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The Age of Dead Celebrities
As the departure of Ted Kennedy threatens to overwhelm the death of Dominick Dunne and as we already begin to forget the exits of Robert Novak and Les Paul, take time to read Joanne McNeil's thoughts on the coming era of the dead celebrity:
In the future, a famous person will die every fifteen minutes. Already it's happening. The ascent of the microcelebrities, the 24 hour news cycle, citizen journalism, and our darkest fantasies all collide on Twitter now. The website's question "What are you doing?" sometimes feels more like "Who died today?"
Every day on Twitter, news of another death. Les Paul, John Hughes, Farrah Fawcett, those big names, but also the editor at this publication, the founder of this startup, the people who we might not all know, but someone you know knew them and they are using the space to remember them.
Sure, Maria Shriver's euology made me sit up straighter and think I want to be like that. But, I mean, was I supposed to be shocked that Eunice Kennedy passed on? I guess it's small talk of a darker sort. You could talk about the weather or whose heart stopped.
Bonus link, because it's an odd bit of trivia and I didn't see it mentioned anywhere: Did you know Ted Kennedy inspired a Styx song?
|8.27.09 @ 10:04AM|#
Ted is dead. Thats what I said.. Cuz Teddies dead.. Yeah yeah yeah yeahhhhhhhhh.
Aaron|8.27.09 @ 10:04AM|#
"As the departure of Ted Kennedy threatens to overwhelm the
death of Dominick Dunne..."
Wow. Really??
|8.27.09 @ 10:04AM|#
I should have known the Styx song would be one of James Young's. He was always writing weird semi-political ditties.
ed|8.27.09 @ 10:27AM|#
"The ascent of the microcelebrities"
Heh. Good line.
A fitting musical accompaniment might be Grieg's Troldtog
("March of the Dwarfs").
EJM|8.27.09 @ 10:52AM|#
As the departure of Ted Kennedy threatens to overwhelm the
death of Dominick Dunne and as we already begin to forget the exits
of Robert Novak and Les Paul[...]
Les Paul, John Hughes, Farrah Fawcett, those big
names[...]
Interestingly enough, the recent "celebrity" death that has likely
had the biggest impact on me has been that of Ken
Bacon.
Fishbone? I thought it was Curtis Mayfield.
The original version was, indeed, by Mr. Mayfield.
emmajane|8.27.09 @ 11:18AM|#
I grew up in the south, among grandparents and aunts,and it's a familiar trope. They would read the obits in the morning paper nad then call their friends to discuss who had died and who was ailing. This is like that, only on a larger scale. Nothing new under the sun, just different technology.
|8.27.09 @ 11:22AM|#
Fishbone? I thought it was Curtis Mayfield.
From the Superfly soundtrack. Dunno 'bout the movie, but it's a
damn good album.
Dorn|8.27.09 @ 11:38AM|#
According to Drudge, the Dems are now calling Obamacar,
Kennedycare.
But in the intersests of honesty, wouldn't a bill called
Kennedycare be about embalming and such?
|8.27.09 @ 11:42AM|#
@John-David: "I should have known the Styx song would be one of
James Young's."
That tune was on the Cornerstone album, from around '79 or
'80. It always sounded like a filler tune to me. But yeah,
definitely James Young's work, although it never occured to me that
it was about Senator Kennedy. On an earlier album, he penned a mean
savaging of Miss America, for reasons I can't begin to fathom.
|8.27.09 @ 11:58AM|#
I'm sure the Dems will try to use Teddy's death to get some
juice for crypto-single-payer.
I think they vastly misoverestimate the regard in which he is held
outside the BosWash corridor.
highnumber|8.27.09 @ 12:01PM|#
Superfly is both a great movie and a great soundtrack. Probably
the best soundtrack there is.
Regarding the post, I think the only reason we are entering the Era
of the Dead Celebrity is that the Boomers are aging. Just because
someone somewhere cares about someone who died today does not make
it a celebrity death. Nor is it a celebrity death just because the
deceased had their share of 15 minutes, whether that was 20 years
or 20 minutes ago.
Gunboat Diplomacy|8.27.09 @ 12:13PM|#
"Superfly is both a great movie and a great soundtrack. Probably
the best soundtrack there is."
No. The soundtrack of "Black Caesar", written and performed by
James Brown is the best ever. The song "Momma's Dead" (played
during the title character's mother's funeral) is as good as it
gets.
highnumber|8.27.09 @ 12:19PM|#
I like James Brown. I really, really like James Brown, but Curtis warms my heart in a way that the Godfather cannot.
Ty|8.27.09 @ 12:44PM|#
Celebrity deaths jumped the shark when I saw a bumper sticker that read "Ritter was a Genius" after John Ritter died.
Jeff P|8.27.09 @ 1:11PM|#
I was at the World Science Fiction convention in San Francisco
when Ted Knight died. I had a "Ted Knight Lives!" button made up by
one of those calligraphy-button-making fangirls. I wore it all day
and night.
The next day the girl told me she had had twenty requests for
them.
That being said, I can think of ne fate worse than death than being
remembered with the line "he inspired a Styx song"
Also, think of the cash they could have raised if, after the wake,
they charged a buck for people to piss on his grave.
|8.27.09 @ 2:02PM|#
But in the intersests of honesty, wouldn't a bill called
Kennedycare be about embalming and such?
Its about leaving you to die when you're supposed to help.
Actually, a man guilty of manslaughter thru neglect is perfect for
govt healthcare.
|8.27.09 @ 2:54PM|#
Particularly when Ted would have been immune from KennedyObama Care as an elected official.
Mike Laursen|8.27.09 @ 3:36PM|#
In the future, a famous person will die every fifteen
minutes. Already it's happening. The ascent of the
microcelebrities, the 24 hour news cycle, citizen journalism, and
our darkest fantasies all collide on Twitter now.
This is a great opportunity. For every pair of celebrity deaths, we
can have instant voting on who the third one should be!
Jim Treacher|8.28.09 @ 1:43AM|#
Did you know Ted Kennedy inspired a Styx song?
Oh. I figured it was going to be "Borrowed Time."
But in the intersests of honesty, wouldn't a bill called Kennedycare be about embalming and such?
Or learning to hold your breath.
Mike Licht|8.28.09 @ 9:17PM|#
August was a rough month for American music.
See
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/a-rough-month-for-american-music/
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