Sunday, November 2, 2008

Follow-Up

I posted Jimmy Carl Black roughly twelve hours ago singing "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" in 200 Motels.

It pains me to report that Jimmy passed away Halloween night of cancer. He had been suffering from leukemia since 2001. It eventually spread to his lungs.


Jimmy Carl Black with Frank Zappa's band in 1980, doing "Harder Than Your Husband" in his Lonesome Cowboy Burt voice.
Use this link if the embedded video doesn't work.

For me, it's somewhat of a personal loss, not just because I met him or that he was also a drummer, but because the first Zappa album I heard, We're Only In It For The Money, opened with a disorienting amount of noise and creepy whispering. Then once it ended, I hear "Hi boys 'n girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black 'n I'm the Indian of the group!"

That was around 8 years ago that I first heard it. From that point on I was hooked to the music of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention.

YouTube link.

Alex

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is the first I've heard of the death of Jimmy Carl Black, in fact, I didn't know he was ill. I've been a Zappa fan since I heard "Freak Out" waaaay back in 1967 - yeah, I'm older than dirt. I miss Zappa's sense of humor and now I'll miss "the Indian of the group" as well.