Friday, November 7, 2008

"Indian of the Group" Goes to Happy Hunting Grounds

We are saddened to learn of the death of Jimmy Carl Black, original drummer for one of our most favorite combos, the Mothers of Invention. Just a wk. or two ago we were thinking that of the original Mothers only Frank was dead, & more recently we had been listening to "The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson" on Ahead of Their Time. Then just last Tuesday we were watching 200 Motels, seeing Jim reprise his Mothers character of the horny beer drinker who wanted to play rock & roll (instead of the "comedy music") so he could get laid. A day later, he's fucking dead of cancer. In Germany yet, where he'd had to go to make a musical living. L. A. Times:
Black moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and formed the Soul Giants with Roy Estrada and Ray Collins. When the group's guitarist was drafted, they hired Zappa, who took over as leader and changed the band's name to the Mothers of Invention, promising, "If you guys will learn my music, I'll make you rich and famous." "He took care of half of that promise," Black quipped later, "because I'm damn sure I didn't get rich."
The L. A. Times obit doesn't mention Geronimo Black, the band Jimmy Carl formed w/ at the Gardner brothers in the early '70s, which put out a pretty good album in '72. Nor does The New York Times, although they did get in the fact that Jim's pard in the house painting biz in Austin was Arthur Brown, of "Fire" fame. Crap, they're all starting to go...

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