Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So many bastards, so little time.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Republicans do not trust women.

You are here: Home / Music / Fuck This Day (Updated)

Fuck This Day (Updated)

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Tom Petty is dead at age 66. This isn’t my favorite Tom Petty song — “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” is, but that video strikes me as too macabre for this moment, so I’m posting this one instead:

Tom Petty was a fellow Floridian. He shared some interesting thoughts on the Confederate flag in a 2015 Rolling Stone interview here. He seemed like a pretty good guy. Rock on, Tom.

ETA: CBS News has since retracted their story that Tom Petty died. New reports say he’s hospitalized and not expected to survive. Sorry for passing along bogus info.

Reader Interactions

195Comments

  3. 3.

    dedc79

    Strange thing – when the song Don’t Come Around Here No More first started showing up on MTV, I hated it and would change the channel as quickly as possible. It’s only in the past few years that I finally listened to the song completely disconnected from the video and realized that I actually love the song and that it must’ve been the video that was bugging me at the time. And it is a pretty weird video.

  4. 4.

    jacy

    This makes me very sad. He was a huge part of the soundtrack of my life, and seemed like a very decent guy. A huge talent. Leaves another hole in the world.

  5. 5.

    Cacti

    Loved Tom Petty.

    I missed him last time he came to town, but figured there would be another chance. :-(

    Thanks for the music, Tom. RIP

  6. 6.

    The Dangerman

    Well, shit. I kicked around Going to the Hollywood Bowl a week or so ago but other things came up. Damn.

    There is/was a fine documentary on TPATH on Netflix. Well worth watching. Especially on the Wilburys, which was a fun accident.

  7. 7.

    kindness

    At 66 I figured I’d get to see him play N. Cal a few more times so I blew off the last concert. Boy am I feeling sheepish now!

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Damn. At fifty, I can’t remember a time when Petty wasn’t part of the musical world. Evan as a fan of both Petty and Eurythmics (no ‘the’, per Annie Lennox) it was weird when those musical streams crossed. Good to read his thoughts on the flag, cause Rebels was such a great song, and I came to hate that it was connected to Old South mythology.

  9. 9.

    Suzanne

    This is so unbelievably sad. I love his music so, so much.
    I missed seeing him three times. Oh, no.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    @dedc79:
    For me, “American Girl” is the one that sticks. It’s simultaneously a pop music gem, as good as anything from top-40’s heydays, and yet is surprisingly bittersweet. What a terrific first album that was.

  16. 16.

    germy

    Well I won’t back down
    No I won’t back down
    You could stand me up at the gates of hell
    But I won’t back down.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    “Refugee” and “The Waiting” for me. Although I also adore much of the “Highway Companion” album.

  19. 19.

    NobodySpecial

    Wow, last tour with the Heartbreakers, he gets done, he dies right after. If that’s not rock and roll, I’m not sure what is.

    Favorite song of mine? “Honey Bee” or “Jammin’ Me”.

  24. 24.

    Elizabelle

    @kindness: I learned early. Nirvana in town. Eh, I’ll catch them next time through.

    Tom Petty was a genuinely good man, in addition to being a fine musician and songwriter.

    I love Learning to Fly. And I love the Mary Jane video with Kim Basinger. It’s beyond memorable. So much great music.

  26. 26.

    mai naem mobile

    I don’t even want to say ‘can this get any worse?’ in fear of tempting the devil. Liked a lot of Tom Petty’s songs anf he seemed to come across as a a genuinely nice person. Fuck this day indeed.

  27. 27.

    dedc79

    @trollhattan: Love that song. The whole song is great, but it’s got one of the best openings of any rock songs ever.

    This probably won’t rank high on most people’s lists, but I’ve also got a soft spot for Yer So Bad

  30. 30.

    Shalimar

    And Keith Richards continues in his quest to be the last surviving 20th century musician.

  32. 32.

