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Rob Grills, lead singer of the Grass Roots, hasn't had the best of years.

 

He's endured the roughest health stretch in his life. Grill, 64, underwent brain surgery in February, had pneumonia in the spring, suffered from kidney failure in early June, and will have knee replacement surgery in July

 

I think I can help his doctors out....given the sequence, they should start investigating his feet next.

 

My dear friend Rob Grill - leader of The Grass Roots (legendary band) is in need of sustained prayer tonight. he's in the hospital in critical condition. may God bless my friend..... if you can, please share this....

 

To Rob's fans.

 

I've been informed that Rob's hospitalization is due to a stroke he had recently (his third in the last couple of years), and that he is in a doctor induced coma which is what has been keeping him alive.... He is on life support but is reportedly in stable condition according to his wife Nancy.

 

Please continue pray for Rob, I will try to keep you informed of any further developments....

 

The Grill's been turned off

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Bert Jansch is in his 60's now, and still on the road - still an excellent guitarist too...

 

 

 

ps, I was never a Morris Dancer, thankfully.

It appears Bert had, and hopefully beat, lung cancer last year.

 

Sadly, it doesn't look like Bert Jansch has beaten his cancer yet...

 

Jansch's ongoing cancer treatment means that this small handful of Pentangle live dates – Glastonbury, Cambridge folk festival and tonight's outing – are especially poignant.

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BBC Four begins a three-part series cheekily entitled Folk America on 23rd Jan, with the opening edition looking at the beginnings of recorded folk/blues in the late 1920s. As well as featuring some bloody great music and being an interesting history lesson, it also has interviews with at least three musicians that were around then and are still around now: guitarist Slim Bryant, banjoist Wade Mainer (both centenarians) and delta bluesman Blind Lemon Pie David 'Honeyboy' Edwards, a mere stripling of 94.

 

Wade Mainer dead at 104. Played for Roosevelt, played with Guthrie, seems like he lived a life.

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BBC Four begins a three-part series cheekily entitled Folk America on 23rd Jan, with the opening edition looking at the beginnings of recorded folk/blues in the late 1920s. As well as featuring some bloody great music and being an interesting history lesson, it also has interviews with at least three musicians that were around then and are still around now: guitarist Slim Bryant, banjoist Wade Mainer (both centenarians) and delta bluesman Blind Lemon Pie David 'Honeyboy' Edwards, a mere stripling of 94.

 

Wade Mainer dead at 104. Played for Roosevelt, played with Guthrie, seems like he lived a life.

that's all 3 gone now then...

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Can't find a link as yet but former Pentangle guitarist Bert Jansch has died following a long battle with cancer.

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Bert Jansch is in his 60's now, and still on the road - still an excellent guitarist too...

 

 

 

ps, I was never a Morris Dancer, thankfully.

It appears Bert had, and hopefully beat, lung cancer last year.

 

Sadly, it doesn't look like Bert Jansch has beaten his cancer yet...

 

Jansch's ongoing cancer treatment means that this small handful of Pentangle live dates – Glastonbury, Cambridge folk festival and tonight's outing – are especially poignant.

Vinegar Tits bringing sad news. ^

 

Saw him at the Jazz Cafe in the early 2000s, much thoughtful nodding and chinstroking from the assembled punters.

, for those that might be interested.

 

Edit: obit link

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Folkie David Fisher, singer and founding member of The Highwaymen, has died at the age of 70 :rip: . Their song "Michael" spent one week at the top of the UK charts in 1961.

 

Gil Robbins

 

Another member of The Highwaymen has died aged 80. He was the father of the actor Tim Robbins.

 

Bob Burnett has died, the third Highwayman to go in eighteen months.

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Folkie David Fisher, singer and founding member of The Highwaymen, has died at the age of 70 :rip: . Their song "Michael" spent one week at the top of the UK charts in 1961.

 

Gil Robbins

 

Another member of The Highwaymen has died aged 80. He was the father of the actor Tim Robbins.

 

Bob Burnett has died, the third Highwayman to go in eighteen months.

 

Did they once have a gig near a nuclear reactor or something?

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The folk singer Johnny Silvo has died of cancer. He wasn't that famous, but he once recorded an album with Sandy Denny, so I thought he deserved a mention. I did have him pencilled in for next year's DDP, so I'll be interested to see if he manages to get an obit.

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I guess they have been mentioned elsewhere but what remains of the Dubliners is worth watching. Luke Kelly and Ciaran Bourke have already gone and Ronnie Drew, another one of the originals is still going (as is the band, still touring too). At around 72, that is positively ancient for a Dubliner.

 

The last surviving founding member, banjo player Barney McKenna, survives no longer.

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The last surviving founding member, banjo player Barney McKenna, survives no longer.

 

It's the way of all flesh, of course, but what a loss. I saw him (and the Dubliners) play in Rotterdam's De Doelen some five years ago. They weren't exactly sprightly, and mr McKenna did most of his banjo strumming while sitting on a stool. Nevertheless, the old men played as if they'd done nothing else in their lives. Their encore of The Town I Loved So Well moved me to tears.

 

regards,

Hein

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I guess they have been mentioned elsewhere but what remains of the Dubliners is worth watching. Luke Kelly and Ciaran Bourke have already gone and Ronnie Drew, another one of the originals is still going (as is the band, still touring too). At around 72, that is positively ancient for a Dubliner.

 

The last surviving founding member, banjo player Barney McKenna, survives no longer.

Feck! (as they say) He was going on my DDP team for this year but I forgot him! Feck!

