RIP Martin Lickert

Martin Lickert, the guy who played/replaced Jeff Simmons in Zappa’s 200 Motels, has died.

Jeff Simmons, the Mothers’ bass player, had left the group and Zappa was unable to find anyone to play him. In exasperation, he told his entourage the next person to walk into the room would have the part. In walked Lickert, who had gone to buy cigarettes for his boss, Ringo. He was hired, and performed adequately, but became a better barrister than he was a bass player’s stand-in.

Music Biz Lament

Rolling Stone reports on a very bad year for the music industry. Overall, consumers bought 48 million fewer albums than in 2004, marking a disastrous twenty-one percent slide from the industry’s peak in 2000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “It was arguably the worst year in the music business’s history,” says Steve Bartels, Island Records president. (Gee, I wonder why…)

RIP Alex St Clair

Some rather sad news for Cpt. Beefheart fans: Alex St Clair passed away last January 5th. St Clair – real name Alex Snouffer – was one of the original guitarists with the group and helped shape their sound from their inception in 1964 via their deranged cover of Bo Diddley’s “Diddy Wah Diddy” single released in 1966 and on to the groundbreaking Safe As Milk.