Susan Alcorn obit

Pedal Steel Innovator Susan Alcorn Has Died

 She was not on the list.

Susan Alcorn, the pioneering pedal steel player who steered the instrument in experimental, improvisational directions, has died. The High Zero Foundation, an experimental music organization and festival producer in Alcorn’s home base of Baltimore, announced the news on X this morning, sparking a flurry of tributes from Alcorn’s disciples and fellow experimental music icons.

Alcorn was born in Cleveland in 1953. She started playing guitar at age 12 and began experimenting with slide guitar as a teen after randomly meeting Muddy Waters; by adulthood she had switched to the pedal steel. She got her start playing in country bands in Houston in the early ’70s and began experimenting with the instrument in the ’80s, running it through a synthesizer to mimic the sound of other instruments and arranging John Coltrane’s “Naima” for pedal steel.

“I was doing country gigs and listening to Albert Ayler and people at the gigs would tell me I sounded different for some reason,” Alcorn told NPR in a 2020 feature about the experimental pedal steel scene. “When I got into Ornette Coleman, most of the musicians I knew in Houston didn’t want to play with me anymore because it was like I was out-of-tune or something.”

In 1990, Alcorn attended the first Deep Listening retreat organized by Pauline Oliveros, the accordionist and electronic music pioneer, who also lived in Houston. She credited her friendship with Oliveros with further expanding her understanding of what the pedal steel could do. Gradually, Alcorn built up a reputation as a one-of-a-kind visionary, one whose 2006 composition “And I Await The Resurrection Of The Pedal Steel Guitar” helped spark a renaissance surrounding the instrument.

In that NPR feature, Chuck Johnson, one of the pedal steel players who was profoundly influenced by Alcorn, said, “I don’t think you can overstate the importance of the fact that, when you ask who’s pushing the instrument forward, the answer is there are these two women — Susan Alcorn and Heather Leigh. More than any other instrument I know, the culture around [pedal steel] is so male dominated.” Alcorn collaborated with a staggering number of noteworthy musicians, including Oliveros, Jandek, Mary Halvorson, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Josephine Foster, and many more.

Tributes are pouring in today from other experimental titans like David Grubbs, Drew Daniel, and Wendy Eisenberg. Below, check out some of Alcorn’s music and read some of those tributes.

Julius Chna obit

Sir Julius Chan, one of Papua New Guinea's founding fathers, dies aged 85

 

He was not on the list.

Julius Chan was last Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea in the 1990s. Here he speaks on the day of his resignation on 26 March, 1997. Photo: AFP

There has been an outpouring of grief and appreciation for the life of one of the founding fathers of Papua New Guinea - Sir Julius Chan.

Sir Julius, 85, passed away in his home province of New Ireland just after midday on Thursday, marking an end to a long political career spanning half a century. Papua New Guineans dubbed him the "Last Man Standing," as he as last of the founding members of parliament from the Independence era.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape informed members of cabinet of Sir Julius Chan's passing.

"It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of the Last Man Standing. While Sir Michael Somare was the father of our country, the late Sir Julius was the father of our modern economy. He conceived the Kina and Toea. He was our country's first finance minister and our second Prime Minister."

Marape has declared a week of national mourning to honour the life and legacy Sir Julius Chan, and announced plans for a state funeral and low key celebrations for the country's 50th independence anniversary in September.

In the annals of Papua New Guinea's political history, few figures loom as large - or as controversially - as Sir Julius Chan. A statesman whose career spans five decades, his legacy is etched with bold decisions that sparked both admiration and outrage.

From deploying troops to a Pacific neighbour to facing global criticism for being the Prime Minister who hired foreign mercenaries in a bid to end a civil war, his leadership tested the boundaries of convention and reshaped the nation's trajectory.

He entered politics in the twilight of colonial rule. He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1968. By 1976, as PNG's first finance minister, he navigated the economic turbulence of independence, advocating for foreign investment and resource development.

Within PNG politics, Sir Julius was seen as a tactician, weaving through the complexities of tribal and national politics and seizing opportunities when available.

In 1980, he initiated the first-ever vote of no confidence motion against close friend and Prime Minister Michael Somare, ousting him on the floor of Parliament.

His first term as prime minister from 1980 to 1982, solidified his reputation as a pragmatist.

Facing fiscal strain, he championed austerity, infrastructure projects and devalued the PNG currency.