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I guess they have been mentioned elsewhere but what remains of the Dubliners is worth watching. Luke Kelly and Ciaran Bourke have already gone and Ronnie Drew, another one of the originals is still going (as is the band, still touring too). At around 72, that is positively ancient for a Dubliner.

 

The last surviving founding member, banjo player Barney McKenna, survives no longer.

Feck! (as they say) He was going on my DDP team for this year but I forgot him! Feck!

 

I forgot to check to see who was still alive after Ronnie Drew died.

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No links I'm afraid, but I heard this evening that the slightly obscure folk singer Louisa Jo Killen was diagnosed with lung cancer last August, although I have no information about how she is doing now. She is probably better known (but still not well known enough for a Wikipedia page) as Louis Killen, however she underwent gender re-assignment surgery at the age of 75...

 

I'm sure she'll get a broadsheet obit when she goes. -_-

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Doc Watson is still breathing, something I only discovered today. A little more than can be said of his son Merle who died in circumstances suited to a Monty Python sketch in 1985.

 

Merle was DIYing after midnight - as you do - when a huge splinter became embedded in his arm. He showed awesome powers of calm and pain tolerance, driving his tractor to neighbours who helped him remove the splinter and bandage himself, only for the tractor to lock its brakes on the return journey, throw him off and fall on top of him, crushing him to death in seconds.

 

Doc Watson is in hospital with pnuemonia and suspected kidney failure, which is never a good thing to have, especially if you happen to be 89 years old.

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Doc Watson is still breathing, something I only discovered today. A little more than can be said of his son Merle who died in circumstances suited to a Monty Python sketch in 1985.

 

Merle was DIYing after midnight - as you do - when a huge splinter became embedded in his arm. He showed awesome powers of calm and pain tolerance, driving his tractor to neighbours who helped him remove the splinter and bandage himself, only for the tractor to lock its brakes on the return journey, throw him off and fall on top of him, crushing him to death in seconds.

 

Doc Watson is in hospital with pnuemonia and suspected kidney failure, which is never a good thing to have, especially if you happen to be 89 years old.

 

 

Doc Watson in "critical condition". Daughter says no bones broken, but he's "real sick". http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PEOPLE_DOC_WATSON?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Doc Watson is still breathing, something I only discovered today. A little more than can be said of his son Merle who died in circumstances suited to a Monty Python sketch in 1985.

 

Merle was DIYing after midnight - as you do - when a huge splinter became embedded in his arm. He showed awesome powers of calm and pain tolerance, driving his tractor to neighbours who helped him remove the splinter and bandage himself, only for the tractor to lock its brakes on the return journey, throw him off and fall on top of him, crushing him to death in seconds.

 

Doc Watson is in hospital with pnuemonia and suspected kidney failure, which is never a good thing to have, especially if you happen to be 89 years old.

 

 

Doc Watson in "critical condition". Daughter says no bones broken, but he's "real sick". http://hosted.ap.org...EMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

Doc dead.

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This is a tad confusing, so bear with me. :huh:

 

The comedian and folk singer Sid Kipper is apparently in very ill health and will retire after a farewell appearance at the Whitby Folk Festival later this summer. However, the problem here is that Sid is actually a fictional character played by Chris Sugden and I'm not sure if the ill health I've heard about is affecting just Sid, or both of them. Sid was once a member of The Kipper Family with his dad Henry, played by Dick Nudd. That act ceased when Henry was killed off after Dick decided to retire from the music business (s/he is now believed to be living as a woman in Ireland).

 

So, in summary, I've got no links to suggest a person who doesn't exist in real life - and whose alter ego might not get an obituary anyway - has an unspecified health condition which may or may not be life threatening. Got to be worth a gamble, surely?

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This is a tad confusing, so bear with me. :huh:

 

The comedian and folk singer Sid Kipper is apparently in very ill health and will retire after a farewell appearance at the Whitby Folk Festival later this summer. However, the problem here is that Sid is actually a fictional character played by Chris Sugden and I'm not sure if the ill health I've heard about is affecting just Sid, or both of them. Sid was once a member of The Kipper Family with his dad Henry, played by Dick Nudd. That act ceased when Henry was killed off after Dick decided to retire from the music business (s/he is now believed to be living as a woman in Ireland).

 

So, in summary, I've got no links to suggest a person who doesn't exist in real life - and whose alter ego might not get an obituary anyway - has an unspecified health condition which may or may not be life threatening. Got to be worth a gamble, surely?

 

 

The real-life person probably IS sick, otherwise he'd probably just say he's retiring.

Still pretty convoluted.

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This is a tad confusing, so bear with me. :huh:

 

The comedian and folk singer Sid Kipper is apparently in very ill health and will retire after a farewell appearance at the Whitby Folk Festival later this summer. However, the problem here is that Sid is actually a fictional character played by Chris Sugden and I'm not sure if the ill health I've heard about is affecting just Sid, or both of them. Sid was once a member of The Kipper Family with his dad Henry, played by Dick Nudd. That act ceased when Henry was killed off after Dick decided to retire from the music business (s/he is now believed to be living as a woman in Ireland).

 

So, in summary, I've got no links to suggest a person who doesn't exist in real life - and whose alter ego might not get an obituary anyway - has an unspecified health condition which may or may not be life threatening. Got to be worth a gamble, surely?

 

Hmmm, sounds like a Frank Sidebottom job...can't find much by way of Googling to suggest he's that obit-worthy, mind. Local papers etc count for the Deathrace, so it might be worth anyone likely to enter that competition marking their cards for his demise being reported by BBC North East, or summat.

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Gordon Lightfoot's 'sidekick', the bassist John Stockfish has died aged 69, of natural causes.

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