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?

Comments

[Fishbone]

Ted is dead. Thats what I said.. Cuz Teddies dead.. Yeah yeah yeah yeahhhhhhhhh.

[Aaron]

"As the departure of Ted Kennedy threatens to overwhelm the death of Dominick Dunne..."

Wow. Really??

[John-David]

I should have known the Styx song would be one of James Young's. He was always writing weird semi-political ditties.

[ed]

"The ascent of the microcelebrities"

Heh. Good line.
A fitting musical accompaniment might be Grieg's Troldtog ("March of the Dwarfs").

[Episiarch]

Hey, a Fishbone reference. Didn't expect that.

[Zeb]

Fishbone? I thought it was Curtis Mayfield.

[EJM]

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]

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.

[J sub D]

Fishbone? I thought it was Curtis Mayfield.

From the Superfly soundtrack. Dunno 'bout the movie, but it's a damn good album.

[Nick]

Did you know Ted Kennedy inspired a Styx song?

Babe, I'm leaving....

[Dorn]

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?

[old rpm daddy]

@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.

[Michael Bay]

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.

[R C Dean]

Oops. Stupid joke tag.

[highnumber]

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]

"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]

I like James Brown. I really, really like James Brown, but Curtis warms my heart in a way that the Godfather cannot.

[OO=======D]

"Superfly"

RACIST!!!

[highnumber]

Yer a dick!

[Ty]

Celebrity deaths jumped the shark when I saw a bumper sticker that read "Ritter was a Genius" after John Ritter died.

[Jeff P]

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.

[Johnny Longtorso]

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.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Particularly when Ted would have been immune from KennedyObama Care as an elected official.

[Mike Laursen]

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!

[Nick]

Teddy counts as two. One for the man, one for the liver.

[Tulpa]

No mention of Michael Jackson or Jeff Goldbum?

[ellipsis]

Isn't this pretty much what Andy Warhol predicted?

[Rhywun]

the death of Dominick Dunne

He was great in American Werewolf in London.

[Jim Treacher]

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]

August was a rough month for American music.

See

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/a-rough-month-for-american-music/