done in advance about him… I was glad to pieces being put out about him
Whitey Ford, to continue the Hall of Fame deaths trend….
I believe he had six World Series rings


When I was young I read a great book about the 50s Yankees but can’t remember who wrote it
https://twitter.com/ew/status/1315473788436447232?s=21

Margaret Nolan, Goldfinger and A Hard Day's Night actress, dies at 76

The English performer was best known for playing Bond's masseuse Dink in Goldfinger and for appearing as the gold-painted model in the 1964 film's title sequence. That same year, she appeared in the Beatles' musical comedy film A Hard Day's Night.