In Memoriam|

Scott Weiland’s Guitarist Jeremy Brown Dies Unexpectedly – Scott Weiland on Facebook, March 31st:
We received a call today about my friend Jeremy Brown that has shaken me to the core. We were all concerned this afternoon when Jeremy didn’t show up for a long-scheduled rehearsal for tonight’s album release show at School Night. An hour later, Jeremy’s family called us to say that he had passed away. I am in shock right now, everyone that knows him is devastated. It is a terrible loss that goes beyond words. He is one of my best friends, a truest friend and one of the most gifted guitar players that I’ve ever known. A true genius. It’s impossible to explain how much he will be missed and what a hole this will leave in our hearts. A post on Facebook feels so trite and small compared to the love that I have for him and for the talent that has passed on but I felt it was necessary to at least start here. Please keep his family in your thoughts.

On Fb, 3/31/15:
Becky Sorrelle Gutrell: OMG! I am so shocked by this news. I was just with the Wildabouts at their listening party for their new album a couple of days ago and was amazed by the talent of Jeremy Brown. RIP

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Gary Dahl – Pet Rock Creator – Dies

Although not a musician, we thought that we should honor Gary Dahl (December 18, 1936 — March 28, 2015) as one of the most creative people we’ve ever known. Mr. Dahl was an award-winning copywriter, creative director, advertising agency owner, entrepreneur and the creator of the Pet Rock.

Dahl, an advertising executive from Los Gatos, California, was sitting in a bar listening to friends complain about their pets. He got the idea of creating the perfect pet.

This led to the idea of selling rocks to people as pets, complete with instructions. The instruction book was the real product, which was full of gags and puns. The 1975 fad only lasted about half a year, but that was enough to make Dahl a millionaire.

From the proceeds of his fad “pets,” Dahl opened a bar in Los Gatos, the ironically named Carrie Nation’s (named after the famous bar smasher). He later attempted to follow up this success selling “Sand Breeding Kits” and “Red China Dirt,” ostensibly a plan to smuggle mainland China into the United States, one cubic centimeter at a time. These novelties failed to attract as much interest as the Pet Rock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Dahl_(entrepreneur)

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Cynthia Lennon

Cynthia Lennon (née Powell; 10 September 1939 – 1 April 2015) was the former wife of musician John Lennon, and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of 12, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the Liverpool College of Art. John Lennon also attended the college; a meeting with Lennon in a calligraphy class led to their relationship.

When John was performing in Hamburg with the Beatles, she rented his bedroom from his aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith. After Powell became pregnant, she and John were married on 23 August 1962 at the Mount Pleasant register office in Liverpool. In 1964, they lived at Kenwood in Weybridge, where she kept house and participated with her husband in a London-based social life. In 1968, John left her for Yoko Ono; the couple’s divorce was legally granted on 8 November 1968.

She married Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini in 1970, divorcing him in 1973. In 1976, she married John Twist, an engineer from Lancashire, but divorced him in 1983. After her divorce from Twist, she changed her name back to “Lennon” by deed poll and met Jim Christie, her partner for 17 years. She published a book of memoirs, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, and later was married to Noel Charles, a night club owner, from 2002 until his death in 2013. In 2005, she published a more intimate biography, John. Over the years she staged several auctions of memorabilia associated with her life with John Lennon. In 2006, she and her son Julian Lennon attended the Las Vegas premiere of the Cirque du Soleil production of Love whose theme is the music of the Beatles. Until her death in 2015, she lived in Majorca, Spain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Lennon

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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…

April

1: Cynthia Lennon, 75, British author, cancer (ex-wife of the late John Lennon).

March 2015

30: Jeremy Brown, 34, American guitarist (Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts); Aniceto Molina, 75, Colombian cumbia musician, lung failure; Preston Ritter, 65, American drummer (The Electric Prunes).

28: Josie Jones, 57, English singer (The Mighty Wah!)(death announced on this date); Ronald Stevenson, 87, Scottish composer and pianist.

27: B.J. Crosby, 63, American singer and actress (Smokey Joe’s Café); Olga Syahputra, 32, Indonesian actor, comedian, singer and television host, meningitis.

26: John Renbourn, 70, British guitarist (Pentangle), heart attack.

25: John Bilyeu, 90, American television announcer (KMBC) and host (American Bandstand).

From http://www.wikipedia.com

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