But it was a foreign policy move that drew regional attention.

Vanuatu 1980: A controversial intervention

In 1980, he authorised the deployment of PNG troops on its first international deployment: Vanuatu.

The mission was aimed at quelling a rebellion against Vanuatu's newly independent government.

In parliament, he argued that the deployment was necessary for regional stability and stamped PNG's role as an important player in the Pacific.

Critics called it overreach as PNG was not even past its first decade as an independent country. However, the deployment earned PNG the respect from Vanuatu and its Pacific neighbours - for the first time in a young nation's budding history, that standing up for a Pacific brother when no one else would, was enough for a new regional respect for PNG.

The operation ended swiftly, but the precedent set by PNG's military would reverberate for decades.

The Bougainville crisis and the mercenary gamble

His second term as prime minister from 1994 to 1997, collided with PNG's most protracted conflict: the Bougainville Civil War.

By 1996, the crisis had claimed 20,000 lives, crippled the economy, and exposed the PNG Defence Force's limitations.

Desperate to break the stalemate, his government signed a secretive $36 million contract with Sandline International, a UK-based private mercenary group, to crush the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA).

When the deal leaked in 1997, public fury erupted.

The PNGDF, led by Brigadier General Jerry Singirok, arrested the mercenaries and demanded Chan's resignation.

Sir Julius stood defiant. Critics, however, saw betrayal with many saying hiring outsiders was an affront to sovereignty.

Under pressure, he stepped aside pending an inquiry. Though exonerated of corruption, his political capital evaporated. The Sandline Affair became a cautionary tale of desperation and overreach.

Resilience and redemption

His career, however, refused to end in scandal. After a decade in the political wilderness, he returned as New Ireland Governor in 2007, championing provincial autonomy and education reforms.

In 2015, he published his memoir, confronting the Sandline chapter head-on.

His peers acknowledged his tenacity with founding Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, before his passing, pointing out how both men had separated politics from their personal friendship for over 50 years.

Culture as foundation

Despite rising to political leadership at the national level, and having a strong hand in the formation of our country's economic and financial stability, and using its young military force to nurture Pacific solidarity, Sir Julius will always be remembered for his respect of culture and tradition.

His elevation and acknowledgment of the MaiMai, New Ireland's Chieftan System as a recognised decision-making body within the New Ireland Provincial Government and the Provincial Assembly, was testament to Sir Julius' own devotion and respect for traditional New Ireland culture.

His creation of a pension for the wisened population of his home province, not only assured him continuous support from New Ireland's older population at every election, but it set an example of the importance of traditional systems of governance and decision-making.

To the world, he was a new country's financial whiz kid, growing up in an environment rooted in traditional culture, and navigating a young Papua New Guinea as a mixed race leader saw him become one of PNG's finest leaders.

To the country, he will always be remembered as the 'Last Man Standing'.

But to his people of New Ireland, he will, over the coming weeks, be accorded the highest of traditional and customary acknowledgements that only the people of New Ireland will be able to bestow on such a Great Man. A Great Chief. A Great Leader.

They will say for one last time: 'Lapun i go nau. Wok bilong em i pinis.' (The old man has left, his work here is done).

Ben Vaughn obit

Ben Vaughn, Nashville Music Publishing Veteran, Dies at 49

A beloved figure in the country music world, he served as President/CEO of Warner Chappell. 

He was not on the list.

Ben Vaughn, a beloved figure in the Nashville music community who served as the president and CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, has died. He was 49.

The cause of death was not revealed in Thursday’s announcement by the publishing company’s co-chairs Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall.

Vaughn joined Warner Chappell Nashville in 2012, rising to the top post at the satellite office which built a reputation for nurturing songwriting talent in country music and beyond. Under Vaughn’s leadership, Warner Chappell Nashville earned dozens of honors from across the music space, including awards from the Grammys, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, the CMA and ACM awards, among other organizations. Warner Chappell also boasts eight inductions into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Vaughn grew up in the small Kentucky town of Sullivan. A life-long country music fan, he landed a job at his local radio station, WMSK, where he obsessed over the liner notes in the CDs that arrived at the station’s office.

After graduating from Nashville’s Belmont University, Vaughn reconnected with his former middle school computer teacher, who had become a staff songwriter at Warner Chappell, getting him a job as an intern to Kurt Denny, then a creative manager.

