Rolling Obituary Thread 2024

Henry Fambrough, last of the original Spinners, 85

The Murakami interview book had a ton of musical insights. Surprised at how enjoyable of a read it is.

Ozawa has highs and lows but his Chicago recording of le sacre is an absolute knockout, one of my three or four favorites (among many many) of that work.

Toni Stern, a breezy young Californian who became a trusted lyricist for Carole King, providing the words for the enduring standard “It’s Too Late” and many other songs during Ms. King’s flowering as a chart-topping solo artist, died on Jan. 17 at her home in Santa Ynez, Calif., near Santa Barbara. She was 79.

Her husband and only immediate survivor, Jerry Rounds, confirmed the death. He did not specify the cause.

Ms. Stern, a Los Angeles native, was an aspiring painter and poet living in Laurel Canyon, an enclave popular with the Los Angeles rock elite, in the late 1960s. It was there that she met Ms. King, who had moved west from New Jersey after a painful breakup with her husband and songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin, with whom she had formed one of the decade’s powerhouse hit-making duos.

The two hit it off immediately. “When I moved to California in 1968, she was the epitome of a free-spirited Laurel Canyon woman,” Ms. King wrote in a Facebook post after Ms. Stern’s death. “She lived in a hillside house with her dog, Arf, surrounded by books, record albums, plants and macramé.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/arts/music/toni-stern-dead.html

She lived in a hillside house with her dog, Arf, surrounded by books, record albums, plants and macramé

Life goals

Indeed. Wonder what else was in that house. Might be some stuff for In every 70s US home ever

did Arf choose his own name?

As posted on the Can thread, Damo Suzuki

Oh my god wow

Wow.

I know we're still at the start of the deluge, but the passing of all these one-of-a-kind people just breaks my heart. I feel lucky to have shared a world with them.

Emil.y shared a stage with him once!

ah jeez, not damo ffs

a true giant

what a shit day :( RIP Damo, I'm still losing my vitamin C.

Oof. He was going to tour the US in the Spring of 2020, and I was just about to buy my ticket for the Houston show when everything stopped.

Dang man. He played in town here a decade or so ago and I can't remember what prevented me going but something did. Gah. R.I.P. weird major dude.

Bob Moore of Bob’s Red Mill, 94

RIP Günter Brus - one for the 'Art groups formed in the 60s or later, with every single member dead' thread.

Indeed.

Just revived the Aktionists thread

RIP mr bob red mill, i enjoy his muesli & steel cut oats

94's a pretty good ad for your own product. A couple of local bakeries make my regular granola but in a pinch there's always some excellent Bob's stuff right at my corner store.

The Bob's muesli is really good, and his chickpea flour is also excellent

I sang under Seiji Ozawa’s baton multiple times from 1999 through 2003. He was an amazing conductor; the only one I can think of who memorized the scores of the pieces he was conducting and danced on the podium as much as he conducted. His musical instincts were unparalleled and his ability to to lead an orchestra and choir through the emotions channeled by each performance was an awe-inspiring thing to witness, let alone be a part of.

He always asked the chorus to memorize the score as well, so we would have a stronger connection to him and be able to respond immediately to whatever gestures or adjustments he would add to the live performance. This was initially nerve-wracking to me but as I got used to the environment, I noticed that his physicality was very much matched to the score, to the point where you could tell where you were in the piece by how Seiji was dancing. In some performances it felt like he had transformed himself into a living score, making his body express where we were and prepping the runway for our entrances so they were never a surprise, even though he almost never did the “your part comes in NOW” death stare common to many conductors across all performance levels. He was a world-class talent who was always generous towards and appreciative of the all-volunteer chorus singing with his orchestra, never making us feel like second-class musicians to the professional world-class orchestra on the stage with us and never sequestering himself from us at BSO social events.

I only sang with him for four years, but those four years were a foundational experience for me. I’ve sung almost every master work composed for orchestra and chorus as a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, often under his baton. I met multiple internationally successful soloists and even became friends with a few of them. I’ve traveled to Europe with them, all expenses paid. Most importantly, I learned that I was a better chorister than I had realized, and that I could sing practically anything with practically anyone. I don’t think I would have been confident enough to join a fledgling opera chorus without my TFC experience, and I don’t know that I would have been confident enough to join a small professional church chamber choir or that I would have stayed with them for over two decades without several years of sharing the stage with some of the biggest musical names on the planet (Renee Fleming, Dame Felicity Lott, Jane Eaglan, Bryn Terfel, Denyce Graves, Christine Goerke, Ben Heppner, Thomas Quasthof, Hei-Kyung Hong, Vanessa Williams, The Pogues, Take 6, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Aaron Neville, and more). Simply put, I don’t end up with credits on Mountain Goats albums without singing in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus under Seiji Ozawa’s baton. It transformed the trajectory of my musical life. I will forever be grateful for the experience.

Rest well, Maestro Ozawa.

Far out. Wonderful and deeply insightful remembrance, thank you for sharing such vivid experiences.

Thanks for that, DJP. Very cool that you got to work with him!

rip

Great post djp

Thanks for sharing, really appreciated reading that.

Yeah, that sounds like an amazing experience.

Awesome!

incredible! thx for sharing djp

That's a beautiful remembrance

such a cool obit

this is just blindingly awesome imo

He always asked the chorus to memorize the score as well, so we would have a stronger connection to him and be able to respond immediately to whatever gestures or adjustments he would add to the live performance. This was initially nerve-wracking to me but as I got used to the environment, I noticed that his physicality was very much matched to the score, to the point where you could tell where you were in the piece by how Seiji was dancing. In some performances it felt like he had transformed himself into a living score, making his body express where we were and prepping the runway for our entrances so they were never a surprise, even though he almost never did the “your part comes in NOW” death stare common to many conductors across all performance levels.

Thank you so much djp. Really.

This is a whole lot to ask, but I’m in a private classical music Google group where we have been discussing Ozawa’s legacy, would you mind if I quote your paragraph re the memorizing and internalizing to my friends there

That's really great to read, DJP.

There is a picture at my in-laws' home of Ozawa holding my daughter when she was a toddler. Seemed like an amazing person from the personal stories I've heard.

That’s fine, JnJ

https://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2024/0211/1431745-shock-as-kelvin-kiptum-dies-in-road-accident/

fuck

Ah damn that's awful. My dad will be really sad to hear this.

shit, his way with that run was inspiring.

xxm Thanks for that post DJP that is amazing

Kiptum dying is terrible. Just 4 months ago I was watching him run by me on his way to setting a WR. Only his third marathon!

Yeah, so incredibly sad. Kiptum was only 24. He was on the cusp of breaking the human barriers of what was thought to be impossible. Most running fans believed he would run an official sub 2 hour marathon this year. His training plans were mind boggling (180 miles a week?!) and his race speed intimidating. Could have been bigger than Bolt or Kipchoge.

Seriously, due to his inexperience running marathons I don't think even he knew what he was fully capable of. Iirc, after winning in Chicago he admitted he ran it relatively conservatively, and that he had plenty of gas left in the tank.

Bob Edwards (he of the soothing NPR voice)

Kiptum vs Kipchoge at the Paris Olympics could have been the greatest head to head battle in marathon history: one going for a third straight gold, the other being the only real threat to the crown in the last 5-8 years. Only one other runner has gone under 2:03 since 2020.

i just ran 5.5 miles in about 45 min and thought that was pretty good, i'll never understand some of those marathon numbers.

Yeah that pace is insane, basically 4 1/2-minute miles for 26 miles. Seems almost impossible.

From Chicago. Just beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqpx1aJXgZQ