    Mary G

    Remember those innocent days when 2016 was the shittiest year evah? How young and naive we seem now. Tom Petty is indeed the soundtrack to my life. I remember my first job right out of college, very low salary, and had no stereo. One of the LA stations (KMET, I think) played entire albums on Sunday nights and a coworker would record them on cassette for me. He was a jazz and R&B fan and always had things to say about my taste, but he liked TP a lot.

  33. 33.

    hitchhiker

    I’ll have been clean and sober for four months as of tomorrow.

    It’s about the only thing I feel grateful for right now.

  34. 34.

    CaseyL

    @dedc79: See, I loved that video – precisely because it was so strange!

    RIP, Tom.

    What a shitty day. Week. Year. Can we have one day, just one fucking day, when something positively good happens? Please?

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    @dedc79:
    Yeah, the opening chords are so ear-grabbing. When I first heard it I thought of Roger McGuinn because it could have easily been the opening of a Byrds song.

  40. 40.

    dexwood

    Thanks, Tom, you gave this old fucker 40 years of rock and roll. I appreciate it. I can’t ever pick a favorite song. Some I’m certainly more fond of than others, but picking a favorite of his changes with every album and, probably, my mood. So many great tunes. Got my stereo cranked to 11 right now.

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    @CaseyL:
    2017 can redeem its miserable self by containing the day Trump clears his desktop into a banker box and leaves the White House for the final time.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    @kindness:

    At 66 I figured I’d get to see him play N. Cal a few more times so I blew off the last concert. Boy am I feeling sheepish now!

    People, you gotta hustle up and check some boxes on your concert bucket lists! Not seeing Prince (not once!) is the biggest ever concert-miss for me.

    At this point, I think Peter Gabriel’s about the only older/haven’t-ever-seen/really-wanna-see artist on my list. (After three decades of dedicated concert-going, I have seen just about everyone else I’ve wanted to see). Hope I didn’t jinx you, Pete!

  44. 44.

    PaulWartenberg

    Damn.

    I wasn’t too much into Petty, but I liked a number of his songs. “Even the Losers,” “American Girl,” “You Got Lucky,” “Free Fallin,” “Learning to Fly,” a few others.

    Having gone to University of Florida, I cannot separate Petty’s musical oeuvre from the place. Every time I’m driving I-75 up to G’Ville, the second Payne’s Prairie shows up past the hillside I start humming “American Girl.”

  47. 47.

    Brendancalling

    My kid started guitar lessons this summer and I told him about I’d give him $30 if he figured out Learning to Fly. $50, with lyrics.

    He called yesterday. He’s earned $30 so far. I had to break the news today.

  49. 49.

    Felony Govt (formerly Old Broad in California)

    He was one of my favorites. Saw him in concert twice, once at the Hollywood Bowl, but not the recent one. Like many of you, I thought I’d have other chances to see him.

    This is hitting me hard.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet)

    @hitchhiker:

    Congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment!

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    @Cacti: I now associate “American Girl” with being abducted by Buffalo Bill, as well as Hillary Clinton in 2008.

    These associations are not improving my mood.

  53. 53.

    The Dangerman

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The Met was a great station, but the 7th Day (7 complete albums on Sunday night) was KLOS. Uncle Joel Benson was the DJ IIRC; best radio voice ever.

  57. 57.

    Chris

    “Refugee” is my favorite of his. I associate it with the Miami Vice soundtrack, but the wiki doesn’t give any indication of that, so it’s possible I’m misremembering. Most music from the eighties sounds like the Miami Vice soundtrack, anyway.

    RIP to him.

  58. 58.

    JCJ

    @Jeffro:

    Yup. Went to see Roger Waters earlier this summer. Great show. Went to see him figuring it might be one of the last opportunities to see his show.

    Saw Soundgarden a few years ago. Glad I got to see them with Chris Cornell

    Saw Linkin Park two or three years ago. RIP to Chester Bennington.

