Ra Ra Rasputin

Touring well into 2016 and judging by the recent Paco Rabanne photos with the divine Debbie Harry, in absolute fine fettle. His heavy days of this and that are well behind him; he could live for aeons yet and I've certainly not heard of any ill health. Whenever anyone "disappears" (retirement, illness, unexplained reasons), I am far less surprised when news of their death is announced than otherwise. This is why I was so shocked at the death of Lemmy - played Berlin on 11th December, 17 days later - dead. I'm more shocked by Bowie's death perhaps because "Blackstar" was released only a couple of days ago than I would otherwise have been. Still shocked though. Obviously, once someone hit the age(s) of late 60s/70s it's natural that they don't have as long left as they've had before them. However, Iggy is still very much in the publicity arena, David Bowie wasn't. And it's not uncommon for people to die once they are approaching or hit 70 (unfortunately for most of my heroes these days). I think the only person of a similar age - in fact considerably older - we could lament "Oooh, they died so young" would be Yoko Ono. ;-)

No. The death itself isn't shocking, it's more people are shocked by the event. There's a difference.. And why am I not surprised you don't/didn't like Bowie's music? Don't worry, we'll all hold a minute of silence for your loss when Bieber dies.

Rather than a hoax, it's looking like it's true, especially as there is a BBC obit. Shocked is NOT the word.

Seeing as Cilla was cruelly missed out, I would have said the Paris shootings (both) seeing as the reverberations are still being felt and I have a feeling it's a sign of things to come. However, with my heart and banging my head, Lemmy. \m/

It'll get BBC obit no probs... And so it has. BBC obit.

To put a comment regarding where your second mouth is would be a) too obvious, childish, and c) far beneath me.

Mary Tyler Moore and Clive James.

What exactly is wrong with Sinead O'Connor? Everyone seems to be mentioning her name around here at the moment Crazy and suicidal. Any woman who thinks having a shaved head is a good look has to be slightly nuts, I suppose, but any particular reason for her being suicidal? I haven't heard any gossip about it anywhere else other than this site. Some shit about her kids being ungrateful brats and her whole family turning against her. I don't even know. What exactly is wrong with Sinead O'Connor? Everyone seems to be mentioning her name around here at the moment Crazy and suicidal. Any woman who thinks having a shaved head is a good look has to be slightly nuts, I suppose, but any particular reason for her being suicidal? I haven't heard any gossip about it anywhere else other than this site. Some shit about her kids being ungrateful brats and her whole family turning against her. I don't even know. Drug addiction (mostly, it seems from something - an anti-depressant? - she was prescribed and hasn't agreed with her), abuse from the past, various other "issues". Her FB page is the best place to keep updated. That said, I really can't see her doing herself in at all.

It wasn't the actual choice of words that did it. I just took the bait. And let's face it, insulting someone from the Netherlands with a German expression is really just not on... *mutters 'ik wil mijn fiets terug' under breath*

Although I would never dismiss suicide notes and the like, Sinead O'Connor does seem to be crying for help rather than actually wanting to do herself in (and anyway, wouldn't that be a sin? Not that she probably cares about that anymore). In fairness, she really *has* had a shit of a year.

Stop it! I have/had Geert Hofstede on my 2016 possibilities list and would have liked a unique hit.

Nora Brockstedt, who represented Norway in the 1960 and 1961 Eurovisions, has died aged 92. Obit (in Norwegian) here and an English language obit here.

Sonia Sutcliffe is and always has been a complete nutter, so I wouldn't believe a word she says. I also wouldn't believe a word said in the Daily Mail either.

Oi! Judith Durham is Victorian of the Year for 2015. :-) And Georgy Girl - The Seekers Musical is opening in Melbourne in December so JD's been doing a fair bit of promotion for that recently; legend, certainly (especially in Australia). However, if we were talking "musical geniuses" I'll certainly concur regarding the Rolling Stone albums list and my own personal preferences. :-)

Joan Baez was on "Q & A" (the Aussie equivalent on "Question Time") as well as touring Australia in the last 6 weeks or so. She looked and sounded in absolutely fine fettle. Bearing in mind her mother lived until she was 100, if Joan's inherited her genes I can't see her going any time soon at all.

Some more on the story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/a-former-pm-in-pedophile-list-senator/story-fn3dxiwe-1227575892991 Hmm, has been wrong in the past... I wonder if it is a living PM or a dead one? Also, sounds like someone Sydney-based, if he was using the same services as the legal fraternity. Also, would Heffernan accuse a PM from his own party? (Extremely unlikely, but...) please please please let it be Tony Abbott... ;-)

Frank Watkins, bassist for Obituary and Gorgoroth, dead from cancer. :-( \m/

Most of those people are on my DP list and are therefore immortal.

Julia Gillard rushed to hospital after overdosing on Schadenfreude .

Rod, Jane and Freddy certainly look healthier than Geoffrey. Saying that, Zippy doesn't even look a day older than he was in 1978.

Thanks. That is really interesting. I just find this "one word against the other" bloody scary, since we know there are many cases of false accusations. I thought "innocent til proven guilty" would require a much greater burden of proof... I wonder what corroboration there was in this case? (I have no idea what the legal system in her jurisdiction would require [it is different in each State.]) Just to go through your examples of possible forms of corroboration, the media states the victim didn't come forward for years for fears of being laughed at so there wouldn't be statements immediately after the event. It seems unlikely that physical evidence would survive after all this time (unless she was giving really accurate descriptions of Kirkpatrick's bedroom or something like that.) No idea if other people have come forward with similar accusations but the media didn't mention that. Yes, agreed that media reporting is atrocious and often inaccurate (not just on legal matters, of course.) Sad (and, again, bloody scary) that the court system is sexist. Is it also sending the signal that lesbian underage rape isn't as bad as heterosexual underage rape (or even male homosexual underage rape) since we know of all the celebs who have recently ended up in the slammer for these offences? Maybe there was some extenuating circumstance like the victim indicating she wanted sex at first but then changing her mind or something like that or sending out mixed signals because of her psychaitric condition. Dunno. The news reports (or certainly Melbourne's The Age) have categorically stated that no penetration was involved so I wouldn't think legally "rape" is the correct term, as used above, and the definition of "indecent assault" seems to back this up. The so-called light sentence possibly may be a case of 1) somewhat less than circumstantial evidence (i.e. one person's word against another) and 2) molestation is classified as a lesser crime than rape (i.e. no continuing sexual "affair" took place over time unlike in the case of Rolf Harris et al). Kirkpatrick is maintaining her innocence, truthful or otherwise; I suspect 100 hours community service may be better for her health than to take the trial further at the risk of more bad publicity and prison time.

Bradford Jesus Man, aka Geoff Brindley, is critically ill and in hopsital following a stroke. He would definitely get a UK obit as he's certainly a true legend in Yorkshire.

In breaking news, guilty verdict given with sentencing on Friday. I'm not sure how this will impact on Maggie Kirkpatrick's health, but...

He's on the ABC tomorrow night (I can't remember whether it's 7.30 or Four Corners ) talking about his writing and lingering imminent death. Not sure whether it's a repeat or not though I will say he actually sounds better than he did a while back.