Rolling Obituary Thread: 2018

Alias, the anticon guy

There’s no proper way to say this or deal with this, but so I want to put this out there and then step away for a while. Our great friend and longtime collaborator Brendon Whitney (@AliasAnticon) passed away of a heart attack yesterday. No one was nicer. No one. We love you, Bren pic.twitter.com/4TxOCPJo2z

— Sage Francis (@SageFrancis) March 31, 2018

damn, he can't have been very old at all. Loads of ppl in their 40's dying of heart attacks recently, well not all of them famous, but it seems to be a thing I've noticed a lot recently - including an old school pal.

Aw, Selwyn. The ubiquitous and emphatically not-Northern David Lodge playing his brother in that pilot. A little verklempt at the boom-in-shot around 3min. And applause from the studio audience over the titles! Another time.

Revived his own separate thread, but Steven Bochco:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-bochco-dead-hill-street-blues-la-law-nypd-blue-creator-741199

rip my tv watching in high school & college :(

never locked into any of his shows cept Hill Street, but that was certainly a landmark

Winnie Mandela

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/03/janka-nabay-bubu-music-sierra-leone

The 54 year-old Nabay was back in his homeland of Sierra Leone when he became ill and died. He had been living in recent years in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and DC .

oh shit, he played here just a couple of months ago. man had some jams, rip janka

Ray Wilkins

It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we have learnt that former England midfielder Ray Wilkins has passed away, aged 61.

The thoughts and condolences of everyone at the PFA are with his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/pr0JBahJgQ

— PFA (@PFA) April 4, 2018

I'll go for the "if you haven't got anything good about the departed, then stfu" post!

Isao Takahata, director of Graveyard of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Tale of Princess Kaguya etc etc
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180406-00000503-sanspo-ent

Eric Bristow!

that's big!

only 60 wtf? thought he was much older than that

also i'm surely not the first person to think that he's gone out on a single and double top

180 was never on. RIP Eric nonetheless.

pianist - composer Cecil Taylor, one of the most important and influential figures in western music.

shit

wtf no

Wow

It's weird - Cecil is the third major avant-jazz figure, after Bill Dixon and Ornette Coleman, who seems to have given his last big interview to me (all for The Wire). I've always wanted to interview Anthony Braxton and Pharoah Sanders, but in a way I kinda...don't?

yeah man, steer clear!

Omg no...gutted

Speaking of Sanders, has anyone seen him play recently? Is he still bringin' it? He's scheduled for a local festival in June, and that might make me go.

xp sorry be be a little crass.

He's playing here NYC in about two weeks. I've heard he's still good, if obviously slightly mellowed with age, so I might check it out.

Saw him maybe seven years ago and he was great. Last time I saw him two-three years ago he hardly overblew, maybe not at all, was too inside for my taste.

Last time I saw Sanders he was barely there, really disappointing. But I don't want him to die!

Jeez, RIP Cecil

Soul songwriter and Holland-Dozier-Holland collaborator who also worked with George Clinton Ron Dunbar, died April 4 at 77. https://www.soultracks.com/story-ron-dunbar-dies

Susan Anspach

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/susan-anspach-dead-five-easy-pieces-blume-love-actress-was-75-1100288

oh shit not cecil

So sad about Cecil. RIP.

RIP Cecil. I had a bad feeling that thread revive would be a shit one :(

Aw, Isao Takahata. Our son has had Totoro, Ponyo and Kiki on rotation since we bought some Ghibli DVDs last month.

I'm sad about that one too. It reminded me that I should watch Grave of the Fireflies at some point if I can take it.

Yeah, same here.

I lasted 25 minutes. If you’re a parent the thing is an emotional shotgun.

Takahata and Taylor in one day. This world is hurting.

Only Yesterday got a new English release in 2016 and is excellent.

I'd heard of Cecil Taylor for long time but never really checked him out until we decided to name our son Cecil, and he was adopted from a woman named Taylor. She was the only person we told the name to before he was born.

I mentioned him to her after we told her the name we'd chosen and she, a 20 year old in a very chaotic period of her life, gave me most amazing "what the fuck kind of old man music nerd shit about 'free jazz' are you telling me right now?" look which still makes me laugh whenever I think about this.

never knew Anspach had a child with Nicholson.

I missed Susan Anspach. Have mentioned her many times on this board. She sure left a lasting impression based on the four films she did between '70 and '73. (Actually, it's been a while since I saw The Landlord, so I can't remember how big her role is.)

French singer/songwriter Jacques Higelin: http://en.rfi.fr/20180406-jacques-higelin-obit

Sad about Ron Dunbar (x-post above) who co-wrote Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” plus P-Funk songs

RIP-Funk Ron :(

Yvonne Staples

Mitzi Shore, owner of The Comedy Store

...and mother of Pauly!

yes