Cancer is Stupid
April 21, 2016 1:31 PM   Subscribe

Richard Lyons, Negativland Founder, Dead at 57 A founding member of audio collage band Negativland, passed away from nodular melanoma today, on his 57th birthday. According to the band's Facebook posting, he died "peacefully and pain free."

He was joined by various members of the band and family, "Happy Birthday", which was recorded and shared on Negativland's Soundcloud page..

Richard Lyons was also known to fans as Pastor Dick, and Dick Vaughn, recurring characters on KPFA's Over The Edge.
"His last weeks at the skilled nursing facility were spent with many visits and calls from friends, lots of Boston Cream Pies, watching 70s car commercials and old episodes of Match Game, being interviewed for a documentary film currently being made about the group (everyone there that day gathered 'round his bed to sing his "Nesbitt's Lime Soda Song" to him), and working on new hand made covers for an upcoming re-issue of Negativland's first LP from 1980. He kept an online station tuned to an all-70s-hits-all-the-time station, and when he finally was unable to speak, he was still tapping his fingers to the music."
Recently, Negativland lost Don Joyce, and Ian Allen.
posted by SansPoint (67 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
is there any escape?

.
posted by boo_radley at 1:31 PM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's not even funny.
posted by ardgedee at 1:32 PM on April 21, 2016 [11 favorites]


ardgedee: It's just ridiculous.
posted by SansPoint at 1:32 PM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh for fuck's sake.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:35 PM on April 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


.

(this year is freaking bullshit)
posted by entropicamericana at 1:36 PM on April 21, 2016 [7 favorites]


I'm sure this is no surprise to anyone, but I feel like this year is gonna suck.
.
posted by cyclotronboy at 1:37 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by LaunchBox at 1:39 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 1:40 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by interrupt at 1:40 PM on April 21, 2016


"peacefully and pain free"

Translation: in hospice and hopped up on enough morphine to kill an elephant.

And I'm glad he was on those drugs. As a cancer patient myself who (thus far) has had good luck with experimental drugs, cancer pain is relentless and not fun.
posted by prepmonkey at 1:41 PM on April 21, 2016 [6 favorites]



posted by a lungful of dragon at 1:41 PM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


Okay, that's fucking enough. I'm 57, goddammit, and I do not feel in any way old or ready for death. Shit.
posted by jokeefe at 1:42 PM on April 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


What entropicamericana said. I'll try to shop as usual and avoid panic buying, but this is getting creepy.
.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 1:43 PM on April 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


Goddamnit, and now you want me to go into a fucking upbeat number?
posted by rock swoon has no past at 1:46 PM on April 21, 2016 [27 favorites]


.
posted by Bistle at 1:47 PM on April 21, 2016


Do the ants in the grass understand what the man's Volvo is? What a year.
posted by Capybara at 1:52 PM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


.

Is 57 the new 27?
posted by Flashman at 1:54 PM on April 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


Eleven



.
posted by djseafood at 1:55 PM on April 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


.
posted by Foosnark at 1:56 PM on April 21, 2016


Today is not good.
.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:00 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by doctor_negative at 2:05 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by acb at 2:07 PM on April 21, 2016


Yeah, now I'm kind of hoping I'm going next because holy fuck there is one hell of a jam band session going on right now.
posted by loquacious at 2:10 PM on April 21, 2016 [6 favorites]



posted by Smart Dalek at 2:11 PM on April 21, 2016


Oh for fuck's sake.

Oh fuck. What the hell's going on here. This is fucking ponderous, man.

snuggles
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:11 PM on April 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


That sound is more important than you are.

.

GodDAMMIT 2016
posted by kyrademon at 2:15 PM on April 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


This...is not the way of it.

.
posted by dragstroke at 2:25 PM on April 21, 2016


.

The Don Joyce OTE was one of the most perplexing and emotional tributes to a dear friend I've ever heard... I hope the remaining members and friends can pull one together for Pastor Dick.
posted by lownote at 2:41 PM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


.
posted by vibrotronica at 2:46 PM on April 21, 2016


JUST FUCK OFF DEATH YOU'VE HAD YOUR FILL.
posted by lalochezia at 2:49 PM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


.