While still at school, Vaughn took an internship at Warner Chappell’s partner company, Big Tractor Music, finding himself the company’s head at 21 years old for the company’s owner at the time, Scott Hendricks, who was head of Capitol Records Nashville and a major producer.

After six years at Big Tractor, Vaughn took a job at EMI, where he would spend the next decade. At 34, he was one of the youngest executives in Nashville to head a major publishing company when he became EVP and GM at EMI, signing multiple newcomers — like country star Thomas Rhett — to their first publishing deals and working with staff songwriters. During his tenure, he oversaw all creative and commercial activities across A&R, administration, business development, finance and human resources, until a series of mergers led him to leave.

Following a six-month sabbatical, Warner Chappell tapped him to lead its Nashville office, returning to the company where he began as an intern.

Vaughn was a fierce advocate for songwriters, speaking of rights protection initiatives and the economic challenges of the craft and lending his expertise to those in the community.

Read the memo sent by Moot and Marshall in its entirety below:

To everyone at WMG,

It is with broken hearts that we share the unthinkable news that Ben Vaughn, President & CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, passed away this morning. Our deepest condolences are with his family and many friends.

Ben has led our Nashville team since 2012, and we know that many of you around the world got to know him over the years. Anyone who had the pleasure of working with him will be as shocked and saddened as we are.

First and foremost, Ben was an extraordinary human being. He met everyone with enthusiasm, warmth, and generosity. His smile was huge, and his sense of humor was infectious.

He was always a passionate advocate of songwriters and a topflight music publisher. The Nashville community has lost one of its greatest champions, and he will be profoundly missed by so many across our company and the entire industry.

We are planning to visit the Nashville team very soon and thank you all for helping support them through this awful tragedy.

With love, Guy & Carianne

Marianne Faithfull obit

Marianne Faithfull Dies: Singer, Actor And Rolling Stones Muse Was 78

 

 She was not on the list.

Marianne Faithfull, who during the Swinging ’60s in London built a career as a singer, songwriter, actor and a muse to such other stars as the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, died today in London. She was 78.

Her death was reported to the BBC by a spokesperson.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull,” a statement said. “Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family. She will be dearly missed.”

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London, on December 29, 1946, to father Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, a British intelligence officer and professor at Bedford College of London University and mother Eva, the daughter of an Austro-Hungarian nobleman. With the beauty of a model and an aristocratic bearing, Faithfull was on 18 (some reports say 17) when she attended a party for the Rolling Stones and was discovered by the band’s manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Her debut album was released the following year.

That self-titled album was a commercial success, especially in the U.K., and included the hit that became her signature song: the sweetly sung “As Tears Go By,” written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Oldham. The Rolling Stones’ version of the song made the Top 10 on both sides of the pond a year later.

Soon becoming one of the most photographed faces of Mod London, Faithfull embarked on a four-year romance with Jagger, recording numerous songs, appearing in movies (The Girl on a Motorcycle in 1968, Hamlet in 1969).

“I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne Faithfull,” Jagger said in a statement on social media. “She was so much part of my life for so long. She was a wonderful friend, a beautiful singer and a great actress. She will always be remembered.”

Fellow Rolling Stone Keith Richards posted on X today: “My heartfelt condolences to Marianne’s family! I’m so sad and will miss her!! Love, Keith.”

It was during her years both with and after Jagger that Faithfull developed the heroin and prescription drug habit that would plague her for decades. By the end of the 1970s, though, Faithfull was putting her damaged vocals to use: She released the 1979 album Broken English, which featured her new image as a world-weary, whisky-soaked chanteuse. Americans were stunned by her 1980 performance on Saturday Night Live, during which she sang the title track from Broken English in a cracking, battered yet somehow mesmerizing and fitting voice.

The album earned Faithfull a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and has built a devoted following over the years, not to mention a later-in-life career as a cabaret performer in such hot spots as New York’s Rainbow Room and Carnegie Hall.

Faithfull made the UK Top 10 four times, starting in 1964 with “As Tears Go By,” which was her biggest Stateside single, reaching No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.

She also hit in Britain with the singles “Come and Stay with Me,” “This Little Bird” and “Summer Nights,” all in 1965, and scored a pair of Top 15 LPs that year. Those four songs also made the U.S. Top 40.

