Ah, Facebook. Sort of a six degrees thing, several years ago I was thinking about a song by Radio Birdman, the Australian punk band from the 70s with occasional reunions since, and remembered the time I was listening to it on the way to visit our new baby in the hospital. When I walked in, Justine was talking to a nurse and they both looked at me and I said "what" and they said I looked funny and I said what else is new? Oh that's right: I got a new CD today of Australian punk bands from the 70s. The nurse said Oh that's funny. We have an ER doc who used to be in a punk band in Australia in the 70s! I thought of course. Then she said "Deniz Tek" and I almost passed out. Well it was hot that day. But really the odds. Are long. So anyway years later I was facebooking and saw something someone posted in California about music and I told that Deniz Tek story and someone else thought that was interesting so they clicked "add friend" and it was a guy in Bozeman Montana who I've still never met but has been involved in a lot of music over the years and still is. Anyway, he's friends with Deniz and they're in a band together so I'm Facebook friends with Deniz now too. So anyway I was talking with the guy in Bozeman (where "talking" means "posting on the internet, just like here") and one day another guy clicked the ol' Add Friend button and I was "wha?" but it was Joe Skyward, who spent a lot of time in Bozeman working and recording so he saw me talking to Ron the Bozeman guy. Joe, though was in the Posies (as Joe Bass), a great power pop band, and Sunny Day Real Estate too. Well a couple of years ago he started posting some really powerful thoughts and positive, always super positive and I thought Oh, he's joined a cult! But no, it was cancer.
The life and death of DJ Derek, an unlikely reggae legend Derek Serpell-Morris was a cardigan-wearing ex-accountant who became ‘the blackest white man in Bristol’ and a hero to Don Letts and Massive Attack. After going missing in July 2015, his body was finally discovered earlier this month. This is the story of his mysterious disappearance and extraordinary life
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who has died aged 86, was one of the most innovative and influential conductors of the second half of the 20th century, bringing the scholarship and sensibility of historical performance to the mainstream repertoire with sometimes controversial, but always illuminating results.
But no, it was cancer. 
