Tag Archives: Glenn Frey

Glenn Frey, RIP

Wow.  It just seems like suddenly so many famous people are passing away.  In the music business alone we’ve had the recent deaths of David Bowie, Lemmy, Scott Weiland, Natalie Cole, Mike Porcaro (from Toto), Chris Squire (from Yes), Joe Cocker, and B. B. King.

Taking a step back, one notes that a part of this is aging.  Several of those who have passed away were reaching/had reached their senior years.

Though many consider it a terrible movie (I don’t, although I also don’t believe it was a particularly great movie either) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull offered a great line regarding growing older/aging.  When Indiana speaks with Dean Charles Stanforth and laments the fact that he’s lost both his father and Marcus, the Dean replies:

We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.

While I’m still a ways from being a senior citizen (may that day arrive veeeerrrry slowly!), for a few years now I’ve noticed either the aging of actors/musicians/TV personalities/athletes who I saw/admired while in their prime and/or the passing of many of these figures.

To me, David Bowie, for example, is a man I envision from his Let’s Dance years.  It was startling to see the elderly and, though I didn’t know it until he passed, infirm David Bowie present in the Blackstar and Lazarus videos.  Similarly, when I think of Harrison Ford I see the young, vital man from Bladerunner or Raiders of the Lost Ark and not the older, much grayer Han Solo in the current Star Wars film’s commercials (haven’t seen The Force Awakens).

Returning to Glenn Frey, I’ll admit I never was a huge fan of The Eagles or Mr. Frey’s solo career but there is no doubt he, along with his Eagle bandmates, created a monster of an album with Hotel California and his solo career was a success as well.  His passing, like Mr. Bowie’s, is nothing less than a shock and another sign of the inevitable passage of time.

Rest in peace, Mr. Frey.