Posts Tagged ‘Obituary’

Mojo Nixon, RIP

Thursday, February 8th, 2024

Psychobilly musician Mojo Nixon died yesterday at 66. “A cardiac event on the Outlaw Country Cruise is about right… & that’s just how he did it, Mojo has left the building.”

I saw him live a couple of times at SXSW, once with Jello Biafra in support of Prairie Home Invasion. “Mojo, why do you play SXSW? Ain’t no major label ever gonna sign you!”

Here’s a few tracks for the memories.

Howard Waldrop: 1946-2024

Monday, January 15th, 2024

It is my sad duty to report that my friend, science fiction writer Howard Waldrop, died yesterday, January 14, 2024.

According to Robert Taylor: “Howard had a stroke around 1pm. EMS worked on him for over an hour. They got a pulse and took him to the hospital, but at the hospital they were unable to maintain the pulse and he died around 3pm.”

Howard had suffered a number of health maladies recently, but had been on the mend. I saw him just last week, and he was moving slightly better, and still mentally sharp.

I had known Howard since we interviewed him for Nova Express in 1987, and I’m one of the legions of people who corresponded with him (his preferred form of communication) when our respective journeys took us away from Austin.

Howard was one of the finest short story writers the field has ever produced. “The Ugly Chickens” is an acknowledged classic. “Night of the Cooters.” “Fin de Cycle.” “…The World As We Know’t.” “Horror We Got.” Great stories only Howard could have written. Plus great collaborations like “Black As the Pit, from Pole to Pole” (with Steve Utley) and “The Later Days of the Law” (with Bruce Sterling).

Howard was never far away from penury, and he relied on a network of friends to keep him above water. He rented a spare room from me for six months, for values of “rent” that included no exchange of money, but he did do odd jobs around the house, and he always paid his share of utilities. Before that I had paid him to stain and varnish several bookcases when I moved into my house.

Living with Howard was half like living with the smartest, most erudite man that ever lived, and half like living with Grandpa Simpson. Howard had a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of mid-20th century pop culture, and had seen just about every damn English language movie made up into the 1970s or so (and a bunch of foreign ones beside). His knowledge of history was similarly immense.

And then he would do things like come into the kitchen were I was bleary-eyedly eating breakfast and tell me “You know, the milk at the local HEB is three cents more than the milk at the HEB down south.” As though this was information vital to my existence.

Howard was brilliant, but he was also as stubborn as the day is long, and a decided Luddite. He never owned a computer and would only use one under duress (he grudgingly agreed to enter his portion of our joint movie reviews into my Mac when he lived here). At one point around 1989 or so, Howard was at (I think) Pat Cadigan’s house after a con, and joined one of our Delphi Wednesday Night Group chats (attended by Gardner Dozois, Mike Resnick, and a host of other luminaries, many now also gone). “Howard, what do you think of cyberspace?” “It’s icky!”

Howard loved movies, television, history, reading, and fishing, and got around to writing either when deadlines pressed, or when all the pieces finally mentally clicked into place just so.

I mourn for Howard, and for the numerous in-progress works we may never get to read. Maybe enough of The Moone World (in progress since the late 1980s) exists for someone like longtime friend George R. R. Martin to finish it. I suspect even less exists of the even-longer in gestation I, John Mandeville. And Moving Waters, a fictional history of America through third-party politics and fishing, probably only existed in Howard’s head.

Howard was universally loved by pretty much everyone he knew and the science fiction field as a whole. He was our own homegrown Mr. National Treasure and a sturdy friend, and will be greatly missed.

Howard after tripping on some steps at the 2013 San Antonio Worldcon.

William Friedkin, RIP

Monday, August 7th, 2023

No director probably ever had three films back to back as good as William Friedkin (who just died at age 87) did in the 1970s. The French Connection, The Exorcist and Sorcerer are each truly great films that stand the test of time. The first two made a ton of money (justifiably). The third one didn’t, but has one of the greatest, tensest scenes of all time.

