RIP ILX poster Rickey Wright (aka "If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up")

RIP, hope that everyone who knew him is doing alright

Cripes. RIP.

For posterity, his final post

1964 and we gonna dance some more, or: Who loves the Contours?

I say "Whole Lotta Woman" is borderline atonal and great; my friend suggests that it's deliberately avant-garde.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, February 7, 2009 7:05 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark

whoa WTF. RIP :(

this is giving me some chills

That's really terrible. I hope he didn't suffer.

Nobody deserves this fate. I can only join everyone in wishing his family well. RIP.

R.I.P. Such sad news.

I only had direct contact with Rickey a couple times, but he seemed like a really sweet, smart, decent guy (I didn't know his ILX name was Timi Yuro etc). And his blog often made me laugh; I linked to posts of his on a few occasions.

I looked up Timi Yuro because of seeing his name. RIP.

Facebook group in his memory:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64135468627&ref=mf

oh man, this is really sad. always struck me as the sort of poster i should listen to, and could probably learn a lot from. RIP.

omg. what. this is insane

Damn. I liked him.

awful news, RIP. Always enjoyed his posts.

RIP. He was a valuable poster. How awful.

RIP, Rrrickey.

Complaining about a book from the dollar store is one of those single-posts-that-sum-up-ILX.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Thursday, February 5, 2009 4:54 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I didn't know him personally, nor did I ever really have any conversations with him, but each time I'd notice his name on a thread, I could usually figure I'd read something interesting or at the very least, otm.

ive never had this experience before...he was a great and smart guy from what i knew from his posts, and the fact that he died irl is something that's really surreal only knowing him from a message board. sorry to all you guys who knew him

I moved to Seattle with Rickey in 1998 and after we broke up we remained very close friends - having amusing/stupid/sometimes pointless arguments and discussions about music almost daily. I'm the "friend" from the Contours thread, I love that damn song so much and like sooo many others, I never would have found it on my own. I'm going to have a Guinness or 10 in his honor.

http://a3.vox.com/6a00d4141c2996685e00d09e63da4bbe2b-500pi

this is really sad...rest in peace...

xxp: I was hoping you are doing well, as well as his immediate family. What sweet folks.

I can't say the right words right now. I've known Rickey for years here in Seattle. All the music talk we've had. rickey was more family to me than my actual family.

Rest in Peace

this is really very sad. rest in peace.

our paths never really crossed but this is very sad, shocking. RIP.

RIP

...

I think I noticed his name so well/every time because my dad's a big fan of TY.
Shit man, this is just sad. Higgs, Rev, and for all those who knew him much better, I feel for you.

Rest in Peace

rest in peace ... i always enjoyed rickey's posts (even though i didn't know him very well).

Rest in peace - condolences to all family/friends - his posts on ilx were always good replies/good reads

great taste in music, sharp sense of humor, personable posting style, he seemed like a good man. this is a shock. best wishes to his family/

:( very sad. thank you for letting people know, rev.

^ terrible username right now, btw, i apologize

damn, i had no contact with him at all but this is still terribly sad. RIP and much love to friends and family

RIP, this is so very sad, my condolences to rickey's friends and family.

Baruch Dayan Emet. :(

He was hands down one of the sweetest people I've ever known. We would get drinks and talk music all the time. I adored him. I can't even describe how much I'm going to miss him.

If Rickey Wright would be still alive, most other posters could shut up. RIP.

^^^^^just what I was about to say.

Sad news indeed. :(

RIP

I will probably be posting snippets on this thread for a while. Forgive me. I'd found out about the stroke when I got back to Seattle a week ago tonight; it floored me but we all thought he was going to get better; the opposite happened. It's been a very edgy week for his friends, including a few others (the higgs in particular--his closest friend, an absolutely remarkable woman who's been running interference for a lot of folks in disseminating news, among many other things), not to mention his family.

Rickey really could talk to absolutely anybody about anything, with total empathy and zero sense that anybody was imposing on the other. He was very funny and very lively--not loud, just enthusiastic in a way that other people could get caught up in, very easily. That personality type is rare with music writers (I certainly don't have it) and without. We'd agree to meet up for an hour and it would turn to four. It didn't take anything to get him talking, or for him to listen--I don't know many better listeners than Rickey was. He was such a cool fucking person and the fact that he went as young as he did (mid-40s, I believe) is devastating.

What a terrible thing to have to read about. Poor guy. My condolences to his friends & family.

RIP

I don't really have more to say; I didn't know Rickey IRL and hardly interacted with him here, but I enjoyed reading his posts. My thoughts and condolences are with those closer to him.

How awful. I'm so sorry to read this news, especially for someone so young. Rest well.

I don't really have more to say; I didn't know Rickey IRL and hardly interacted with him here, but I enjoyed reading his posts. My thoughts and condolences are with those closer to him.

^^^^^^^ :( :( :( R.I.P.

If I don't make sense, blame the double d of nyquil.

