FR indeed is a grand place. OT, but here are some interesting trailways that occurred over the last 45 minutes starting with your thread here.
1. In #21, Yardstick wrote “The minor feel and thrummy spaghetti western guitar are reminding me of Yardbirds’ Heart Full of Soul (1965).” Haven’t heard that in years, either, so listened to that on YouTube.
2. While listening up to Heart Full of Soul, I began reading up on the Yardbirds (one of my favorite bands as I was starting high school) and suddenly remembered the band had Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton in it during my high school years.
3. Then listened to Yardbirds cover of “I’m a Man,” a song written and recorded by Bo Diddley in 1955. That got me to wondering why the lyrics and sound by the Yardbirds were so different from what was recorded by The Spencer Davis Group in 1967.
4. So I listened to “I’m a Man” by The Spencer Davis Group (what a great opening to the song!) and Wikipedia then reminded me that Chicago Transit Authority did a cover of it on their debut album in 1969 (I’m a high school senior now) which I really enjoyed, so I listened to that. Reading up on CTA, I had forgotten that the bluesy guitar playing of Terry Kath is what infused the group with such a signature jazz/blues sound that I loved.
5. Chicago’s Kath accidentally killed himself in 1978, one week short of his 32nd birthday.
6. Kath’s widow, Camelia Emily Ortiz, was married to actor Kiefer Sutherland from 1987 to 1990.
7. Finally, last week I started watching the new “24” series “Live Another Day” starring none other than Kiefer Sutherland.
So my musical journey tonight started with your post and brings me directly to 24 on my Tivo tonight!
Now that you mentioned Terry Kath accidentally killing himself when he was around 32 years old in 1978, that’s eerie! The one-time lead singer of The Yardbirds-Keith Relf, was also accidentally killed by electric shock while trying out some new music at his home!
Apparently his guitar amp. was not grounded right, and it electrocuted him. He too, was in his early 30’s and it happened a few years earlier than the fellow you wrote about in your post! The Yardbirds had disbanded several years before, of course, and Jimmy Page started up Led Zeppelin right after.
Keith Relf had formed/helped form a number of short-lived groups between that time. One (Renaissance) included the Yardbirds’ drummer, Jim McCarty and Keith’s sister Jane. They were starting a new group with a few others when the accident happened.
The Yardbirds, incidentally, formed a new version of the old group. It’s still called “The Yardbirds”, and had two of the original members (Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja, who learned how to play bass from J. Page when he joined) and a few younger fellows who joined up over the years since they reformed, and they still tour for nostalgia-type concert shows. They still do some of their classics and have done a few new ones they’ve written and recorded!