  60. 60.

    PaulWartenberg

    Well she was an American girl
    Raised on promises
    She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there
    Was a little more to life
    Somewhere else
    After all it was a great big world
    With lots of places to run to
    Yeah, an d if she had to die
    Tryin’ she had one little promise
    She was gonna keep

    Oh yeah, all right
    Take it easy baby
    Make it last all night
    She was an American girl

    It was kind of cold that night
    She stood alone on her balcony
    She could the cars roll by
    Out on 441
    Like waves crashing on the beach
    And for one desperate moment there
    He crept back in her memory
    God it’s so painful
    Something that’s so close
    And still so far out of reach

    Oh yeah, all right
    Take it easy baby
    Make it last all night
    She was an American girl

  62. 62.

    geg6

    Man, another favorite of mine, gone way too young. Damn. I saw him five times, all throughout his career. He was absolutely killer every time. Missed his show here a few months back because I had to work and really wanted to go because he said it would be their last tour. Fuck, I should have gone anyway.

    He was a really cool cat. And the fact that Dolt 45 still soils this planet with his vile presence makes it all the worse.

  63. 63.

    Mel

    @hitchhiker: Congratulations! That takes strength, patience and real determination. Thank you for taking good care of yourself, and never hesitate to reach out to others when things are stressful.

  65. 65.

    dexwood

    @raven:
    Christ, I hope you’re right. Aches and pains argue the point, however. Still, I keep dancing and don’t give up.

  67. 67.

    trollhattan

    @PaulWartenberg:
    Funny! Actually, Dave Edmunds is a pretty similar artist to Tom and I was always surprised he wasn’t equally successful. “Crawling from the Wreckage” should be on everybody’s favorites list.

  72. 72.

    dr. luba

    @Mary G:

    Remember those innocent days when 2016 was the shittiest year evah?

    Once Trump was elected, I knew it could only go downhill………

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @ALurkSupreme: True. LOL.

    =====

    Tom Petty matured, but he never got old.

    And isn’t it something we all know so many songs by him. Off the top of our heads. Great catalogue.

    I wonder if he was kept on life support (a) for organ donation and (b) so the Heartbreakers and his other loved ones could come say goodbye, leaving with their hearts broken. But he lived a full life.

  75. 75.

    dexwood

    @raven:
    Just read this after my last comment. I hear you. I heard about Las Vegas early today. I was sad, but no tears. When my son called to tell me about Tom, I shed a few tears. Two weeks ago, I shed a few tears for my best friend of 43 years who died (fuck cancer).

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    Btw here’s Alexandra Petri, on-point as always: When White Men Turn In To Lone Wolves

    All across America white men, some young, some of middle-age, are turning into wolves. Always, after they commit acts of terror, it is revealed out that these perpetrators were not men after all. They were beasts, mindless monsters whose evil was abstract and cold and terrible.

    It is unclear when the transformation happens. Somewhere after they commit a horrible act of violence but before it needs to be pronounced terrorism. Then comes the horrifying revelation: This act was not done by a man at all. It was the work of an unknown and unknowable monster, motivated only by pure evil, unstoppable.

    So this is not the time to call for gun control. As the governor of Kentucky tweeted, “you can’t regulate evil.”

    One thing is clear: These are not terrorists. You know what a terrorist is. A Terrorist must be Something Else, or the people who apply labels to such things would have to look in the mirror every day and see a potential terrorist. They would have to admit that what they are afraid of is not the same as terrorism. They would have to admit that the horrible violence that happened in Las Vegas is not an aberration. And then — No. The shooter was alone. He was a fluke. He was a wolf.

    Some horrors are too big to wrap your head around. We have a special language invented to convince ourselves that these things are out of the ordinary, but the language is too familiar now to be believed. We know all these words too well. We know who is allowed to become a wolf.