Rickey was a "sports fan" about music, culture, and anything else that was the topic. I mean that in the way that Matos above described better. He was passionate and engaging about all of this, but you never felt intimidated by his passionate rhetoric. I'd say the same for all my Seattle peeps actually, but Rickey's delivery was unique. So many stories he had yet to tell. He could have lived to be 400, and that still wouldn't have been enough time for him to tell them all.

I also remember him at David Ritz speech at EMP 2008. Rickey was the de facto Marvin Gaye-ologist of our bunch. Even if someone else knew a little more, I didn't know a bigger Gaye fan. So I'm glad he got to see Ritz (writer and close acquaintance of Gaye) before this. He will be missed tremendously, especially at EMP 2009.

I'm still trembling when I see posts of his less than two weeks ago, like talking about "aqua boogie" on the ILM thread about Jet magazine 1979 picks. "why?" I pound on my bed. :(. But I know someday these posts will be whst they are -- testament to his sweetness and greatness.

Many heartfelt hugs to higgs, Morley t, rev, matos, Jen m, Charles my partner who met rickey once, and all of rickey's family and friends.

Maybe the most telling aspect about him is that when I'd tell friends--friends who knew Rickey also--that he was 45 or 46 (still not entirely sure), all of them were surprised: "He seemed so much younger." He did! He seemed like a teenager in a lot of ways. He had a keen sense of silliness--he wasn't silly, per se, he just appreciated it a lot. (YAAHH TRICK YAAHH!) He knew how to have a good time. I think that comes across in what he wrote, professionally and on ILM alike.

I remember we had first bonded on ILM over our mutual love of Stevie Wonder. When we first met in person, we started chatting in the EMP bar, not knowing who each other were. Eventually I stuck out my hand and said something to the effect of "Oh, by the way, my name is Rodney," to which he smiled and replied, "I'm Rickey. We both love Stevie Wonder." What a guy. I went down to the hospital and sang "If It's Magic" to him the other day. It just seemed like the right thing. He wasn't awake, but I'd like to think he heard me.

Don't think we had much ILX interaction but seemed like a really solid poster and also a dude on the basis of people's testimony above, RIP

"A dude" doesn't even begin to come close. He was that dude.

Dan Gibson has a brief piece up at Idolator:

http://idolator.com/5157212/rickey-wright-rip

Fred Mills has another piece at Blurt:

http://blurt-online.com/news/view/1874/

shit, how awful...didn't interact w/rickey much but he always had a positive presence on threads. condolences to all who knew him.

really terrible news. i didn't interact too much with him but he had excellent taste in music and seemed to just be a laid-back, sharp, intelligent kind of guy.

Always enjoyed his writing in Seattle Weekly. Didn't realize he was If Timi, so at the moment it's still almost like losing two people.

I thought it was two people too until a week or two ago when I clicked on a link he posted to his Pazz & Jop ballot at which point I had a V8 hand-to-forehead moment.

I'm... kind of too stunned to write much right now. I've known he had a stroke since speaking with the Higgs on Friday, and I heard that he was not going to recover on Sunday night (I talked to the Higgs from Canter's Deli in L.A.). In the year since I've moved here Rickey became one of my best male friends in Seattle, and it was only last week we last hung out for the last time.

I want to write something longer, but I have to share with you this bit from a conversation we had walking around Volunteer Park the other day. It's not profound or beautiful, but it kind of crystallizes my memory of him. It's a paraphrase:

Rickey: James Brown had it, man. Whatever it was. In the fifties the Flames had it; they were just rock and roll - straight up. In the sixties when everything was exaggerated, there was James strutting around the Apollo big as life. The seventies were about style, and you know there's nobody who was style like him. Eighties, nineties Rocky IV, Bambaataa, MC Hammer. Honestly, he had more it in one clipping of fingernail that people like you or me have in their entire possession.

almost exactly a year ago, a good and close friend of mine died from a stroke, just a few years older than rickey. he too was a special person, who had an effect on many people's lives, and his untimely passing left many us dazed and numb and with a big hurt that still feels very raw and real. two pieces of simple advice and consolation helped me, to some extent, make sense of the senselessness of it all, and i repeat them here in the hope that they bring some measure of comfort to all the people who knew rickey, here and elsewhere, who are grieving and sad right now. firstly, that it is always good to remember the good times, the happy hours and days and conversations and letters and emails and so on- they can never be denied or erased. and secondly, those that survive strokes are often left in a reduced, awful condition that dims their spark, steals their speech, clouds their mind - in short, consigns them to the very fate they would have least wanted for themselves.

RIP

condolences to friends and family, the guy was inspiring in his knowledge of pre-60's music.

RIP you king you

RIP

damn.

RIP

it's sad to lose one of our own, and so young

but at least he ended his days in a way we'd all like to: surrounded by people who care deeply

I went down to the hospital and sang "If It's Magic" to him the other day. It just seemed like the right thing. He wasn't awake, but I'd like to think he heard me.

