Free Republic

Joel Peresman, the head of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saw his pay go up to $367,823 last year — an increase of 10 percent. At the same time, the Hall of Fame Foundation did almost nothing to help anyone, let alone musicians: it donated $25,000 to a New York City school fund and gave $25,000 to a scholarship fund in Cleveland. There is no line item on its new Form 990 tax federal filing for assistance to indigent musicians. Last year that amount was a whopping $4,183. ...Normally the induction ceremony takes place in New York at...

Just heard on the radio that Joe Strummer was found dead, presumably of a heart attack. RIP Joe.

<p>LONDON — Joe Strummer, lead singer of the legendary British punk band The Clash, has died, his record company said Monday. He was 50.</p> <p>Strummer, who was the band's guitarist, vocalist and songwriter alongside Mick Jones, died on Sunday. The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted The Clash's video director Don Letts as saying Strummer died of a heart attack.</p>

Former Clash frontman died of apparent heart attack Joe Strummer 1952-2002 Joe Strummer, former singer, guitarist and songwriter for legendary punk rockers the Clash, died Sunday at his home in Somerset, England of an apparent heart attack; he was fifty. An autopsy is pending. The son of a British diplomat, Strummer was born John Graham Mellor in Ankara, Turkey, in 1952, and as a boy he lived in Mexico City, Cypress and Cairo, in addition to England. His rock & roll conversion came behind boarding school walls, courtesy of the Rolling Stones' version of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." "I...