RIP: Jeff Beck, one of the true rock guitar gods

[thewayne]

Age 78, taken after a short bout of bacterial meningitis.

Beck was nominated for EIGHT Grammy awards and TWICE inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of The Yardbirds and on his own.

A true legend who shall be missed.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jeff-beck-dead-at-78-obit-1234659559/

Comments

[disneydream06]

I hadn't heard.
RIP Mr. Beck.
Hugs, Jon

[kaishin108]

I wondered what he died of, that is shocking!
What a talented performer.

[thewayne]

Nasty stuff, meningitis.  It can do you in quick.

[acelightning73]

There's a vaccine to prevent meninigitis, but Beck was old enough to have not gotten it as a child.

[thewayne]

According to my childhood records, I didn't get it.

[acelightning73]

I didn't get it either, but when my son went away to college, they asked all students to get the meningitis vaccine. It's terribly contagious in college dorms.

[thewayne]

College dorms are a lot like kindergarten: petri dishes for infections.

[acelightning73]

I like Spider Robinson's statement that toddlers are plague rats in onesies.

[thewayne]

Very accurate!

[acelightning73]

I was tremendously impressed by "Beck's Bolero"

[thewayne]

I'll have to check that out!  Just tonight in Lord of the Rings Online I played a Bolero version of Little Drummer Boy that's pretty awesome.  With alternate lyrics.

[acelightning73]

I'd like to know more about that. I'm very fond of the Bing Crosby/David Bowie version, although I had to listen to it a few times to make out the words Bowie was singing. (I watched that back-to-back with "Space Oddity", and I noticed that when he was singing with Bing, Bowie was throttling back his powerful voice so as not to outsing the old man. What a nice touch.

[thewayne]

Bowie was absolutely amazing, as was Bing. But they were from two completely different eras.

So. Bolero. I did a little digging and the song is formally known as Little Bolero Boy and is by Robert Wendel. Here's a good symphonic performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG1bnuaIuRU

Wendel was born in 1950 and is still at it. His wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wendel

And I did a little poking around last night and found a midi of Beck's Bolero and now have an ABC that I Can play in Lord of the Rings Online! Also made one of his Greensleeves which has some amazing string bends in it!

[acelightning73]

All I know is that Beck's Bolero was perfect for a stoned adventure on the beach at night...

[thewayne]

Now that sounds cool!  Of course, I've never been stoned.  ROFL!

[fairy69]

I saw this...I don't really understand how one contracts it but poor Jeff Beck...from what I read, he was about to go tour or was already in the middle of it...

[thewayne]

Ouch.  Very unfortunate when an artist passes just before or during a tour!  Meningitis is one of those weird infections, I don't know much about it.

[acelightning73]

I was a hippie, because the fact that I was always referred to as "that weirdo" was a social asset among hippies. I'm on medical cannabis now, for complications from my stroke. And "whatever gets you through the day, that's OK, that's OK..."

[thewayne]

I'm a firm believer that everybody is someone else's weirdo.  I pride myself on being that for many people.

[acelightning73]

Well, when I was a kid, it got me pummeled by larger schoolmates. But I'm Still Here!

[acelightning73]

The Wikipedia article on meningitis is very useful.It is believed that Helen Keller caught meninigitis at a very young age, and that's why she was deaf and blind.