My god, did the first rock’n’roll death this year have to be him? This is terrible, not just because the House of Freaks were one of my all-time favorite bands, but the way he and his family had to die…to quote one of his songs, it’s a fucked up world.
Bryan Harvey, Kathryn Harvey, two young daughters
I’m speechless.
That’s awful. Certainly not a pleasant way to go. 
What is wrong with people?
Can you imagine how his family and friends must have felt, to be looking forward to a warm, happy get-together New Year’s barbeque, only to find out that news once they got there?
Lou Rawls - top velvet voiced soul singer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4588756.stm
His version of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What Its Worth” produced by David Axelrod is a classic.
Damn why are all my soul/funk and reggae heroes dying?
[quote=“Funk500”]Lou Rawls - top velvet voiced soul singer
http://news.BBC.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4588756.stm
His version of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What Its Worth” produced by David Axelrod is a classic.
Damn why are all my soul/funk and reggae heroes dying? 
[/quote]
Not too shabby for a 72 year old man.
Good tunes. Thanks Lou! 
Sometimes it is hard to do the right thing, and when the time comes to do it, many people don’t. Here’s one who did. :bravo:
[quote]My Lai massacre hero dies at 62
It was 30 years before the US military honoured
Hugh Thompson Jnr, a former US military helicopter pilot who helped stop one of the most infamous massacres of the Vietnam War has died, aged 62.
Mr Thompson and his crew came upon US troops killing civilians at the village of My Lai on 16 March 1968.
He put his helicopter down between the soldiers and villagers, ordering his men to shoot their fellow Americans if they attacked the civilians.
"There was no way I could turn my back on them," he later said of the victims. [/quote]
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4589486.stm
Some people make us all a bit more human. 
Wolf Reinhold
June 26, 1985 – January 8, 2006
RIP
“He never missed a chance to ruin someone’s day.”
(You mean there is life after Taiwan?)
In the words of Kerry Packer, “I’ve been to the other side, and let me tell you son, there’s fucking nothing there.”
HG
Of course, did he have independant means?
(spirit fed, that is)
[quote=“mod lang”]My god, did the first rock’n’roll death this year have to be him? This is terrible, not just because the House of Freaks were one of my all-time favorite bands, but the way he and his family had to die…to quote one of his songs, it’s a f*cked up world.
Bryan Harvey, Kathryn Harvey, two young daughters
I’m speechless.[/quote]
Well…the police have arrested 2 “young men”…
cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/09/richmond.slayings.ap/
Ray Joseph Dandridge
[quote]Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray, both 28, were captured Saturday in Philadelphia on charges stemming from the killings of members of two Richmond, Virginia, families.
Police said they found evidence linking Dandridge and Gray to all seven murders. The victims, including two children, were all bound with tape and their throats were cut, police spokeswoman Cynthia Price said.[/quote]
[quote]SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday despite arguments from prisoner advocates that condemning a blind and wheelchair-bound inmate in his 70s violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Clarence Ray Allen, whose 76th birthday was Monday, was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison. He became the second-oldest inmate put to death nationally since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.[/quote]
That was a novel approach for sure.
I have to ask, although I’m sure I’m just buying myself a one-way ticket to hell for asking, but…
Did they use an electric wheelchair?
Mr. Wilson Pickett…
[quote]Wilson Pickett, `In the Midnight Hour’ Singer, Dies at Age 64
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) – Singer Wilson Pickett, whose gruff- throated, raucous musical style helped define soul music in the 1960s with hits such as In the Midnight Hour,'' and Mustang Sally,’’ died of a heart attack. He was 64.
Pickett died today at a hospital near his home in Virginia, according to Billboard magazine. The singer was in ill health for the past year, Associated Press reported, citing Chris Tuthill of Talent Source, his management agency. Tuthill didn’t immediately return a voice mail left by Bloomberg News.
Born March 18, 1941, in Prattville, Alabama, Pickett moved with his family to Detroit when he was in his teens, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Web site. There he sang in Baptist church choirs and in 1959 joined soul group the Falcons, singing on their 1962 hit ``I Found a Love.’’
Pickett joined Atlantic Records as a solo artist. In 1965 he had his first solo hit with ``In the Midnight Hour,’’ which he co-wrote with session guitarist Steve Cropper. The song reached No. 21 in the Billboard R&B charts.[/quote]
[color=Red]MUSTANG SALLY by Wilson Pickett
Mustang Sally,
guess you better slow your Mustang down.
Mustang Sally, my baby,
guess you better slow your Mustang down.
You been a runnin’ all over the town now,
guess I’ll have to put your flat feet on the ground.
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
One of these early mornings
I’m gonna be wipin’ your weepin’ eyes.
I bought you a brand new Mustang
nineteen sixty-five.
Now you comin’ right signifyin’ a woman,
you don’t wanna let me ride.
Mustang Sally, now baby,
guess you better slow that Mustang down.
You been a runnin’ all over the town,
oh, I gotta put your flat feet on the ground.
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
All you wanna do is a ride around, Sally
One of these early mornings
I’m gonna be wipin’ your weepin’ eyes.[/color]
I had the fortune to meet Mr. Pickett a couple of times.
He was a gentleman and a professional. RIP & Thanks.
One of the greatest…
At only 64 years old. Shame…
[/quote]