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One of goodest of the good guys, Bob Holness, has died today aged 83, according to his family. Basically, one of the few men united by everyone else’s wish to have him as their grandfather, has finally gone and left us.
Shame.
Of course, Bob will be best remembered for his role as the kindly quizmaster on the mighty Blockbusters TV series, but there’s was more to our Bob than simply being nice to students in Joe Bloggs jeans.
Diversify or Die?
Folded
Creased
When Amy Winehouse died, everyone was pretty saddened by the news. A young woman, not yet in her thirties, lost and still with a lot more to give. Shame. Of course, it was a fertile period for making lazy jokes about it on twitter, but the less said about that, the better.
Anyway, Pulp honcho Jarvis Cocker has something to say about it all.
Basically, the national treasure in the making has blamed the tabloids for Amy Winehouse’s untimely death.
A couple of new Amy Winehouse tracks have emerged online and on the radio (yes, people still listen to the radio unbelievably) and they are both getting a decent reception from fans.
It goes without saying that some people will be complaining about posthumous releases and others will STILL be banging on about her drink and drugs problems like that was ever a reason to not like someone’s music.
Anyway, you can listen to the tracks over the jump if you’re quick. Someone is bound to take them offline soon.
According to various reports, Bert Jansch has died. He may not have been hugely famous, but this is sad news all the same… and we’re going to tell you why.
Jansch was a titan of the folk scene who inspired many artists ranging from Led Zeppelin to Blur’s Graham Coxon to The Smiths’ Johnny Marr. He’s arguably one of the finest guitarists the world ever saw, mercifully eschewing awful axe-wielding and 30 minute guitar solos.
The legendary Scot has suffering from lung cancer for a good number of years now and it would appear that he’s finally succumbed to the disease (although, everyone is awaiting confirmation of his death, thereby potentially making us all look a bit stupid with these pre-emptive tributes). Either way, this is a perfectly good time to look at some of his best music.
The first lady of hip-hop has died. Sylvia Robinson, who founded Suger Hill Records, which gave rap the first real hit, has sadly passed away of congestive heart failure at the New Jersey Institute of Neuroscience in Secaucus.
However, in tribute to Sylvia, it’s worth pointing out that she was much more than just the person who helped to invent hip hop (if that wasn’t enough!)
Sylvia was a performer in her own right and had a couple of hits that you might know away from her time with the fledgling rap scene. Shall we listen to some music together? Lets.
It is very rare for most hecklerspray writers to broach the subject of death. In honesty, we leave that up to Editor Mof who usually manages to strike the right balance between biting sarcasm and genuine emotion. However, sometimes a person dies who one feels a genuine affinity with and the chance to give your own salute to them in your own way comes along.
Today, while flagrantly breaking the hecklerspray house style, I will bestow such a tribute on DJ Mehdi.
Much of hecklerspray is written in the third person but something about writing this as the personification of the ‘Spray hive mind didn’t sit very well. This is my personal feeling on an artist that has influenced my musical tastes since I was a teenager- to apply that to everyone that works for us would be unfair. Perhaps they weren’t into his music and perhaps, didn’t like the work of Ed Banger records.
Another stinkin’ obituary here, this time, legendary songwriter Nick Ashford who joins Jerry Leiber amongst the choir invisible who are now going to have one helluva songwriting duo working for them now.
Ashford was half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson who penned more astonishing songs than you’ve had hot dinners.
Together, they wrote hits for Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, Marvin Gaye, Marlena Shaw and, of course, had a number great records out themselves. So, instead of wallowing, let’s look at the amazing music.