  79. 79.

    amygdala

    Mnemo asked on the prior thread if his being put on life support might have been for the purposes of organ donation.

    TMZ indicated they got a pulse back, and that would be why he was put on life support. Sometimes the paramedics or ED staff will “call” a code if they can’t get a rhythm back, but if resuscitation is successful, then it’s off to the ICU on a ventilator and usually lots of “drips”: powerful medications to support BP and keep the heart beating.

    I’m struck that he died within hours. One possibility is that he coded again and they couldn’t get him back. Another is that there was an Advanced Directive indicating that he would want care withdrawn in such a situation.

    The testing and other procedures involved in arranging organ donation usually take a day or two, sometimes longer, so I think it’s unlikely that happened here. Tissue donation, such as skin or corneas, usually doesn’t require such extensive evaluation, so that may have been possible, although still, I think, unlikely.

    He was an integral part of my musical soundtrack in college. Hard to believe he’s gone.

  81. 81.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Jeffro: I’ve seen The Boss, McCartney, CSNY, The Police, ELO, Boston, Simon AND Garfunkle, lots of others, but never saw Petty live.

  83. 83.

    raven

    Learning to Fly is about a young man’s first trip. At 3:03 of the video they flash on Bobby Kennedy lying on the floor after being shot. I was at Ft Lewis, Washington and that day a couple of us took the bus to Seattle, copped, dropped and got back on the bus. When we got back to the Fort it was after lights out so we took a transistor radio into the laundry room to continue our “journey”. When we tuned on the radio we heard that Bobby was dead. Strange days.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet)

    @raven:

    OH NO! Lil Bit is gone? I totally missed that news, and I’m dreadfully sorry.

  88. 88.

    hitchhiker

    @trollhattan:

    Thanks all. I’d like to blame DT for the timing, but the truth is I was slipping into outofcontrol for a long time before he came along to make everything worse.

    That said, I despise him more and more — and it ain’t the wine or the pot talking. He’s a bad human being. I had dinner with an old friend last Friday; he’s worked forever in the large-dollar fundraising world in NYC. He told me that one of the reasons everybody there hates Trump so much is that he’s ALWAYS been that guy who muscled his way past the others to get in front of cameras … and NEVER ever came through with promises of support on any cause.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet)

    @raven:

    Relief. I hope she recovers or at least can function normally and comfortably, and I hope she’s with you for many years yet.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    Very strange. WaPost put up article 6 minutes ago saying they have not been able to confirm TPetty’s death, even though CBS ran with it.

    Nothing on NY Times site, or quick look at LA Times. Hmmmm.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet)

    @raven:

    I somehow missed anything you might have written about that. I usually get to the morning threads later than you do, but try to catch up. Might have missed an entire thread or two while I was driving to and from Mackinac, though. Anyhow, good news from the vet.

  101. 101.

    Montanareddog

    I did not realise to what extent TP was a subliminal part of my life’s soundtrack until I saw the Heartbreakers on their 2012 European tour, and found, at the end, that I had known every song in their set except one. That night, Eddie Vedder turned up to guest on The Waiting. My wife, bless her, talked to him at the side of the stage later and had no idea he was famous.

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    TMZ: report that Petty had died is inaccurate. But the family expects he will not live out the day.

    1:35 PM PT — Sources tell us at 10:30 Monday morning a chaplain was called to Tom’s hospital room. We’re told the family has a do not resuscitate order on Tom. The singer is not expected to live throughout the day, but he’s still clinging to life. A report that the LAPD confirmed the singer’s death is inaccurate — the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. handled the emergency.

  105. 105.

    The Lodger

    I remember seeing Petty and Bob Dylan on tour in the late 80s. They jammed on some Dylan songs and I kept wishing Bob would unbend enough to do a duet with Tom on “Refugee.”
    I never thought Petty would go first.

  106. 106.

    Elizabelle

    Wikipedia is likely to have the correct date. But the big boys and girls are not confirming yet.

