RIP: Harvey Pekar

According to the The Cleveland Plain Dealer (published July 12, 2010):

Harvey Pekar’s life was not an open book. It was an open comic book.

Pekar chronicled his life and times in the acclaimed autobiographical comic-book series, “American Splendor,” portraying himself as a rumpled, depressed, obsessive-compulsive “flunky file clerk” engaged in a constant battle with loneliness and anxiety.

Pekar, 70, was found dead shortly before 1 a.m. today by his wife, Joyce Brabner, in their Cleveland Heights home, said Powell Caesar, spokesman for Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. Pekar and his wife, Joyce Brabner, wrote “Our Cancer Year,” a book-length comic, after Pekar was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1990 and underwent a grueling treatment.

Read the full article here

We highly suggest reading Pekar’s 1986 masterpiece American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar and/or watching the 2003 movie of the same name starring Paul Giamatti.

Watch some of Pekar’s infamous appearances on Letterman here, here and here

RIP: Louise Bourgeois

photo by Robert Mapplethorpe

New York Times:

Louise Bourgeois, the French-born American artist who gained fame only late in a long career, when her psychologically charged abstract sculptures, drawings and prints had a galvanizing effect on the work of younger artists, particularly women, died on Monday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 98.

Continue the article here

posted by: Tricia Rock

RIP: Dennis Hopper

Read more about Dennis Hopper’s life via Rolling Stone

posted by: Brent Carter and Tricia Rock

RIP: Alex Chilton

“Alex Chilton, the pop hitmaker, cult icon and Memphis rock iconoclast best known as a member of 1960s pop-soul act the Box Tops and the 1970s power-pop act Big Star, died Wednesday at a hospital in New Orleans. The singer, songwriter and guitarist was 59. ‘I’m crushed. We’re all just crushed,’ said John Fry, owner of Memphis’ Ardent Studios and a longtime friend of Chilton’s. ‘This sudden death experience is never something that you’re prepared for. And yet it occurs.’” (source: Commercial Appeal)

As lead singer for the Box Tops, Chilton enjoyed at the age of 16 a number-one international hit, “The Letter.” The Box Tops went on to have several other major chart hits, including “Cry Like a Baby” (1968) and “Soul Deep” (1969). The group’s songs were written by Penn, Moman, Spooner Oldham and other top area songwriters, with Chilton occasionally contributing.

You probably know “In the Street” from Big Star’s #1 Record as the theme song to The 70′s Show, however, that version is actually a cover by Cheap Trick.

Learn everything you need to know about the importance and influence of Big Star’s music from an audio story by NPR.

For further listening we highly suggest:
Big Star - #1 Record
Big Star – Radio City
Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers
Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbet

Although Big Star’s first era came to an end in 1974, the band acquired a cult following in the 1980s when new acts began to acknowledge the early material’s significance. The 2006 tribute album Big Star, Small World includes Big Star covers by The Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Gin Blossoms, Wilco, Afghan Whigs, Whiskeytown and others. The 1987 tribute song “Alex Chilton”, co-written by three members of The Replacements, was released as a single from the album Pleased to Meet Me and contains the lyric, “I never travel far without a little Big Star.”

posted by: Harold Johns III