5 hours ago, Knuckledragger said:

Sam Kieth, Creator of The Maxx and Sandman, Has Died, Aged 63.

The Maxx was so good... RIP

Edited March 23Mar 23 by mikeymad

Rest in Soft Rockin Peace "& Crofts"

https://www.tmz.com/2026/03/26/dash-crofts-dead/#

Edited March 26Mar 26 by Voltron

Ross “The Boss” Friedman, Legendary Dictators and Manowar Guitarist, Dead at 72.

Godspeed, James Tolkan....

https://deadline.com/2026/03/james-tolkan-dead-back-to-the-future-top-gun-1236768221/

HS

Goddamn.  Just learned that DJ Dan died at 57.  I did a 4 hour set downstairs at the legendary afterhours club Rise in Boston while he headlined in the main room upstairs in late 2012.  A few months later, I helped run a show where he played in early 2013.

This was the upstairs before DJ Dan started playing.  The number of people in it tripled by the end of the night.

 

I don't have many photos of the downstairs ...because I DJ'd for 4 hours, but this is one long exposure taken with me braced against a couch.

 

The 2013 show was amazing.  I saw a bunch of jaded drum n bass and dubstep fans realizing that house music was a lot of fun.    I only spoke to him briefly, because I had a job (or more to the point, like 20 jobs) to do.  He seemed like a very chill, down to earth guy, especially for someone as famous as he was.  57 is crazy young to pass.

Appeared in my FB feed after reading your obit. Coincidence?

And the SF Chronicle https://mrf.lu/8yMD 

Edited March 31Mar 31 by Voltron

Tony Rivers -- did a lot of session work (backing vocals, arranging) with names I'm fond of -- Alan Parsons Project, Al Stewart, Roger Daltrey, Cliff Richard, et al.

This one is complex.  Hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa dead at 67.  The guy coined the term "hip hop."  Calling him a pioneer is an understatement.

The problem is that he was a child molester and got away with it for decades.  There is at least one alleged murder involved in the coverup of his crimes.  I can't say RIP in this case.

RIP Sid Krofft

thank you for my acid trip childhood shows.

 

Edited April 13Apr 13 by mikeymad

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14Apr 14 by blessingx

Oh, man.....RIP Mr. Kroft....also hits home here....  One of my most notable memories was being extremely drunk from a Friday night party, it went deep into Saturday and I remember watching HR Puffnstuf the next morning while still occasionally spitting up....good times.....🙄

Another one hitting home too: RIP Máire Brennan (phonetically pronounced and often written as Moya).  Have enjoyed Clannad's music for many years....

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm112y4jyzo

 

Edited April 14Apr 14 by skullguise

Not a person, but RIP Hampshire College.  "Hamster" or "Hempshire" as it was known was always the junior sibling to the other four colleges in the happy valley.  Hampshire has been plagued by rumors of financial troubles for years at this point.  I grew up going to shows at a couple different Hampshire venues.  Phish played there regularly in the late 80s and early 90s.  There is a longstanding urban legend that the characters in Scooby Doo are modeled after the five colleges: Fred is Amherst, Daphne is Smith, Velma is Mount Holyoke (these roles have reversed in my observance), Shaggy is Hampshire and Scooby is UMASS.  The legend is not true of course, but the parallels between Shaggy and Hampshire are particularly strong.  For 60 years, Hampshire was an important part of the landscape of the Pioneer Valley and the Five (now Four) College area.  It's sad to see it go.

Edited April 14Apr 14 by Knuckledragger

Iris Long, who helped steer early AIDS advocates into effective treatment activism that led to the development of lifesaving HIV meds, died April 4. She was 92.

Long was a retired pharmaceutical chemist living in Queens, New York, when AIDS emerged as a global threat in the 1980s. Compelled to take action at a time when people couldn’t do research online and when most young AIDS activists knew little about pharmaceutical companies and drug development, Long shared her knowledge with activists in ACT UP New York, working directly with them on effective ways to pressure researchers to test and market lifesaving drugs. The title of a CBS news segment in 2013 illustrates her legacy: “Iris Long: How One Woman Saved Eight Million People.” 

https://www.poz.com/article/rip-iris-long-lifesaving-hiv-treatment-activist-ally

Just learned that Michael Kohlbecker died.  In the 90s he made pounding hard trance on the then-mighty Harthouse label.  I especially like the work did under the Eternal Basement name.  I had a whole stack of Harthouse compilations in the mid 90s the EB tracks stuck out even amongst his legendary peers.  Later, he'd go on to do ambient downtempo weirdness with a rotating crew of compatriots as the Saafi Brothers.  While I outgrew the hard trance sound fairly quickly, the better Saafi tracks have stuck with me for decades.

My favorite track by them is still this one:

In classic SB fashion, it takes forever to get going and goes on far longer than it has any need to.  With that said, I used to put it on whole I was cooking dinner in the 00s.  I've mixed parts of it in to my radio show many times over the years.  It's got the best shuffling bassline.