    However, it’s lovely to be talking about Tom Petty, even in face of a sad loss.

  107. 107.

    Ken

    From a Gainesville native, I am sure sad to see him go. American Girl with 441, just gets me every time. Oh Tom. You leave such a huge hole. RIP

  108. 108.

    GregB

    Breakdown is seared into my mind like so many great tunes from the late 70’s and 80’s.

  109. 109.

    Smiling Mortician

    @Elizabelle: CBS took down their story. According to WaPo’s story, updated just minutes ago, he is in the hospital on life support. Wikipedia has gotten ahead of itself.

  110. 110.

    SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet)

    @Elizabelle:

    Wikipedia is likely to have the correct date. But the big boys and girls are not confirming yet.

    Just in those few minutes after I posted the Wiki link, someone went in and removed the date of death. And changed back all the relevant tenses from past to present.

  111. 111.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet): She’s had noisy breathing for a long time. She was diagnoses with Sick Sinus Syndrome, actually a heart condition, so I figured that was what was going on. The only thing that helps that is a pacemaker. I took her to her cardiologist and the tests revealed she is pretty strong in that area so it was back to a thoracic X-ray to look at her larynx. It is, indeed, suffering paralysis and there is a “tie-back” surgery where they open half of the larynx and allow better breathing. It has a high rate of success but it leaves them open to pneumonia. Anyhoo the vet thinks it’s as bad as it’s going to get so we’re going to let her be. I will not watch her suffocate so the time will come when I have to let her go but not yet.

  114. 114.

    SiubhanDuinne (at some point in the indeterminate future to be known by my real name, Judith Mann Costello, but maybe not quite yet)

    @raven:

    I know you dread that day, but glad she can be with you a bit longer.

  115. 115.

    Suzanne

    We’re listening to “Highway Companion”.

    “Should be more to learn from this
    Can’t say I know what it is.”

  116. 116.

    zhena gogolia

    @raven:

    I love Lil Bit! I hope she has some good times left.

    We’re watching over our tuxedo cat Louis, who has a kidney sarcoma but isn’t really showing it yet. We love him so much.

  117. 117.

    kindness

    @Jeffro: – Oh I had seen Petty many, many times. Back in the 90’s he would take the the Fillmore for weeks at a time and become a ‘House Band’. He did that three or four times then. I have 3 of the 4 posters they gave out after those shows. (back when the Fillmore used to give out a poster after every show) Good times. But you are right, just because I expect someone to live long enough to see ‘the next time’ doesn’t mean there will be one.

  118. 118.

    ThresherK

    I liked him lots, thanks to my wife, who loved his work solo and. Ith the Heartbreakers.

    A recent Sound Opinion had a long interview with Benmont Tench which is worth a listen on how the Heartbreakers came to be.

  124. 124.

    raven

    TMZ

    1:35 PM PT — Sources tell us at 10:30 Monday morning a chaplain was called to Tom’s hospital room. We’re told the family has a do not resuscitate order on Tom. The singer is not expected to live throughout the day, but he’s still clinging to life. A report that the LAPD confirmed the singer’s death is inaccurate — the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. handled the emergency.

  126. 126.

    Mart

    Had/have a couple thousand CD’s. When my daughter was around 3 she would walk up to the wall of CD’s and pull out a couple of TPATHB’s. She would then holler play some Fom Phetty. She still has good taste in music.

  127. 127.

    A Ghost to Not

    My first son’s first concert was Petty at Merriwether Post Pavilion in 84, still in his momma’s belly.

    Another hero gone.

  131. 131.

    Betty Cracker

    @randy khan: Updated post to reflect that. I purposely waited until the initial TMZ report was confirmed by a more legit news org (CBS) before posting, but looks like there was a mix-up.

