my tribute to ron asheton, the late stooge

I first encountered Ron's presence and voice in the pages of Please Kill
Me, the wonderful oral history of US-based punk rock. His anecdotes were
vivid, wryly hilarious, insightful. He made me want to learn more.
Believe it or not, I had never listened to the Stooges before, though
i'd heard about them a bit, especially Iggy Pop. I instantly became an
iggiologist and Stooge freak at an advanced age, and it revolutionized
my life. I feel happier on a daily basis, I have more energy, I'm not
afraid to be more sassy and humorous and performative. The Stooges, one
could say, gave me my groove back. Ron's hypnotic guitar playing brings
me deep into myself and out into the world simultaneously. He plays
those riffs and it seems as if they have been in the world forever, but
they haven't. That, to me is the sign of genius: when something is
initiated into the world, like a three-chord riff, it suddenly seems so
obvious and right–natural even, as if ordained by the logic of natural
processes–but it never had existed before. That is the Stooge genius: it
sounds simple, but it is a whole concept, a unity, a total experience.
It's Life. And Ron Asheton, who gave so much to so many in not all that
many years, has made this enormous contribution to humanity.
My thoughts are with his friends and loved ones and colleagues as they
learn to fully internalize and pass on what he gave them.
deepest sympathies and warmest wishes.

Ron Asheton RIP

I feel sad; Ron Asheton, visionary guitarist and raconteur extraordinaire, died this past week. I haven't been able to get into my blog for almost a year, and then mIEKAL showed me how to set up an account...and reset password, etc.
And a couple of weeks ago Emma Bernstein died.
Now these are two people I never met but i feel as if they have touched my life: Emma through her father Charles, a wonderful, generous poet and colleague; Ron through reading his words in Please Kill Me and through being an Iggy Pop fan. In the last year i've become something of an Iggologist, and now this. Yes, I feel sad.
May all beings be at peace
May all beings be happy
May all beings be free from fear.
A lot has happened in the past year; i went to latvia; i got promoted to full prof with the help of my outstanding chairperson, i made some stuff, i wrote some stuff...
i feel better and better about being in the world, and now people are leaving the world, at least people as they've been.