Monday, March 14, 2016

Out of Touch just a Little

Ok.  So, I am out of touch just a little.  I also am pretty sure that I don't feel bad about being out of touch.

Those times I infrequently find myself in a grocery checkout, I look at the faces on the covers of the magazines and quite frankly, there are more I don't know than I do.  I'm only 50 but it seems like all the people I consider stars are dying.

Last year was particularly noticeable for me.  Here is a partial list of celebrities whose death I noticed in 2015:

Toto's Mikey Porcaro, gone at 59 from Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Martin Milner (actor: Adam 12, Route 66)
Tyler Negron (1), (comedian)
Geoffrey Lewis (2), (actor)
Leonard Nimoy (Mr Spock)
Cory Wells (3 Dog Night)
Chris Squire (Yes)
Gary Richrath (REO Speedwagon)
Mikey Porcaro (Toto. He had ALS)
Wayne Dyer
John Nash (Beautiful Mind)
Stuart Scott (ESPN, cancer)
Yogi Bera
Ernie Banks (Cubs)
Dean Smith (Basketball Coach)
Dave Henderson (Red Sox, A's)

I particularly noticed Cory Wells, Gary Richrath, Mikey Porcaro and Chris Squire, who are still 25 or 30 years old on my iPod.

All of these folks will be replaced eventually with the people I don't recognize on the covers of the magazines in the check out line.  But I will remain just a bit out of touch with all of that because all of these folks will live on for me in my memories.

I'm OK with that.



(1):  I didn't know this until I read the obituary, but was also the cousin of 3 Dog Night's Chuck Negron.

(2)  I suspect most people won't recognize him, but he played a key role on an episode of the TV program "House" that I consider to be one of the best hours of television ever produced (One Day, One Room. Season 3, episode 12).

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