    Someone on Twitter said wouldn’t it be great if Tom recovers fully and gets to see all the nice things folks said about him. Yeah, it would! Doesn’t sound likely, sad to say.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    @amygdala:

    Thanks! I knew that someone here would know the procedures.

    I haven’t gotten all the way to the end of the thread, but Petty also had a great character on “King of the Hill.” I always wondered if it was meant to be a one-off guest appearance but they just liked Petty and his character too much to let him go.

  134. 134.

    Gravenstone

    For what it’s worth SiriusXM was reporting the death as well. A later report gave his age in the present tense, so maybe still hanging on. But unresponsive in full cardiac arrest rarely ends well.

  136. 136.

    Ian G.

    How much time did I spend smoking weed and listening to Tom Petty in college? His music was also salve for bad breakups, which I needed a lot of in my early 20s.

  137. 137.

    A Ghost to Not

    Saw Petty multiple times, but damned if I don’t always remember him as the mayor (?) in “The Postman”.

  138. 138.

    Ian G.

    @Gravenstone:

    Yeah, my mom stuck around for 5 days after her heart attack, but never regained consciousness and nobody was under an illusions about how it would turn out.

  139. 139.

    Elizabelle

    Tom Petty, whenever and however your life ends, you were a great one, and we appreciate all the great music and humanity.

    Best to your family and friends.

  142. 142.

    Steeplejack

    @Jeffro:

    And the very first comment:

    Oh Jesus H. Christ, why make this about race and gender? Because you don’t like white men?

    Thank you, Internet nitwit miwc.

  144. 144.

    Anotherlurker

    This is so sad, losing Tom Petty.
    I always enjoyed the way he covered artists songs. He showed a great reverence for the artists who paved the way to success. That reverence was a spark for Tom’s brilliance as a composer/lyracist.
    His covers of The Byrd’s “Feel a Whole Lot Better” and The Dave Clark Five’s “Anyway You Want It” are prescise, respectfull and kick ass Rock and Roll.
    RIP, Tom.

  146. 146.

    MomSaysI*mHandsome

    The Petty video biography, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”, is excellent. It’s long, clocking in at three hours, but each new album brings another revelation that the man was prolific and the quality of his work was consistently excellent.

    On the drive to school my kids each choose a song off YouTube. The seven-year-old chose “American Girl” this morning.

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    After a bunch of tests the vet thinks she will be ok and we just have to manage it. I got all fucked up because I thought she was a goner,

    I had to reach for my nitro pills, but then I read this follow-up. Glad she’s (relatively) OK.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    @raven: I am just glad to hear that Lil Bit is still roaming this earth. She might even take in the dog parade.

    You must share pics from that this year.

    ETA: maybe Lil Bit can attend as Tom Petty. You will need a doggy sized top hat, and some mod clothes. Maybe little angel wings.

  149. 149.

    debbie

    Loved his stuff, but all my friends had his albums, so I never got around to learning what was on what. I also really liked the Traveling Wilburys, but I see they haven’t been mentioned yet, so I’m in the minority. Ah well.

  154. 154.

    Felony Govt (formerly Old Broad in California)

    @debbie: I was thinking about the Traveling WIlburys and how many of them are gone now.

  157. 157.

    Elizabelle

    If there is ever a false death report on Trump, I foresee people rushing the hospital to help make it come true.

  159. 159.

    ThresherK

    @debbie: Fan here. Last I heard Petty was taken off life support and may not live until the break of day.

    If that happens, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan would be the last two surviving Wilburys. I don’t know about Dylan, but I believe Lynne was touring last year.

  164. 164.

    Elizabelle

    @ThresherK: Dylan is touring this fall. Coming to Richmond in November. We don’t get that many Nobel laureates out on concert tour.

  165. 165.

    ThresherK

    @Anotherlurker: I overheard a soundcheck where he and the Heartbreakers performed “Golden Ring (with one tiny little stone)”, totally unironically, and with the bit of pain it requires.

