The Way to Go
Linder, B. (2024, Jan. 21). Grammy winning country music star ‘died on stage after a successful encore’. Penn Live, online.
Jo-El Sonnier joins the list of musicians I admire who died on stage performing, or immediately after. I was a fiddler in Carbondale, Illinois, when an older fiddler who I didn't really know well passed away while performing Ashokan Farewell. Those that knew him were grief-stricken and set back, but, because I didn't know him, my main reaction was that that was a great way to go. I later found out that Miriam Makeba and a number of others died on stage as well. If you're still up there performing when your time has come, you have succeeded in a very special way.
I doubt this will happen for me, though you never know. I am due to get a cochlear implant pretty soon here, but even that will not restore the ability to hear well enough to actually perform. I sometimes fantasize that if I could get someone to tune the banjo for me, I could still attack it with the vigor stored up over the six or seven years now that I've been unable to hear well. If this were possible, maybe I could join this club and die on stage somewhere.
As it is, I've more or less let this site go defunct, and will probably die in silence. It's fifteen below, and I'm not even watching television. I am, however, trying to write about my musical experiences. I may be able to put more of that on this weblog. Cheers!
Jo-El Sonnier joins the list of musicians I admire who died on stage performing, or immediately after. I was a fiddler in Carbondale, Illinois, when an older fiddler who I didn't really know well passed away while performing Ashokan Farewell. Those that knew him were grief-stricken and set back, but, because I didn't know him, my main reaction was that that was a great way to go. I later found out that Miriam Makeba and a number of others died on stage as well. If you're still up there performing when your time has come, you have succeeded in a very special way.
I doubt this will happen for me, though you never know. I am due to get a cochlear implant pretty soon here, but even that will not restore the ability to hear well enough to actually perform. I sometimes fantasize that if I could get someone to tune the banjo for me, I could still attack it with the vigor stored up over the six or seven years now that I've been unable to hear well. If this were possible, maybe I could join this club and die on stage somewhere.
As it is, I've more or less let this site go defunct, and will probably die in silence. It's fifteen below, and I'm not even watching television. I am, however, trying to write about my musical experiences. I may be able to put more of that on this weblog. Cheers!
posted by tom at 6:28 AM
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