Traffic co-founder Dave Mason https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2026/04/21/dave-mason-dead-traffic-cofounder/89727009007/

RIP conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. He had the same kind of brain tumor as my brother who was named Thomas. I should listen to one of his Mahler symphonies because he was MTT's favorite composer. Cancer fucking sucks. ☹️😡

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/ap-michael-tilson-thomas-renowned-conductor-and-composer-dies-at-81/

That's too bad. I guess that makes sense as to why he stepped down from leading SFO.

Spoiler

I probably shouldn't say this, but when I saw him conduct the CSO on the Mahler 2nd, I was not favorably impressed.

EDIT: I will have to say though that he brought the mezzo-soprano, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberman, with him. I'm not sure if he discovered her or not, but I know she worked with him and the SFO alot. Her version of the 4th movement, "Urlicht", was easily the best I have ever heard that sung. My wife and I were nearly in tears during it, it was so beautiful. Sadly, she was suffering from breast cancer and had to perform seated most of the time. She passed away a couple of months later. RIP.

An yes, Fuck Cancer, on both of their behalves.

Edit 2: I just bought the SFO recordings of the Mahler 2nd and 8th. Listened to the 2nd last night and pretty good. Trumpets don't match the CSO (at least old), and I still didn't like some of his tempos, but not bad at all. The mezzo-soprano, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberman was on this recording and her 4th movement is the best I have heard.

Edited May 14May 14 by Pars
Additional information

David Allan Coe croaked.  I have mixed feelings about this one.  DAC was a jackass and utterly full of shit, for many decades.  He annoyed other country legends like Waylon.  He recorded an album in 1982 with some very questionable lyrics.  On the other hand, he had quite a good voice and could write decent songs when he wanted to.  Fittingly, he died on Willie Nelson's 93rd birthday.

This song sums up his whole career for me.  Kind of idiotic and cringe inducing lyrics and gratuitous name-dropping, yet it's also a goddamn earworm.  I first heard it on a cassette I had in the 1980s.  It had a bigger impact on me than I could imagine.

Controversial for certain, and an utter moron in every interview I've seen of him. A racist, a redneck and a convicted felon, but I'll argue the "decent songwriter" comment. The man could paint a picture like few others. How you can be so idiotic in interviews yet write such poignant lyrics is beyond me. Listen to "If That Ain't Country" and tell me if it set a vivid mood.

Edited May 1May 1 by swt61

This contrast between a person and the music is often true. Wagner was a truly awful person, an antisemite, racist and overall shit. He put it about that Brahms' music was based on the screams of birds that he shot with "A Tyrolean bow". An outright lie just to discredit a rival composer.

Somewhat interestingly he was a cross-dresser; even the usually staid and formal Wagner Society accepts this.

He was also Hiter's favourite composer. 'Nuff said.

If you could bring him back from the mid 1800's and interview him today, I'm sure he would be found to be an abominable person in many ways.

In spite of all that, Wagners music, particularly the operas, is utterly marvellous. In addition to the epic 15 hour Ring Cycle (took him 25 years to complete it), there is Die Meistersingers, Tristan und Isolde, Tanhauser, Lohengrin just for starters. Seen them all. Awesome.

 

And of course, Wagner's work with Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny was the peak of his career 🤣

 

3 hours ago, Craig Sawyers said:

This contrast between a person and the music is often true. Wagner was a truly awful person, an antisemite, racist and overall shit. He put it about that Brahms' music was based on the screams of birds that he shot with "A Tyrolean bow". An outright lie just to discredit a rival composer.

Somewhat interestingly he was a cross-dresser; even the usually staid and formal Wagner Society accepts this.

He was also Hiter's favourite composer. 'Nuff said.

If you could bring him back from the mid 1800's and interview him today, I'm sure he would be found to be an abominable person in many ways.

In spite of all that, Wagners music, particularly the operas, is utterly marvellous. In addition to the epic 15 hour Ring Cycle (took him 25 years to complete it), there is Die Meistersingers, Tristan und Isolde, Tanhauser, Lohengrin just for starters. Seen them all. Awesome.

 

Wagner orchestral excerpts were one of my favorites to play when I was in an orchestra. But yeah, he was pretty abominable from all accounts. My handle comes from his last opera, Parsifal. The overture from that was a study in my music theory class. Sounds nice and demur, but was actually atonal as hell.

Edited May 1May 1 by Pars

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Edited May 1May 1 by swt61

Scott Lee of DIY music electronics company PAiA has died.  The PAiA website currently has a memorial up for him: https://paia.com/

I never made an PAiA kits, but I was a ware of them for many decades.  From Theremins to TB-303 clones to full-on modular synthesizers, PAiA had something for any would-be synthesist handy with a soldering iron. 

Ted Turner died.  Of the many things he did, my favorite by far is Turner Classic Movies.  Also, the way he shook up professional wrestling in the 1990s.