    He’s from northern Florida, so I’m sure someone his age would have heard plenty of what is now “Country Gold”.

  167. 167.

    Bill

    I’ve never been a huge Petty fan, but his death feels like a loss from the heart of Gen X’s music. This tune – from what I like to think of as the golden age of music videos – was on MTV something like every 15 minutes during my junior year of high school. The only time I saw him live was with Dylan eons ago. The fact that he could hold his own with that icon speaks volumes.

    This one really makes me feel old.

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    I love that Tom Petty and Mark Twain now have even more to discuss. Whenever they meet up in wherever the great souls go.

  170. 170.

    hueyplong

    I wonder if the killer’s actual motives (if and when we actually learn them) will seem more or less logical than the outright senselessness we currently assume. Can’t think of any rationale that would make anyone feel better.

    It’s getting tiresome to feel both helpless and hopeless every time one of these things happens, with a little impotent hate for the NRA thrown in.

    At least Tom Petty appears to have done what he enjoyed, very nearly up to his last day. His story barely rates as a sad one today. (I’ll go with You Got Lucky, American Girl, and Running Down a Dream.)

  175. 175.

    Miss Bianca

    Never really cared that much for Tom Petty – he was all over Detroit radio when I was a teen and I found his voice whiny as a dentist’s drill – but always, always made an exception for “Refugee”, which I would crank whenever I heard it and is still my favorite song of his. (“Mary Jane’s Last Dance” being a close second). Came to appreciate his music more and more as I got older, particularly after being in a 60s band and realizing how much he had been influenced by the Byrds, one of my favorite bands. And I loved the Travelling Wilburys, too. RIP, Tom.

  178. 178.

    Davebo

    @germy:

    Maybe somewhere down the road a-ways
    You’ll think of me and wonder where I am these days
    Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
    ‘Purple Haze’

  179. 179.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    I suspect that relative is going to be severely disappointed when the murderer’s assets are actually tallied.

    Yep. I have to wonder if losing a bunch of money in Vegas was a triggering event for the shooting spree.

  180. 180.

    EthylEster

    @Ken: yeah, i was at UF right when he started out. my chem lab partner went to high school with him. and the traffic on 441 DID sound like waves crashing on the beach. Too young to die…which is to say, about my age.

  181. 181.

    trnc

    Because there hasn’t already been enough confusion, Entertainment Weekly’s story about the LAPD walking back the claim of Petty’s death has this URL:
    http://ew.com/music/2017/10/02/tom-petty-dead/

    While I was watching his Refugee video right after it came out in the late 70s, my dad walked in and asked me how anyone could like anything that sounds or looks like that (I’m pretty sure he meant the video in general, not Petty himself). I wasn’t a particularly rebellious teenager, mainly because I didn’t have anything to really rebel against at home, but my dad’s comment did elevate that song for me.

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    So Tom Petty dies at the age of 66. I’m 66 right now, also , too.

    Saw Tom once, at the Akron Rubber Bowl. With Bob Dylan, opening for the Greatful Dead, with whom both Bob and Tom played. Great show, great talents.

    Sorely missed, along with the others from Las Vegas. Never been there, never going there as it stands now.

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    66, major HA.
    I’ve had 5 friends aged from 66 to 68 die in the last 12 months, including my best friend that I’ve known for over 40 yrs. And one 41 yr old mom with 2 kids that I knew since she was 12, worked with her parents, for a total of six people, gone. People die, it’s what animals do. We don’t like it, we don’t want it to be us, but there it is. Will we ever get used to it? I hope not.

  184. 184.

    randy khan

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yeah, he probably wasn’t. And the money wouldn’t really be any comfort to the victims’ families. I mean, while I admire his tenacity, Ron Goldman’s dad isn’t any happier now than he was after the OJ trial ended.

  185. 185.

    hugely

    @raven: im not in your cohort but i cried more than twice at that vietnam doc.

