Monday, June 05, 2006

I was reading the USA Today at lunch today, and happened to notice a small item that noted that former Tubes and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick died Friday, an apparent suicide.

Most people these days think of him as the last Dead keyboardist, but me, I'll always remember him in the Tubes- a band that I liked very much back in the day. Not only did they have a wicked, perverse, and cynical sense of humor, but they were all excellent musicians and Welnick was certainly that. I was fortunate enough to see the Tubes on their 1981 Completion Backward Principle tour (never got to see the really weird shows, darn the luck), in which Welnick played, and several years later saw him play the keyboards for Todd Rundgren as he toured behind his Nearly Human album.

Sad news, and I hope it wasn't self-inflicted, although I won't cast aspersions on that account. RIP, Vince.

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