Friedkin let the success of those first two go to his heads, and then a string of flops (including Cruising, a film that, like The Last Temptation of Christ, alienated its only potential audience) put him out of favor in Hollywood.

He also directed a pretty swell episode of the 1980s Twilight Zone reboot.

He had a wealth of talent, I just wish we had more first rate films from him.

George Winston, RIP

Thursday, June 8th, 2023

Pianist George Winston died at age 74. December is a great Christmas album for people that hate Christmas albums. Here’s “The Holly and the Ivy.”

(Hat tip: Dwight.)

Greg Bear, RIP

Sunday, November 20th, 2022

According to numerous sources on Facebook, science fiction writer Greg Bear, after a sudden onset of multiple medical maladies, suffered a series of strokes that left him unconscious with severe brain damage. Following his stated wishes, his wife Astrid had him taken off life support, and he died yesterday (November 19, 2022).

Bear was one of the giants in the field, probably the best hard science fiction writer of the 1980s, claimed by both the Analog crowd and the cyberpunks. Blood Music (in both novella and novel forms) and Eon are awe-inspiring, sense of wonder science fiction at their best, and would be considered among the greatest works of just about any SF writer. And there was another tier of exceptional works (The Forge of God, Moving Mars, etc.) after that.

Greg and I were on friendly terms, and I ran into him at various SF conventions over the years. He was a smart and genial presence. I have something approaching a complete Greg Bear collection (including a Cheap Street Sleepside Story), minus some recent titles and a few odds and ends like some of the media tie-in books. He was going to be a Nova Express interview subject Back In The Day, but that never happened for various uninteresting reasons.

He was one of the greats, and he will be missed.

He’s Not Dead…

Friday, March 5th, 2021

…it’s only that his metabolism has gotten more selective.

Tony Hendra, Spinal Tap manager Iain Faith in This Is Spinal Tap, dead at age 79.

(Hat tip: Dwight.)

Ben Bova, RIP

Tuesday, December 1st, 2020

Science Fiction writer Ben Bova has died at age 88. He was an important writer and editor, with a stint at Analog before becoming the first fiction editor of Omni.

Bova had been writing science fiction for longer than I’ve been alive. I read a fair amount of his work in my youth, with Millennium, City of Darkness and The Dueling Machine being particular favorites, Indeed, I remember checking out City in Darkness from the middle school library before first period, and read the whole thing by the end of the school day.

Ben was a friendly acquaintance, and we chatted at various conventions and signings over the years. This photo is from the 2014 London Worldcon.

He will be missed.

Ennio Morricone, RIP

Monday, July 6th, 2020

Legendary film score composer Ennio Morricone has died at age 91. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, John Carpenter’s The Thing and The Hateful Eight all had scores by him, among the 500+(!) he composed.

Here’s probably my favorite piece by him, from his soundtrack to Once Upon A Time In The West:

Mazzy Star’s David Roback, RIP

Wednesday, February 26th, 2020

David Roback, half of duo Mazzy Star, has died at age 61. He co-wrote their one hit, the haunting “Fade Into You”:

Mazzy Star got called Shoegaze because there wasn’t anything else to call them, but their twangy guitar sound, and Hope Sandoval’s breathy, honey-and-bourbon vocals, were like nothing else on the scene.

Joseph Shabala, RIP

Tuesday, February 11th, 2020

Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder and lead singer Jospeh Shabala has died. Like just about everyone else in the world, the first time I heard them was on Paul Simon’s Graceland. Unlike most, I actually picked up a few Ladysmith Black Mambazo albums. (In fact, I just counted and I have seven, a lot of which came out on Shanachie records, which put out a lot of world music in the 1980s and 90s.)

If you only know them from Graceland, you might not have realized that they’re primarily a gospel group. Most of the songs end with “Amen! Halleluya! Amen!” The track below is from Umthombo Wamanzi.