    Even Tim obrien crying that he didnt have the courage of his convictions to flee to canada… that documentary was more powerful than any of his other docs….

  187. 187.

    Amir Khalid

    The BBC’s Entertainment & Arts page still has no news about Tom Petty. CBS News s reporting that the Los Angeles Police Dept. has issued a statement saying it can’t confirm Petty is dead, and apologising for releasing preliminary (unconfirmed?) information about him. There is no new information on Petty’s whereabouts, or his condition if he is indeed still alive.

  188. 188.

    phein55

    This feels like a member of the same generation dying. I remember when “Refugee” came out, I was just discharged and moved down to LA in the Lower 48: X, Fear, the Runaways, Motels, the Clash, Petty, the Plugz, dancing at Phases II out in the Valley or trying to get into the Whiskey or Starwood in Hollywood. Damn. I keep thinking “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “It’s Good to Be King,” and “Running Down a Dream.”

    An acquaintance in St. Louis with a similar pedigree was known forever after as “PR,” for “Punk Rock,” because of his deviationist tendencies. None of my children get the joke.

  190. 190.

    Sab

    @Ruckus: There are worse things.

    My dad is 93 with dementia. He recognizes me and my sister, but doesn’t recognize the other two siblings. He has no idea who his grandchildren or sons in law or granddaughters in law are. My 15 year old dog died and he didn’t even miss her.

    He worries all the time because he doesn’t know what is going on and he knows that.

    He used to be brilliant. Now he doesn’t know what day it is or what month it is or who that cat in the yard is.

  192. 192.

    Ruckus

    @Sab:
    Yes, I know. And I’m very sorry about your dad. And for your family that has to watch and experience this.
    My dad died of Alzheimer’s. He started showing signs 20 yrs before it got him. I worked with him almost every day for over 30 yrs and he didn’t know me for the last 10-12 yrs of his life. Gone at 84. Alzheimer’s, dementia (his mom had dementia, she passed at 78), ALS (I have a friend with ALS) they are all horrible, a good friend that I worked with in OH his mom had Alzheimer’s. He helped me a lot by telling me the truth about it. These diseases they take away everything, they make you forget who you are, they make you forget who the people in your life are. They make you unable to live, and yet you are still breathing. It is extremely difficult to care for them, my sister insisted that she could do it. She lasted 6 weeks, called me crying because she wanted to be a good daughter but it was killing her to watch this up close. My friend with ALS, his son takes care of him. He’s a saint. But then Tony is also a one of a kind guy.
    I tell you these stories because I hope that you understand that you are not alone in this, many of us have gone through this, many more of us will. I do not welcome you into this club, you don’t want membership in this club, but it’s not your choice any more than it was mine or my friend or my friends son or my sister. My dad’s last few years were in a home run by 2 Vietnamese women. They came to his service and they cried like it was their own father. They are saints, along with their family members who work in the 3 or 4 homes they run for people with Alzheimer’s. They couldn’t make his last years bearable, no one could because the disease doesn’t let you, but they tried.
    I hope your father has as good a pass at life with this as everyone tried to give my dad.

  195. 195.

    Seanly

    This one is affecting me more than I thought it would. I am usually in the “So-and-so is gone? He/She was a good actor/musician/person. My condolences to their loved ones in this tough time.” But I am feeling this one. I never got to see Tom Petty live but have a bunch of his albums. A lot of his work resonated with me. Maybe part of it is that he was hitting his prime commercial success just as I was getting into music as a teen.
    Maybe the cumulative impact of all we’ve lost from our popular culture in the last few years is wearing on me. Maybe the shitty events of not just Sunday but September are wearing on me. Maybe my coming 50th and the lingering enormity of my wife’s brush with death two years ago are weighing on me.
    Lots of great songs that I love from Tom Petty, but for what it’s worth, “Mary’s Got a Brand New Car” is one of my favorite TPATH songs.

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