Another great one gone
Two this time, actually. First up, iconic New York Dolls frontman David Johansen.
Legendary New York Dolls rocker David Johansen has died at age 75.
His stepdaughter Leah Hennessey confirmed the sad news, saying the punk icon had passed away Friday at his home on Staten Island.
The New York native revealed just last month that he was suffering from stage four cancer, a brain tumor and a broken back.
Over the past few years, Johansen had been unable to perform due to his ailments.
Johansen began singing with the Vagabond Missionaries, a local band on Staten Island, in the 1960s. A decade later he joined the New York Dolls and their self-titled debut album was released in 1973.
The controversial record cover featured the five male band members clad in wigs, make-up and high heels.
Their music — described as “dirty, sleazy and loud” — in combination with their cross-dressing offended many and their debut album was deemed a commercial flop, failing to crack the Top 100 album sales charts.
Their follow-up record, 1974’s “Too Much Too Soon” performed even more poorly, only reaching 167 on the sales charts.
By 1976, the band went their separate ways and Johansen became a solo performer.
Those old enough to remember will know that the Dolls always punched well above their weight, their influence on other bands far outstripping their meager sales numbers and anemic chart performance eventually. Those not quite old enough to remember probably know Johansen better for his semi-comic lounge singer persona, Buster Poindexter. Fare thee well, David Johansen, and well done.
Ahh, good to see one of my own personal guitar heroes from way on back yonder, Johnny Thunders, again.
Next up, we say goodbye to gifted character actor Gene Hackman, whose death smells fishier with every passing day, seems like.
Gene Hackman and wife were dead for ‘several days,’ maybe weeks before their bodies were discovered: sheriff
Legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were likely dead for several days — possibly even “a couple of weeks” — by the time they were found in their home by a maintenance worker, the sheriff of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, revealed.Hackman, 95, and his wife, 65, were found in separate rooms of their multimillion-dollar home on Wednesday along with one of their dogs.
Arakawa, who was discovered surrounded by prescription pills, had “obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet” when she was found on the floor of a bathroom near the home’s entry, police wrote in an affidavit.
Hackman was located near a pair of sunglasses in what deputies believe was the home’s mudroom.
Arakawa, who was discovered surrounded by prescription pills, had “obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet” when she was found on the floor of a bathroom near the home’s entry, police wrote in an affidavit.
Hackman was located near a pair of sunglasses in what deputies believe was the home’s mudroom.
Curiouser and curiouser. Hackman, of course, was one of those rare talents—along with Michael Caine and, say, Peter Sellers—who were just so damned good at submersing themselves so totally in whatever role they were playing that, quite often, you’d be halfway through the dang movie before realizing who it was up there on the screen this whole time. Another thing about those guys: no matter how crappy the film, you could always bear watching the whole thing, just because they were in it. Just one of Hackman’s many, many stellar performances.
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