― The Reverend, Friday, February 20, 2009 2:40 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark

Timi Yuro's Hurt just happend to come on as I accidentally had it in a Soul playlist. Very reflective moment. RIP

I didn't even know him personally, but I incidently stumbled upon a lot of Timi Yuro 33's today. Which was strange, for I had never seen them before at this place I go to a lot. I bought...

Rickey, you're missed.

That's horrible news. I used to read his writing in the Washington City Paper and here.

Just hearing this now. A sweet guy. Never caught 'tude from him once here. RIP.

Listen to "Whole Lotta Woman" in his honor:

:(
Looks like he was a fantastic guy.
Toughts go to all that had the privilege to know him in RL.

Rickey, on the basis of your posts alone, you appeared to be a mighty dude. Some of the moving testimonies here and elsewhere prove it beyond doubt.

My sincere and heartfelt condolences to his friends, family and loved ones.

RIP.

I always loved what he wrote. This is very sad news. My condolences to his family.

This is terrible news. RIP, Rickey. My sincere condolences to those who knew him.

[i]RIP. that was one of my favorite usernames in the history of ILX.[i]

Same here. Very sad news.

a nice obituary, if there is such a thing.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Friday, February 20, 2009 3:00 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha he wore his encyclopedic knowledge so lightly, though. it's really great to read how beloved he was in Norfolk, too--nice to see how broadly that was known.

― Matos W.K., Friday, February 20, 2009 3:15 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

man I must have just missed working with him. I was at the Virginian-Pilot from 1998-2003 and did some music writing and edited the CD reviews there for a while. didn't know him on the board or in real life but this is sad to hear

smiled when I saw this btw
New (Old) Warehouse Decree: EVERY FRIDAY is CREEDENCE FRIDAY

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/blackplasticbag/2009/02/21/rickey-wright-rip/

Washington City Paper remembers him.

Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2008771370_wrightobit22m.html

Rip. Way too early obv.

being a "middle-distance" person, a fond aquaintance, i've been pondering for several days how to pay tribute to rickey. rickey's sweetness, his love of and knowledge about music, have been well and rightly documented. my perception of him, based on a handful of meetings at faps and parties, is a little different.

he and i never talked about music! but we danced at parties, and i am compelled to report that that man was a fun and foxy dancer. his enthusiasm communicated itself in his moves, in the smile on his face, in the way he nodded his head to the beat as if to say, "yes! yes, this is it!" the last party we had, rickey fucking made the party for me with his dancing. i would have danced with him any time.

the last time i saw him was at a meet-up where none of my regulars were in attendance, so i felt a little out of my element. but rickey and i started chatting and that's how i spent the rest of my evening. we talked about projects each of us were working on, our mothers, thanksgiving traditions. interesting and interested. well-spoken. sweet, yes indeed. to a person that was one of the first words spoken when our little "middle-distance" group learned of and shared information about rickey's hospitalization.

we parted that night -- i also must tell you that he was a impressive hugger -- saying, "we should hang out some time!" except we didn't, and i am so very sad that we can't.

wow, i didn't see this.
very sad.
did not know the man but i would echo the others that said he seemed like a great poster and a nice guy.
my thoughts go out to his friends and family.

same here, seems like one of the good ones

If I ever get in any kind of music trivia contest I'm going to channel him, both to have access to his incredible body of knowledge and to partake of the class with with which he displayed it.

A few things got posted over on ILM

Farewell Rickey Wright (ILM link to ILE R.I.P. thread for ILM poster "If Timi Yuri Would Still be Alive"

Just posted on Facebook, for those in Seattle or nearby:

---

Just wanted to let you all know that Rickey's Seattle memorial service has been scheduled for Saturday, March 14, 2009 at The Sunset in Ballard.

Please mark your calendars for this special celebration. We'll have DJs on hand spinning Rickey-inspired tunes, so plan to join us as we smile and remember our friend.

We'll be in touch with more details as they develop.

The Sunset
5433 Ballard Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98107
(206) 784-4880
http://www.sunsettavern.com/

This is shocking. Rickey was a freelance music writer for the Richmond newspaper where I wrote obituaries around 1989 or 1990. We both did concert reviews subbing for the regular critic who didn't much want to stay up all night at Metallica or D.O.A. I often ran into him and his long coat at shows. We reconnected briefly through ILX a couple years back. Great guy. Excellent writer. So knowledgeable. RIP.

He kinda had this running joke with me where he'd post my fave Olivia Newton John album cover on threads just to get a reaction from me. I thought it was funny. Very sorry not to have ever met the guy.

Just remembered what my be my favorite of Rickey's store of ideas: "The difference between 1984 and 1986 is that in 1984, Huey Lewis & the News had a hit with 'I Want a New Drug,' and in 1986 their hit was 'Stuck with You.'"

always so happy to see one of rick's posts :)

Agreed! Still miss him, still very glad he was here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asw-fjJRogU