Posted on 01/06/2009 7:03:11 AM PST by weegee
Famed rock-and-roll guitarist and longtime Ann Arbor resident Ronald "Ron" Asheton was found dead in his home on the city's west side this morning, police said.
Asheton, 60, was an original member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band headlined by Iggy Pop and formed in Ann Arbor in 1967.
His personal assistant contacted police late Monday night after being unable to reach Asheton for days, Detective Bill Stanford said. Officers went to the home on Highlake Avenue at around midnight and discovered Asheton's body on a living-room couch. He appeared to have been dead for at least several days, Stanford said.
Detective Sgt. Jim Stephenson said the cause of death is undetermined but investigators do not suspect foul play. Autopsy and toxicology results are pending.
Asheton was born in Washington, D.C. His brother, Scott, who lives in Florida, is the band's drummer.
In 2007, The Stooges reunited and released "The Weirdness," their first album in three decades.
Asked how it felt to be back with The Stooges, Asheton told The News in an interview that year that it was "great to be back on the road."
The Stooges were part of a 1960s music scene in Ann Arbor that included such bands as the MC5, Bob Seger, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, and The Rationals.
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Just damn. . . The Stooges rule!
what a way to go. alone. poor guy.
RIP.
L
Another shame is that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will probably see “fit” to finally induct the band now that one of the members is dead.
I got to see a very brief set from the band in 2007 (4 songs), that’s all I’m going to get.
This couldn’t possibly have been drug related, could it?
RIP.
I saw the Ig sans Stooges back in 1981 - had Clem Burke and Glen Matlock in the band. One hell of a show - great riot afterwards too!
Some indications are that he had a heart attack. He’s a big guy.
where, and how was it?
They only played new material at the show I saw but it came off better than it did on the album.
There are several DVDs that have come out of the reunited Stooges (playing old and new material, they even did the whole Funhouse album somewhere).
I prefer this one:
(R0 PAL)
over this one:
No, probably not, a heart attack most likely. Ron wasn't a druggie (I know him casually and live a few blocks away in Ann Arbor), but he was a big drinker, one to two botlles of Vodka a night. He had all the medical problems associated with alcoholism, high blood pressure, poor liver function and such. He nearly died in France a few months ago from high BP issues.
He wasn't entirely alone when he died in that his personal assistant, the one who finally called the police when she couldn't get in touch for a few days, was quite close to Ron (not romantically) and is in fact the daughter of Ron's good friend and original Stooges bass player, Dave Alexander, who did die of drug related problems in 1975.
PS. to my previous post..
>p>
Ron Asheton and the rest of the Stooges were pretty conservative. Despite dodging the military in the Viet Nam years Ron became quite a supporter of the military and conservatism in general - and this was before he started making money from his legacy in 2000, he was a conservative in the late 70’s when I first met him and he was sort of down and out and had been somewhat screwed by the record companies.
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