Free Republic

Devon Clifford, drummer for Canadian dance-punk band You Say Party! We Say Die! collapsed on stage during a gig in Vancouver Friday night and died shortly after. Clifford collapsed during a show at the Rickshaw Theatre, according to the Vancouver Sun. Family members released a statement saying the 30-year-old drummer died early Saturday morning, apparently from a brain hemorrhage. “Devon Clifford was an extremely gifted drummer and determined character,” family members said in a statement. “He loved his family, loved his band, loved traveling, loved being on stage and loved meeting people around the world. He was smart, witty, passionate,...

Dale Hawkins, the rockabilly pathfinder who made a national mark with his 1957 single "Susie-Q," has died after a fight with colon cancer. He was 73. Though he was active in the studio and on stage into his 70s, Hawkins is best known for his clamorous first hit, which featured striking lead work by teenage guitarist James Burton, later a mainstay of Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley's bands. Hawkins, who died Saturday in a Little Rock, AR, hospital, was known for his exceptional ear for guitarists: His other accompanists included Roy Buchanan and Presley's original picker, Scotty Moore. He was...

Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose leftist "A People's History of the United States" became a million-selling alternative to mainstream texts and a favorite of such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen and Ben Affleck, died Wednesday. He was 87. Zinn died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, Calif., daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said. The historian was a resident of Auburndale, Mass. (snip) At a time when few politicians dared even call themselves liberal, "A People's History" told an openly left-wing story. Zinn charged Christopher Columbus and other explorers with genocide, picked apart presidents from Andrew Jackson to Franklin...

Robert “Bobby” Charles Guidry, the gifted, reclusive southwest Louisiana songwriter who crafted hits for Fats Domino, Frogman Henry and Bill Haley & the Comets, died early Thursday after collapsing at home in Abbeville, his manager said. He was 71.