bettie page blog

I'm sure everyone knows about Ron Ashton of THE STOOGES and Lux Interior of THE CRAMPS passing away, but I missed the news about Andy DeMize, drummer of NEKROMANTIX and THE ROCKETZ, both frickin' amazing bands. He was only 25 years old and died in a car accident, making it all the more tragic. Read more, courtesy of the OC REGISTER.

I suppose it's par for the course... when the musicians and other artists that inspire and thrill you are all did their signature works forty, fifty, sixty years ago, the loss of those groundbreakers and trendsetters will occur more and more frequently. The "Million Dollar Quartet" is down to one living member... and, frighteningly, so are the Ramones. Punk and the "new wave of rockabilly" is now forty years in the past. Hell, even the 90's swing and ska revivals are fifteen years ago. It's important to remember those that did, saw, conquered and then moved on, but, Lord, do they all have to happen in the same few weeks?

And, even given all of this, memorializing someone YOUNGER than you is just depressing.

Okay, slight soapbox time... Our new Prez is going to try to tackle health care reform. People will hew and cry about socializing medicine and how it's the death of America. I'd like to point out that for a normal, working, touring musician without a day job, getting health care is expensive-to-impossible. Add the generally unhealthy lifestyles... travel, sleep cycles always whacked out, bad road food, performing in smokey rooms in areas that don't have a smoking ban (not including the propensity for drug and alcohol abuse, as that's self-inflicted)... it's no wonder we're losing our greatest cultural icons decades younger than we lose the average accountant or, say, Senator (who always manage to bitch about others getting what they give themselves). As we hear about health care reform, I'm gonna see if it makes it easier for the average gigging punk rocker to get a check-up and maybe play for a decade or two longer than they otherwise could.