Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco, dead

[MindGoneHaywire]

The guy was 45 & died in his sleep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/ar..._r=1&ref=music

[jonnyhambone]

Makes me sad that dudes such as this can't afford health insurance. He added a good feel to some of the Wilco stuff.

[RoadRunner6]

It didn't say he couldn't afford health insurance. It said he "did not have proper health insurance."

Looks like he had enough money for cigarettes. I know lots of dudes who don't have health, property or auto insurance but have plenty of money for other priorities.

[jonnyhambone]

well, ok, sounds like he'd have liked to get himself fixed though, and couldn't, or didn't. Kinda sad is all I'm sayin'...

[RoadRunner6]

Yeah it's really too bad at that young age. Even severe hip pain shouldn't cause death unless it was an artery, etc. I'll be curious to find out what the actual cause of death was.

[Mr MidFi]

As a longtime fan, this makes me sad. I'm playing the Pieholden Suite as I type this. Definitely died too young, although I always regard someone younger than myself dying to be 'far too young'.

Here's an obit written by someone who knew him fairly well...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...,4302659.story

[3-LockBox]

wow...not a great way to go...not necessarily just the physical condition, but to have been part of something into which you poured a lot of soul, only to watch others benefit while you're cut out at the 11th hour...yuck.

[Swish]

wow...not a great way to go...not necessarily just the physical condition, but to have been part of something into which you poured a lot of soul, only to watch others benefit while you're cut out at the 11th hour...yuck.

...differences. It happened very recently with The Shins, which I found out after the recent show, and, of course, with Wilco. Let's face it, James Mercer is The Shins, and Jeff Tweedy is the creative force behind Wilco. He could insert almost any professional musicians in the other spots and lose very little. The same could be said for The Shins, Spoon, and prolly a ton of others where one guy is the lead singer/song writer/guitarist. I feel bad for the guy, but arguing with Tweedy was a losing proposition. I'd like to see the particulars on that lawsuit.

[3-LockBox]

Bands have squabbels all the time over creative differences

Oh sure, I weren't sayin Tweedy was Shyerl Crow or nuttin

But to have that kind of unrequited effort, so to speak...musta been tough for him. But yeah, its Tweedy's gig - if Tweedy sez "set distortion to stun", then that'd better be what they do.

[jonnyhambone]

here's his last session on Daytrotter from 2007...a pretty cool, honest interview and some good tunes for the free d/load too.

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/jay-ben...0079-3188.html

[-Jar-]

Wow, I didn't hear this until just now. Very sad.

[Swish]

Wow, I didn't hear this until just now. Very sad.

Seriously though, you've been missed. How are you and your young family doing? Hope all is well and it's good to see you checking in on RR. I hope you don't wait too long to post again.

Swishdaddy.

[-Jar-]

Seriously though, you've been missed. How are you and your young family doing? Hope all is well and it's good to see you checking in on RR. I hope you don't wait too long to post again.

Swishdaddy.

Hey Swish..

Things are going pretty well here in lovely Parma. Other than trying to find good schools for our kids, and dealing with idiots here, things are fine. Nice to see many of the same old gang still posting here. It's gotta be over 10 years for some of you. I don't remember when my first post was.. sometime in 2000 I think. Whooo!

Take it easy,
Mason

[3LB]

It's gotta be over 10 years for some of you. I don't remember when my first post was.. sometime in 2000 I think. Whooo!

Yeah, most of us have been here longer than the join date says.

But where did the Mason part go?

[-Jar-]

Yeah, most of us have been here longer than the join date says.

But where did the Mason part go?

I changed it at some point. I can't even remember why. Same old Mason Jar.

[MindGoneHaywire]

9 years for me.

Jar who?

Hey!

[3LB]

I think that might have heard that a few weeks ago. I was thinking the same thing, though I think they lean more toward Echo & The Bunnymen, although with song titles like Death and To Lose My Life they prolly do take cues from Joy Division.

There is an abundance of bands plying that post-punk, goth-techno trade today. I don't hate it, but let's see if this retro fad lasts any longer than the retro-jangle-rock fad or retro-'60s-acidpop fad of the last decade.