Rolling Obituary Thread 2023

Johnny Rotten, Full-Time Carer

I remember an intervew in Q a couple decades ago, long before her illness, where he briefly dropped his mask to state his love for his wife.

was that one of those "who does he think he is?" pieces? I remember that too. He also waxed lyrical about the first Led Zeppelin album iirc.

His track “Hawaii” was unexpectedly lovely and as a tribute to his wife seems all the more poignant now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HURFlF8CyV8

tears for sid vicious vs full time carer FITE

The way Mr. Lydon went from icon to pariah so quickly is one the major wtf moments from 20th century cultural history. That Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Morrison have followed him down that path just makes it more head-scratchy than it already was.

Shoot yourself in the foot/dick enough times, people will start to be reluctant to stand too close to you, lest you miss.

I feel like there's still a bit of provocateur with Lydon - like "how can I piss these people off like I did in the 1970's"

I don't see that being the case with Morrissey or Van the Man

Definitely not with Van Morrison. RIP Nora.

Friend who's worked w/John reckons his entourage are at least part of the issue, that he feels the need to play up to a certain side of his politics they agree with.

I've never been a Sex Pistols guy (tho PiL are pretty awesome), but I love the Lydon of The Filth & The Fury.

Land speed record holder and Beach Boys song subject Craig Breedlove, 86

Ah man, I remember reading about him when I was a kid.

Vivian Trimble 5/24/63- 4/4/23
We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved friend and band member Viv on Tuesday. We are devastated beyond words to lose our graceful sister. (More info on FB/Insta)
Gabby, Jill, Kate pic.twitter.com/0T5jwaUHYQ

— Luscious Jackson (@LusciousJckson) April 7, 2023

Never considered this angle

There seems to be something deeply unnerving about what happens to U.K. celebrities after their emigration to California, of what they subsequently become: Morrissey, Van Morrison, John Cleese, Lydon etc. Has anyone seriously examined this, or even speculatively written about it?

— @Agape (@InertialConatus) April 7, 2023

Doesn't really work because Van Morrison only became an irredemable bawbag when he moved back to Northern Ireland (that's in UK, no surrender).

one of youse

one of youse

Perhaps not the thread for this, but I think Morrissey is as much provocateur as Lydon is - whatever his actual beliefs, and I do believe they're abhorrent, they never seem as important to him as the imperative that the world pay attention to him. Van Morrison by contrast is I think entirely sincere in his brainwormed terrible beliefs, which makes him a sadder and less enervating case than Lydon or Morrissey in my book.

Since Lydon began to show a conservative shift, I've had to wonder if his relationship with Ari Up (i.e. having to take over raising her children for her) was one of the cracks in the dam.

Paul Cattermole from S Club 7. Only 46.

Wow, aren’t they doing a big reunion tour.

That’s terrible. “No suspicious circumstances.” 😞

fucking hell

aw :(

"No suspicious circumstances" is just police-speak for "it doesn't look like a crime was committed". RIP.

Since Lydon began to show a conservative shift, I've had to wonder if his relationship with Ari Up (i.e. having to take over raising her children for her) was one of the cracks in the dam.

This led me on a bit of a trail. This little Q&A is quite an eye-opener. What a family life he has had.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/31/john-lydon-my-family-values

Good grief that’s quite a CV :(

"No suspicious circumstances" is just police-speak for "it doesn't look like a crime was committed". RIP.

Re: UK celebs moving to California, I think Southern California in particular is a place where most people feel free to let their freak flag fly. This is, apparently, not limited to people with inherently weird or progressive ideas, and the rightward shift is perhaps more pronounced as one ages. The phenomenon is equally home-grown, see, e.g., Exene Cervenka.

Bolinas, or maybe even Marin County in general, both of considerable hippie heritage, mentioned as anti-vax stronghold[s), even before Covid pandemic, and I've had old friends, originally earning citations as flower children, whose quaint folk beliefs eventually emerged as overtly right-wing crackpotizm--haven't contacted any of them recently, I'm afraid they've gone full Q, if they weren't already, basically---this goes way back in Cali Gold(en State) Rush Promised Land Descendants of Pioneers delusional programming, chains of fooles (see also Didion's great Where I Was From, what she peeled away from, a lifelong effort).

Although Exene was like that early on, and she's from Florida.

Of course I also know sane-as-meee peeps from both states, so can't blame it all on them

Ian Bairnson, the Pilot guitarist who also performed on Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, has died at the age of 69.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/09/ian-bairnson-guitarist-with-pilot-and-for-kate-bush-dies-aged-69

:( too young. Here he is explaining the double necked guitar to some Austrians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADlo6Xah0j0

Richard Ng, comedic character actor who appeared in a million Hong Kong movies of the 80s/90s including many famous Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung ones.

character actor michael lerner, who was nominated for a best supporting actor oscar for barton fink and was also in elf and a million other things: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/04/09/michael-lerner-dead-barton-fink-elf/11632848002/

Richard Ng is great in Magnificent Warriors.

Mad cartoonist Al Jaffee, at 102.

twitter comment ftw: "I will fold his obituary into thirds to reveal a totaly different, and mildly offensive, obituary."

Wow, RIP

(As a kid, I always wondered how they stayed afloat, when the mag had no ads and cost 65 cents)

dang, I remember when that rag was 35 cents cheap

RIP, no idea Al Jaffee was still alive.

Jah Shaka:

So sad to read Jah Shaka has departed this planet..
Rest in peace.
A heroic figure who kept Dub alive, when few cared...
I spent many all nighters being transfixed by his passion and selections..https://t.co/Y8LwzN4Lhq
🔊🔥♥️🔥

— The Bug(official) (@thebugzoo) April 12, 2023

RIP

Meir Shalev :(

https://www.timesofisrael.com/meir-shalev-beloved-writer-of-fiction-and-complicated-israeli-lives-dies-at-74/

Anne Perry, the British crime writer who helped bludgeon her friend’s mother to death as a teenager and was the inspiration for Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures has died in Los Angeles, aged 84.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/12/anne-perry-killer-turned-writer-dies-84

Mary Quant, 93

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/apr/13/fashion-designer-dame-mary-quant-dies

RIP person I etc.

Wow, 93! RIP MQ.

RIP, creator of my go-to lipstick in the early 90s.

I still have some MQ dead stock fishnet tights still in their packaging!

Murray Melvin, actor.