I "beat" the New York Post to death

Check out this lovely headline: Ike Turner is dead. He was 76. I apologize for linking to anything that has to do with Rupert Murdoch, the most Hitleresque Australian ever, but just look at that headline!

A far better obit can be found in Slate, written by special guest writer Donald Fagen. Yes, Steely Dan's Donald Fagen. I've already taken way more abuse than I should have this year for my ardent support of most things Dan, and I'm sure if anyone listened to the lyrics they would agree with me. Simply put, Fagen is a great writer, and apparently pretty well-read, judging from his allusions to Faust (I mean, knowing about Faust isn't in itself that interesting, but I guess it's important because the musicians I know don't tend to read). Fagen's obit is far superior to any other I've read because he takes critically into account a) Turner's place within the spectrum of old bluesmen and b) his later boozing and wife-hitting years, which he understands are severe but also that it's quite possible that Tina had careerist reasons for implicating Ike as a wife-beater, just in time for her Private Dancer comeback. Anyhow, it's all pretty fascinating, and I come out of it feeling as if I should just be sorry for poor Ike. I listened to his performance on the Gorillaz track "Every Planet We Know Is Dead" and it's a lot sadder then it used to be.

BONUS: For anyone still doubting the genius of Becker and Fagen, I direct you to this open letter to Wes Anderson, which is one of the funniest things I think I have ever read. They basically dig into Wes Anderson's musical choices for all his films and how they are so predictable all the time, an exact complaint I have had:

"Again, each film increasingly relies on eccentric visual detail, period wardrobe, idiosyncratic and overwrought set design, and music supervision that leans heavily on somewhat obscure 60's "British Invasion" tracks a-jangle with twelve-string guitars, harpsichords and mandolins. The company of players, while excellent, retains pretty much the same tone and function from film to film. Indeed, you must be aware that your career as an auteur is mirrored in the lives of your beloved characters as they struggle in vain to duplicate early glories."

Damn. They come to the conclusion that Bottle Rocket is still Wes Anderson's best film, and that he should commission Steely Dan to write a song for Darjeeling Limited. Becker's choice for a song is called "Bottle Rocket 2." It's very funny.