Vince Welnick R.I. P.

Stunning. I know Brent commited suicide, but I can't remember if Keith did or not, does anyone remember? Now I know Pigpen died of the ravages of drug and alcohol abuse, but I think the rest moght have all commited suicide. Kind of reminiscent of Spinal Tap, no?

Just to chime in I think anyone would agree that the band was at it's apex from 1970-73. There were good shows in '74 and '76-77 certainly have their redeeming moments in a totally different but enjoyable style of music. Sadly for me due to my youth I missed out on all of that. My first show was 7/6/86 when I was 16. Though 86-88 were pretty terrible things began to pick up a bit in '89. I was at those Warlock's shows in Hampton and they were pretty incredible. I'll never forget when the lights came on after the second night, the DarkStar show, and everyone saw each other for the first time and let out an uproarious cheer and everyone started hugging everyone else like mad. That was great and the band seemed really energized through the spring of 1990. I was at Brent's last show at The Tinley World theatre or something like that, an awful venue in Chicago, and after his death the band really went into their final tailspin. What's happening now is sad and the things that I hear through the grapevine about Phil really turn my stomach. Nonetheless we all have a lifetime of live music to enjoy, God bless 'em for that!

Basically the vault was transferred over to Rhino Records not long ago. I'm aquainted with David Lemieux who took over for dick Lavatka (sp?) when he passed away, and David recently quit rather than go work with Rhino. It's unknown whether Dix Pix will continue, though given the greed of the remaining band members, especially Phil, it's hard to see them not releasing shows in some format. So for now it's just wait and see. A sorry state of affairs however.