Rolling Obituary Thread 2023

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.

German author Martin Walser has died at the age of 96.

Beatle Bob, a colorful guy at a ton of shows in Chicago, SXSW, and elsewhere.

Wow. For some reason I thought he was gone already, I hadn't seen him at any shows for at least a decade, maybe.

Oh, he had ALS, that's terrible.

He was such a presence at the Sleazefest garage rock weekends in Chapel Hill. Doing the mash potato nonstop!

Disney/animation/comics historian Jim Korkis

Adrian Street, professional wrestler. 82.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/mcs/media/images/75590000/jpg/_75590842_as_dad_mine_624x431.jpg

Hearing rumors about Paul Reubens??

confirmed via his FB/IG pages, looks like :(

Yup, very sadly

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/paul-reubens-dead-pee-wee-herman-1235683504/

Noooo!

This is a real bummer

Fuck, that's a rough one. Just was watching the episode of What We Do In The Shadows where he shows up as one of the members of the vampiric counsel. I watched his shows and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure so much as a child.

hate the way he was treated for doing exactly what people did in xrated movies at the time.

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

Oh my god :(

Nooooooo

hate the way he was treated for doing exactly what people did in xrated movies at the time.

It was insane how twisted that was. When the news broke I remember people in small town Central Illinois talking about it as if he did it in the middle of a mid-day Batman Returns matinee screening. Also see his weird 2002 arrest for his collection of exotica and the fallout from that. People really had it in for this guy and really wanted to take him down.

oh shit, this is too bad

shit