Snow joke for Hank

It's snowing in London and as a result there are no buses and hardly any tubes running. Pathetic really. I got into work and was one of only three who made it out of over 20 in my department. Sorry I bothered.

Oh well, the world goes on, and the deaths of musicians continue to occur. The latest is R and B saxophonist Hank Crawford, aged 74 - another former Ray Charles sideman to have passed on following the death of David 'Fathead' Newman the other day. This obituary appeared in The Times of February 27: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5811001.ece

A word too in remembrance of Ray Topping who died just after the new year. Ray lived in Romford and died of pneumonia and supranuclear palsy. Aged just 65 he was an authority on American recorded music for the post war period of 1945 through 1975 and contributed discographies to many specialist magazines. He unearthed thousands of rare and unissued master recordings while working for Ace Records Ltd. There's an excellent obituary of Ray in The Times of February 6 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5671043.ece

The picture shows Ray with Guitar Gable.

There are also obits of Mickey Gee, who played with Dave Edmunds among others http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5670357.ece and Lux Interior of The Cramps, who I once had the dubious pleasure of seeing at the Forum http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5671073.ece

Also no more is UK folk guitarist John Martyn. And tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the death of Buddy, Ritchie and the Big Bopper. The Final Word lifts a glass to them all.