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The CBS headline from my link above changed from certain death to unconfirmed; I guess CBS got their original death report from TMZ, but the LAPD now can't confirm it. Anyone know what's going on? Keeping my fingers crossed...

The article continues to say he had another cardiac arrest and is currently "clinging to life."

As good as meat and potatoes rock can get - there certainly aren't many bands who were as consistent and reliable as singles artists over the same time frame (1977 - 1994). I didn't know who they were until maybe a dozen years into their career, and I think it was a bit longer before I realized how old they really were - they still seemed like a "new" band even though their music was fairly traditional (they were never great innovators, but simply great tunesmiths which is still no small feat).

Not sure I'd cut off their productivity date at '94. The She's the One soundtrack came out slightly after that--my favorite Petty song of all time, "Walls", comes from that. Something so simple about that song and I've listened to it so many times...Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks. Petty could carry lines like that. RIP

"Walls" is okay but the soundtrack album was pretty bare of ideas and Petty even said this later on - he just didn't realize what soundtrack work would entail.

EDIT: Here's a summation of several interviews from another site:

Petty's clearly one of those guys who's just as hard on himself as he is on others, telling Rolling Stone he was no fan of his 1999 album 'Echo.' "I had just gotten divorced. My family was in complete upheaval. [Former bassist] Howie [Epstein] had really bad problems. But there was a record due." He also cites 1982's 'Long After Dark' -- which, we remind you, features the amazing 'You Got Lucky' -- as "another one that felt like treading water." But he saves his harshest words for his 1996 soundtrack to the movie 'She's the One.' "I hated that record -- the whole idea of it offended me," he told Men's Journal. "I only did it because I didn't have anything else to do. I liked [director] Ed [Burns], and thought he was pretty sharp, so I wrote him a couple of songs. And then it kept mushrooming... I took some stuff I hadn't used on 'Wildflowers,' really crummy versions, badly mixed, and put them on there. It was terrible, really. I'm disappointed I did that."

And a lot of the songs were written during the Wallflowers period anyway. Echo, The Last DJ and his last solo album Highway Companion had some really solid songs as well. The last two Heartbreakers albums had some good, but not as memorable work too. I listened to the first Mudcrutch album once and liked it but not much since. The 2nd one had a rather haunting video, co-directed by Sean Penn and starring Anthony Hopkins.

I'm not sure how involved Petty was in creating/conceiving his music videos, but he did make a few remarkable ones that I remember playing a lot on MTV: "Don't Come Around Here No More," "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and "You Don't Know How It Feels"

They were one of the first video bands, as they had a handful of songs that had professionally made clips before MTV ever launched. In America at least, I know artists like Queen and Rod Stewart did as well. He managed to tip that balance of making interesting videos, but never at the cost of the music. I'll have to read it again but I think in the Zanes book it's talked about that he would collaborate with directors as much as he was able to.

Umm...Maybe not??

Anne Wiazemsky

hearthesilence wrote:Anne Wiazemsky

The Guardian

djproject wrote:

hearthesilence wrote:Anne Wiazemsky

The Guardian

Amazing in Au Hasard Balthazar, part of a great ensemble in Theorem.

Clytie Jessop, long-term London-resident Australian artist, art gallery owner, occasional actress (most notably as Miss Jessel in The Innocents) and director of the 1988 film Emma's War, made in her home country.

This one seems to have flown under the radar. This Facebook post announcing her death is from 19 April. The obituary above - the only one I've so far found - is from 26 May and is by Philippe Mora, who knew her. She arranged a benefit for the premiere of his debut feature Trouble in Molopolis, shot in London on short ends from the Performance shoot, cowritten by Jessop's husband Peter Smalley, and featuring several Australian expats in the cast. The acting roles seem to have come about by her friendship with Freddie Francis, who photographed The Innocents and directed her in Nightmare and Torture Garden.

Jimmy Guterman, back in July. His writing introduced me to a lot of rock and country music I would have otherwised missed. I once emailed him pre-iTunes about the “All Killer, No Filler” compilation he produced for Rhino, asking him if it was out-of-print for good. He wrote back and said he was shocked to see that it was now going for $100 and sent me a CD-R copy afterwards. I still have it too.

Yvonne Monlaur, the leading lady in Hammer's The Brides of Dracula, in April.

Another Hammer actress, Suzan Farmer, of Dracula: Prince of Darkness.

Roy Dotrice.

Sean Hughes at 51. His standup success came a little before my time, so my memories of him are mostly as a team captain on panel show Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Also, John Dunsworth, best known for playing Mr. Lahey in the Trailer Park Boys series and movies.