Tag: rest in peace

David Crosby

We lost another one last night. Shit. We lost Jeff Beck last week and I am far from over it and absolutely not ready to move on, but then we lost David Crosby last night. Shit.

Remember back in 2016 where the rock stars seemed to be dropping like flies? Bowie, Prince, Paul Kantner, Greg Lake, John Whetton, one after another. Three weeks into 2023, and it’s starting to feel like that again. Shit.

I have posted this particular song here maybe 100 times. I just really like this song. It’s probably not Crosby’s best CSN/CSNY song (that would probably be either Guinnevere or maybe Long Time Gone) but I really just love this song. I’ve never heard this version though. At least I don’t think so. Comments on the guitar playing, because that’s what I do, Neil Young is a ridiculously good guitar player, but I really don’t like him as a soloist. I could listen to him strum and finger pick all day long, but playing lead… sorry, Neil Young fans. Nothing personal. Stephen Stills however is an animal as a lead player. This particular clip might not show him at his best, but he’s a killer. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him playing a Firebird, but it does sort of make me want a Firebird even more than I already did… and I really do want to land me a Firebird.

Anyway. Rest in Peace, David Crosby. Thanks for the music, and also thanks for being such an epic smart ass on Twitter. You were one of the best follows ever.

Rest in Peace Aunt Joan

My godmother passed quietly in her sleep just after midnight today. She had been ill for a long time and was suffering through dementia, just like my mother.

Her pain is over now. Rest in peace, Aunt Joan.

At our wedding reception. My mother and her three siblings. Left to right, Aunt Joan, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Jim, and my mother.

Rest in Peace Alan White

A couple of days ago, Yes announced that Alan White would not be joining them on their upcoming tour. They’ve been bringing an understudy drummer out with them for a while now, but this time Alan was going to stay home.

Today they announced that he has passed away. He was 72 years old.

He has been the drummer for Yes since joining in 1972, just a few days before the start of a US tour to support Close to the Edge. Bill Bruford left to join King Crimson at the last minute and White was his replacement. There were stories of Chris Squire threatening to throw him out of a hotel room window if he didn’t accept the offer, but those probably were just jokes. Probably.

The band he was joining played some of the most complicated and difficult music in the business at that time and he only had three (I think) days to learn the set. He pulled it off because he was an absolute kick ass professional, as well as being good enough to handle it all. There were tales of Jon Anderson turning around and more or less conducting him through some of the show, but regardless, White’s accomplishment was beyond legendary.

I only saw him once, back in 1991. It was in that weird time when there were effectively two versions of Yes. Alan White was in the Los Angeles based arena rock band (Yes West). I was much more into the London based proggie rock band (Yes East), but at that time someone waved enough money at them to get them all to tour as one band. I saw them at the Worcester Centrum. They played in The Round with a revolving stage in the middle of the arena. It was one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever seen any band give. I swear that night’s rendition of Awaken is still reverberating around the rafters to this day. It was stunning.

I should also mention that prior to Yes he was in another notable band. A little combo called The Plastic Ono Band. That’s right, he was John Effin’ Lennon’s drummer. He played on a bunch of things include Imagine. He also played on George Harrison’s first record, specifically My Sweet Lord.

Rest in Peace, Alan White.

It’s Bloody Cold Out!

I did it. I got up early and showered and got dressed and was all ready to grab my lappytop and jump into the car and do some effin’ car music!

“Hey Siri, how’s the weather?” he asked.

“The current temperature is seven degrees. The high today will be 19 degrees and the low will be seven degrees,” Siri replied.

Well screw that! It’s bloody cold out there! I wonder how the forecast for tomorrow morning is looking. I just looked… it’s pretty much the same as today. Crap.

On a not quite related note, the RPM Challenge website used to have a blog section and a forum and it was all replaced by a Discord channel. Discord makes me feel old. You know the stereotype about the old people who are unable or unwilling to embrace new technology? It’s not that I don’t get it, it’s just that I don’t want to. I used to use those ICR boards back in the stone age, and I used the AOL chatrooms before that. Discord feels exactly like them. So it’s not a matter of failing to embrace a new technology, it’s more a matter of not having any interest in re-embracing an ancient one. I guess. I’m trying though.

On a totally unrelated note, Rest in Peace Meat Loaf. My sister had Bat Out of Hell when it was actually current, if you can imagine a world that far in the past. I would occasionally take it for a spin when she wasn’t around.

Bob Saget

The entertainment world is just dropping like flies. We lost Bob Saget tonight. We were just watching clips of his stand up a couple of days ago.

I thought Full House was awful. America’s Funniest Home Videos was okay for a season or so and then it was unwatchable. I associated Bob Saget to both of those things and completely wrote him off.

Then I saw him doing stand up. I don’t remember where, did he do something for HBO? It was raunchy and filthy and hysterical. It was as far from Full House as you could get.

Then I saw The Aristocrats. Suddenly the man was a legend. A disgusting, foul legend.

Rest In Peace, Bob Saget.

ADDENDUM: My otherwise touching tribute to the memory of a great comedian, spoiled by the fact that I typo’d his name in the title of the post. Well, just fuck me. Sorry about that.