In all, Faithfull had 10 albums make the UK chart, from her eponymous 1965 debut through 2018’s Negative Capability. Eight would make the Billboard 200 in the U.S., led by Marianne Faithfull, which reached No. 12.

After Faithfull left her first husband, the artist John Dunbar, in 1966, she staked a claim in the rock and roll firmament in grand fashion: In 1967, a police raid at the home of Keith Richards led to the arrest of both Jagger and Richards, but it was arguably Faithfull who made the greatest news: She was described by police and reporters as being dressed only in a fur rug – a much-disputed description

In addition to having written “As Tears Go By” for her, the Stones would also immortalize Faithfull – with her help – in the autobiographical song “Sister Morphine,” a number that would be included on the classic Stones album “Sticky Fingers.”

Despite some reappearances here and there — notably, clad quite marvelously as a nun to appear with Bowie in the latter’s 1973 Midnight Special concert (watch them duet on “I Got You Babe” from that show below) — drugs continued to hold sway. The next years would include heroin, romantic breakups, health issues and periods of homelessness.

Her life took a turn for the better in 1979, when she released what would be considered her great comeback album, Broken English on Island Records, and that memorably dicey SNL appearance that endeared her to fans as a latter-day Marlene Dietrich crossed with Edith Piaf, with a hint of Janis Joplin.

Later in life, she would become an icon of times past, a heroine, even, playing no less a character than God in a 2001 episode of Absolutely Fabulous (Anita Pallenberg, another Stones castoff, played the devil).

Cancer, hepatitis C and other ailments — including, most recently, Covid — were recurrent battles.

She is survived by a son.

TV and filmography

Year       Film       Role       Notes

1966      Made in U.S.A   Herself                Sang "As Tears Go By" in a cafe

1967      Anna (TV movie)              Une jeune femme dans la soirée dansante       

I'll Never Forget What's'isname               Josie      Faithfull became the first person to say "fuck" in a mainstream studio picture.

1968      The Girl on a Motorcycle             Rebecca            

1969      Hamlet                Ophelia              

1971      The Stronger (TV movie)                               Directed by Patrick Garland, also starred Britt Ekland

1972      Lucifer Rising (Short)    Lilith     

1974      Ghost Story       Sophy Kwykwer              

1975      Assault on Agathon       Helen Rochefort             

1992      The Turn of the Screw   Narrator             

1993      When Pigs Fly   Lilly       

1994      Shopping            Bev       

1995      Moondance       Mother                 Additionally provided the vocals for "Madam George"

1996      Crimetime         Club Singer       

2001      Intimacy             Betty    

Far from China                 Helen  

Absolutely Fabulous (TV series)              God       – "The Last Shout: Part 1" (1996)

– "The Last Shout: Part 2" (1996)

– "Donkey" (2001)

2004      A Letter to True                Narrator              Documentary, written and directed by Bruce Weber, released in the U.K. in 2008

2006      Paris, je t'aime Marianne            Segment: "Le Marais"

Marie Antoinette             Empress Maria Theresa              

2007      Irina Palm           Maggie                 Nominated for European Film Award for Best Actress

2011      Faces in the Crowd        Dr. Langenkamp             

2012      Belle du Seigneur           Mariette             

2013      Who Do You Think You Are? (TV series)                Herself                Series 10, episode 9

2021      Dune     Bene Gesserit Ancestor (voice)              

2023      Wild Summon Narrator (voice)              

Stage work

Year       Production         Role       Location             Notes

1967      Three Sisters     Irina       Royal Court Theatre, London    

1968      Early Morning   Florence Nightingale    Royal Court Theatre, London   

1969      Hamlet                Ophelia               The Roundhouse, London          

1973      Alice in Wonderland      Alice     Theatre Royal, Brighton              

A Patriot for Me                Countess Sophia Delyanoff       Palace Theatre, Watford             

Mad Dog             Jane Ludlow; Little Ford Fauntleroy (disguised)               Hampstead Theatre, London   

1974      The Collector    Miranda               Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, and St. Martin's Theatre, London   

1975      The Rainmaker                Lizzie Curry        Kenneth More Theatre, Ilford, and UK tour         

The Kingdom of Earth   Myrtle Ravenstock         Greenwood Theatre, London   

1991      The Threepenny Opera                 Pirate Jenny       Gate Theatre, Dublin    

2004      The Black Rider                Pegleg Barbican Centre, London