cadence90:

My father died on December 18. The funeral service was held at St. Luke's Church in Belmont, MA, on Saturday December 21.   

Lisa writes well. She eulogizes and writes this compelling account of her experience before and after her father's death. Toward the end...  

I had been waiting for more security to do this, but, now I think security is just a joke. There isn't any. And there aren't any excuses for not living fully. Now I want everything.

[a klog apart's Obituaries a la Blog]

Howard Bachman's How Appealing:

From the State of Washington comes the sad news that the State's first female Chief Justice, who had since retired from the Supreme Court of Washington State, has died at the age of sixty. You can access coverage here from The Seattle Times and here from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Both newspapers mention that President Clinton had considered appointing Barbara Durham to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

[a klog apart's Obituaries a la Blog]

Bill Kearney:

Lead guitarist for The Clash, Joe Strummer, has died. Bummer. Apparently he's answered the question "should I stay or should I go now..."

Rocknerd:

The Clash's Joe Strummer (born John Graham Mellor) has died. He was 50. A heart attack is the suspected cause.

There's an obituary over at Rolling Stone, while the BBC gives Strummer the comprehensive multimedia treatment he deserves here .

Scott Crawford:

Some shitty news. As most of you have either heard overnight, or are hearing as you're waking up, Joe Strummer from The Clash died.

There are going to be a lot of sad kids and grownups in punk rock land today. For quite a few out there, The Clash were like THE punk band. On a personal level, and admittedly, this is probably going to sound like sacrilege to a good number of you, but I've never been a big Clash fan. I like some of their stuff, but they've never been a band that I LOVED (although I do have fond memories of hiding from a friend's relatives with Swans/Prong alum Ted Parsons (who was married to my friend's aunt at the time) on Christmas about a decade ago, and listening to "Clash On Broadway" with him...). I'd feel like a hypocrite writing this if I didn't state that, because so many people are a band's "biggest fan ever" once one of their members dies, and this is hardly about that. This is just a matter of paying respect to a guy who earned it. Their songs have been around me for a good chunk of my life, they did write quite a few good ones, and their impact on music certainly can't be denied. A lot of kids have started bands because they wanted to be like The Clash. Like 'em or not, you can't argue with something like that. Besides, I'm reasonably sure that Mick Jones was what bugged me about The Clash, not Joe Strummer. ;)

My condolences go out to Joe's family, friends and fans.

As an aside, it seems pretty weird that three of the punk guys who've made the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame (Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, and now Joe Strummer) have died either right before or right after they got in. This trend may force me to reconsider all of my bitching about Iggy Pop and Patti Smith not being in yet. Note to Jann Wenner: leave them out! We want them around a while longer!

[a klog apart's Obituaries a la Blog]