i don't eulogize much anymore

There have been a few recent high profile deaths in the music world, and I havenm't commented on them. When I started this blog, early this year, and I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I commented on the deaths of Johnny Otis and Etta James -- two figures who were very influential but not exactly household names any more.

Now, we have Robin Gibb, Adam Yauch and Donna Summer all died within a short period (and Dick Clark died a bit ago. And I failed to note any of those deaths or eulogize them. I did, of course, eulogize Davy Jones when he died.

So why the difference? Well, to a certain degree it was that I was no longer quite as bright-tailed and bushy-eyed. Add to that the fact that these were three musicians about whom I didn't have a lot to say (and about whom others had already said much).

My thoughts on them?
1) Donna Summer: Of course I know the name and some of her music, but it was never my thing. My strongest association is to the song "Disco Suicide" which Mad Magazine put out sometime around 1980 as part of a disco special. There was a couplet. "If that truns out to be a bummer / I'll swallow a casette of Donna Summer."

2) Adam Yauch: I kind of liked the Beastie Boys, especially some of their early stuff. The Licensed to Ill album had some really good tracks. I also liked "She's On It," which predates that album. Oh, also, their original drummer -- Kate Schellenbach -- was in my high school class. But we didn't know each other. I wouldn't recognize her on the street and she, of course, wouldn't recognize me either. That was true when we were in high school too.

3) Robin Gibbs: Yes, I know the BeeGees were huge. But they have never really been part of my consciousness, except maybe for the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever.

So now you know why I didn't eulogize them.