With these two great musicians/writers, I didn’t forget, I put them off so my site wouldn’t be just a long string of sad, sad obituaries.
First was seeing Grant Hart passing. Most people my age know him as the drummer for Husker Du and his heroin addiction was why they disbanded right when they were gaining a larger following around 1987-8. Grant continued to perform and make records, he just wasn’t as prolific as Bob Mould. His other legacy? The Posies did a song about him on their great 1996 release Amazing Disgrace.
The other person dying was even more tragic because she was so young. Jessi Zazu was a founder and key member of Those Darlins, a darkly funny act I got introduced to via my electronic subscription to Spin. “I Wanna Be Your Bro” still makes me laugh through its “bratty” vocals about a tomboy rejecting the romantic overtures of her male friend. Jessi’s band only made three albums before disbanded at the end of 2015, when she was diagnosed with cancer. I highly recommend them, especially if you like Voice of the Beehive, B-52s, Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell and Southern Culture on the Skids.
Thanks Jessi and Grant for your music. I hope you live on through streaming and whatever the future holds when the next “big thing” happens.