It's been a brutal 24 hours. I'm sitting at my computer weeping for a bunch of strangers.
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:52 PM on April 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


And, aimed at the year 2016, here are forty-three Fuck Yous, sign off and the news.
posted by delfin at 2:56 PM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


2016. The year music died.

This is bullshit.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 2:57 PM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


I repeat my belief that God is calling all the good people home before the Trumpian Apocalypse. Prove me wrong, American voters. If I learned nothing else from Negativeland, though, its that the American voters seldom prove me wrong.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:02 PM on April 21, 2016 [5 favorites]


.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:13 PM on April 21, 2016


Okay, Death -- now it's personal.
posted by Slothrup at 3:21 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by honestcoyote at 3:22 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by Duffington at 3:51 PM on April 21, 2016


As I saw on Twitter - who let George RR Martin write 2016?

I'm running out of these, but

.
posted by Devonian at 3:52 PM on April 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


As I saw on Twitter - who let George RR Martin write 2016?

Who was Ned?
posted by Going To Maine at 3:53 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by fizzix at 4:06 PM on April 21, 2016


I know people die every day all over the world, but ixnay on the ethday, OK?

I am starting to think my Spotify playlist is the Death Note.
.
posted by asok at 4:08 PM on April 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


I read on Twitter the reason is known. Apparently 2016 was written by George RR Martin.

.
posted by taff at 4:16 PM on April 21, 2016


I hated 95% of what he did. But that remaining 5%? Goddamn I'm going to miss that remaining 5%.

.

Also, for an unusually gentle introduction to his work, hearing him talk about the Death sentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak photo book in sunday NPR style is pretty good.
posted by eotvos at 4:33 PM on April 21, 2016


Can I just pretend this is all a poorly thought out hoax?
posted by aspo at 5:01 PM on April 21, 2016


This guy is from the USA, and I give a shit!
posted by OmieWise at 5:14 PM on April 21, 2016 [5 favorites]


Damn.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 5:32 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by allthinky at 5:41 PM on April 21, 2016


OK, I want a goddamn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a fucking up-tempo record everytime I do a goddamn death dedication!

.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:46 PM on April 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


.
posted by Kattullus at 6:22 PM on April 21, 2016


Shop as usual and avoid panic buying.
posted by jwest at 6:49 PM on April 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:10 PM on April 21, 2016


.

I'm so over this year! Why are all the cool people leaving us?
posted by droplet at 7:26 PM on April 21, 2016




Oh come the fuck on, this year is just getting ridiculous.

.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:38 PM on April 21, 2016


is there any escape?
It's not even funny.
It's just ridiculous.


my thoughts exactly. this brilliant-people-dying-before-their-time thing is really getting tired. If you're interested, here's a radio show I put together back toward the beginning of 2015 when Ian Allen died.

No Other Possibility - Part-1
No Other Possibility - Part-2
posted by philip-random at 7:40 PM on April 21, 2016


the loudspeaker spoke up and said

.
posted by The Vice Admiral of the Narrow Seas at 7:41 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 11:27 PM on April 21, 2016


.
posted by Mezentian at 12:12 AM on April 22, 2016


.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 7:20 AM on April 22, 2016


oh boo

.
posted by Minus215Cee at 7:29 AM on April 22, 2016


11
posted by Golem XIV at 9:42 AM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


Negativland was a big influence on my musical tastes and he'll really be missed.
posted by Gev at 12:00 PM on April 22, 2016


.
posted by klausness at 1:32 PM on April 22, 2016


.
posted by apis mellifera at 5:32 PM on April 23, 2016


.
posted by Theta States at 12:44 PM on April 26, 2016


The NYTimes put up their obit today: Richard Lyons, a Founding Member of Negativland, Dies at 57

.
posted by homunculus at 4:07 PM on April 27, 2016


« Older It's a blog that mashes up Rushmore and Sonic the...   |   "It was just a bunch of s***." Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments