Tiny Bubbles Stop

DC's funk pioneer is gone

(NEWSER) - Chuck Brown, who created the "go-go" genre of funk in DC in the 1970s and remained a mainstay of black Washington's culture ever since, has died at age 75, reports the Washington Post . A snippet from the paper's obituary, by Chris Richards:

• "Like a DJ blending records, Mr. Brown used nonstop percussion to stitch songs together and keep the crowd on the dance floor, resulting in marathon performances that went deep into the night. Mr. Brown said the style got its name because 'the music just goes and goes.'" Full piece here .

He sang and played drums for the group

(AP) - With songs like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek," The Band fused rock, blues, folk, and gospel to create a sound that seemed as authentically American as a Mathew Brady photograph or a Mark Twain short story. In truth, the group had only one American—Levon Helm. Helm, the drummer and singer who brought an urgent beat and a genuine Arkansas twang to some of The Band's best-known songs and helped turn a bunch of musicians known mostly as Bob Dylan's backup group into one of rock's legendary acts, has died at 71. More»

Singer suffered fatal heart attack

(NEWSER) - Monkees frontman Davy Jones died of a heart attack this morning in Florida at the age of 66. Jones had the heart attack in his home, and was taken to Martin Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, a spokesman tells TMZ . He gave what turned out to be his final performance just 10 days ago in Oklahoma. More»

Ken Russell's wild films stirred 1970s controversy

(NEWSER) - The Oscar-nominated director of Women in Love and the Who’s Tommy has died at 84. Ken Russell’s often outrageous films provoked controversy into the 1970s; the former film, for instance, featured two male actors wrestling nude. Russell “pushed the barriers completely and got away with it sometimes and didn't others,” a fellow filmmaker tells the BBC . Russell's contribution to British filmmaking was “enormous,” the director adds, even if he didn’t get the attention some say he deserved. “It was almost as if he never existed—I find it utterly scandalous for someone who was so innovative,” said actress Glenda Jackson. More»

Sion Milosky went under at famed surf break Mavericks

(NEWSER) - The man credited in surfing lore with paddling into the biggest wave of all time (a 60-footer in Hawaii) has been killed in a surfing accident near San Francisco, reports the San Jose Mercury News . Sion Milosky, a 35-year-old Hawaii native, was surfing 20-foot waves at the renowned Mavericks surf break when he went under and got held there by two successive waves. Surfing Magazine has details on those claims about hitting the biggest wave of all time. More»