A serious bummer

2010 has claimed its first celebrity (though this time it's someone I'm actually sad about). As my friend Nick put it in a facebook post: "r.i.p. jay reatard. may you punch people out for unplugging your guitar in heaven." He and his music will be missed.

Here's his video for "It Ain't Gonna Save Me." This may be a somber day, but that's all the more reason to enjoy his awesomely upbeat music:

RIP Jeff Hanson 1978-2009

In an email from Kill Rock Stars:

"We are deeply shocked and saddened to report that Kill Rock Stars artist Jeff Hanson passed away on June 5, 2009 in his home, a victim of a terrible accident. Jeff has been a part of the KRS family since 2003 when he became the first artist signed to the label from an unsolicited demo."

No word on what the accident was, but all I can say is that the world lost another great artist. My thoughts will be with his family, friends and everyone at KRS.

John Updike, 1932 - 2009

Acclaimed American writer John Updike, best known for his Rabbit series, died Tuesday morning of lung cancer. The two time Pulitzer Prize winning author was 76 years old. 

"In fiction," Updike writes in a 2005 essay contributed to NPR's This I Believe series, "imaginary people become realer to us than any named celebrity glimpsed in a series of rumored events, whose causes and subtler ramifications must remain in the dark."

To read or hear Updike read the entirety of his essay, go to Testing the Limits of What I Know and Feel at the National Public Radio website.