Rolling Obituary Thread 2023

just watched the last few episodes of 30 Rock and they featured Tony Bennett singing and someone ripping up a photo of Sinead

the pope photo rip is an all time amazing moment and it came at a time in the US when that shit was much less likely to be accepted by the general public (as it is, it still would generate controversy even today, but anti-religious messages have a bit more acceptance now. this was a time where she knew she'd have just about nobody on her side afterwards and she did it anyway like a badass).

Not surprised even later SNL people (i.e., the 30 Rock crew) would be particularly stupid about it tbh; she made clear how limp that 'radical' show was

cryptosicko otm about the general tone

in my mind i conflated her controversy w/the Andrew Dice Clay appearance, in that they happened in close proximity, which was mostly wrong -- she actually cancelled her appearance on the show in protest of his appearance, and it wasn't until two years later that the photo rip occurred.

It's an amazing performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0VpfiMcPPA

XP She did SNL twice: the S16 premiere in the fall of '90 (presumably a make-up for the Dice Clay thing, which happened the prior spring), and then the notorious appearance in October '92.

and her hands didn't shake, damn

Here's the Madonna appearance, which was _over three months later _, in January of'93.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDtQdrb87Fs

Joe Pesci's episode was also notable when his musical guest, Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors, torn up a photo of Greil Marcus.

just go ahead now

I feel like the world owed her a lot more joy

a million times this

Seeing as we’re all sharing stories about Sinéad, I remember this one from when she tried to help Irish trans youth in 2017.

She never punched down to any one. She did so much for Ireland, a shame Ireland couldn’t do the same for her. pic.twitter.com/EoUH6a7GkV

— 🏳️‍⚧️ Dean Tāne 🏳️‍🌈 (@Maccadaynu) July 26, 2023

Really love this tweet

Respect to Sinead….. She stood for something… Unlike most people…. Rest Easy..🙏🏽 https://t.co/3nbO3w22zv

— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) July 26, 2023

rip and im not sure when i last said it and meant it so sincerely

what a hero, fuck this world and its letdowns

She really seemed to be the first in that vocal style.. thinking of the yelping in "Mandinka", later to be heard in The Cranberries and even Shakira

^^^(though Siouxsie was clearly an antecedent)

Dolores O'Riordan, rest her soul, was a clone of Sinead.

sorry but there are zero clones
her voice was once in a lifetime

people are mentioning Sinatra and Pesci but let's not forget how Camille Paglia said that in Sinéad's case, child abuse was justified. Professor of humanities, my ass.

Last paragraph of the Telegraph eulogy vs. last paragraph of the Guardian obituary pic.twitter.com/4JK0cUF7Hw

— Tabitha McIntosh (@TabitaSurge) July 27, 2023

The last paragraph of the Guardian's "death as news" has that beat:

• This article was amended on 26 July 2023. An earlier version included a tribute to Sinéad O’Connor from a Twitter fan account dedicated to Seamus Heaney, who died in 2013.

She "lacked the determination" to stay a pop star? Fuck me, that is a disgusting take. She's said more than once the fact her Pope outrage tanked her "pop" career was basically a blessing.

One unfortunate aspect for me personally is I now know about this irredemable piece of shit journalist, John Waters, she was in a relationship with.

Geez, what was Sinatra's deal? This was even before the SNL incident:

In 1990, the Irish singer made headlines when she insisted that the National Anthem not be played prior to her performance at the Garden State Arts Center, now known as the PNC Bank Arts Center, in Holmdel.

“I sincerely harbor no disrespect for America or Americans, but I have a policy of not having any national anthems played before my concerts in any country, not even my own, because they have nothing to do with music in general,” said O’Connor at the time.

She was vilified for her stance, and leading the chorus against her was Hoboken native Frank Sinatra, who played the arts center in the days after O'Connor's performance.

“She should leave the country. Her behavior is unforgivable,” said Sinatra. “For her sake, we’d better never meet.’

oh christ, that John Waters is the guy you always see pictured with Gemma O'Doherty and Farage.

Yeah he is a real fucking piece of work.

John Waters into the “multiculturalism” bit now. Immigrants “have no affinity or allegiance to the countries they end up in” HEAR HEAR

“This is our fault because we don’t demand it”. Applause. More applause. #Irexit

— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) February 3, 2018

Sinatra and Pesci a little too "quiet part out loud" about wanting to beat up a woman they disagree with.

Well Sinatra had plenty of experience in that didn’t he.

I think what's so hateful about that Guardian Sinead obit is the way it frames her whole life in negatives - "she lacked the obsessive drive needed…never had another hit…inability to edit her pronouncements...constitutionally unable to compromise…" Talk about removing agency😡

— Tracey Thorn (@tracey_thorn) July 27, 2023

Constitutionally unable is a pretty on the nose term to use considering the aspects of Irish life that suppressed her.

There's this one: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/27/sinead-oconnor-mental-health-struggles-parental-abuse

buncha xps did they used to play the national anthem before arena concerts? I have no memory of that being a thing. Sinead otm obviously!

oh christ, that John Waters is the guy you always see pictured with Gemma O'Doherty and Farage.

"national anthems...have nothing to do with music"

super otm

The Sinatra/O'Conner national anthem war of words resulted in another notorious SNL bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SdIJimk-w8

Oddly enough, O'Conner's first appearance on the show in '90 also marked the debuts (in separate sketches) of Chris Rock's Luther Campbell impression and Phil Hartman's Sinatra.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Melvin and Howard), 90

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/bo-goldman-dead-cuckoos-nest-melvin-howard-screenwriter-1235546036/

Looking back a bit but a new NYT article (gift link) is out about Frank Kozik, who died in May. Sadly it was self-inflicted.

ah shit :(

Keith Waldrop, poet, writer, teacher, publisher— An immense force in both “innovative” poetry and publishing of the past 60 years, not to mention his translation work. National Book Award winner, too! Age of 90.

a poem from him: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54245/advances

Randy Meisner, Eagles Co-Founder and ‘Take It To The Limit’ Singer, Dead at 77

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/randy-meisner-eagles-dead-obituary-1234796423/

aw rip, randy

That sucks. The only likable member of that band. Well maybe Joe Walsh too.

how dare u forget Timothy B Schmidt

but yes, he seemed like an ok nice dude

Poco's founding bassist!

Seemed like he'd been declining for ages, so not totally surprising.

Well, yeah RIP.

I was working at the William Morris Agency when they were booking the first Eagles reunion and I found out about Lewis Morgan - the Randy Meisner impersonator. He'd been cashing in as a Henley impersonator until Henley started having hits and everyone knew what he looked like so he shapeshifted to Meisner. He'd been grifting on it for years - getting free shit, chatting up women, and driving everyone in Eagles management crazy. He upped his game when the Eagles reunited, but there was so much money involved that I think Azoff hired the CIA to drop Morgan into an active volcano or at least the next best thing.

Meisner came by the office to sign some papers once. Seemed like a nice guy all too happy to have a lot of distance between himself and the music business. If you could hang onto a percentage of a song that becomes global you would be tempted to check out too. I was bummed when his health gave out.

one detail that tracks

A newspaper report in 1998 observed that “Meisner has said he wonders if the impersonator caused bad blood with his former bandmates.”

Frey would totally be upset is there wasn't also a Frey impersonator doing the same thing only better.

Ah, that's a shame. RIP Randy.

Lelia Goldoni, the actor best known as the female lead in John Cassavetes’ groundbreaking film Shadows, has died aged 86.