Showing posts with label obits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obits. Show all posts

Monday, January 4, 2010

Vic was my Elvis

If there's a note of sadness or detachment that runs through the posts around here over the next little while, it might have something to do with the fact that one of our greatest inspirations died over the holidays.

This line has probably gotten tired by now, but we'll throw it out there one more time: Vic Chesnutt was my Elvis. There's no singer or writer who has enthralled me nearly as much as Vic did. He was an astoundingly self-aware writer who clearly loved words (which is less common than you'd think), and exploited the full musicality of the language. He wrote beautifully with an uncommon literacy on his own faults and fears, and often addressed his own mortality. (It's made some of his songs almost too painful to hear so soon after he took his own life.)

We've penned about 1200 posts around these parts, but we'd hang it all up if we were ever able to turn a single phrase as eloquently and profoundly as Vic Chesnutt. We miss him.

Vic's Tiny Desk Concert
For those of you who are so inclined, here's a brief acoustic taste of Vic at NPR's All Songs Considered's Tiny Desk Concert series in April of this year.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Another voice of the Blue Jays falls silent

The Globe's William Houston is reporting that Don Chevrier passed away yesterday. Chevy was the first TV play-by-play man for the Blue Jays, and a truly underappreciated gem in the Canadian sports media landscape.

We recently heard his voice while viewing a classic Jays game (actually, Nolan Ryan's 7th no-hitter), and we were struck with just how good he was. Chevrier was blessed with an amazing set of pipes, and he used them judiciously through the game. He never prattled on, but conveyed the action succinctly and with a fan's knowledge and passion for the game.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Fire up one last colortini

You'll have to forgive us for going off topic, but we're awfully sad to hear that Tom Snyder, one of the greats of the TV talk show genre, has passed away at the age of 71.

The original host of The Late, Late Show on CBS, and host of the Tomorrow show on NBC back in the early 80's, Snyder was smooth, funny, smart, self-effacing and always engaged with his guests.

Thanks for the memories, Tom.