#WhatsHappening for October 5, 2017

Hi kids.

I was chatting with a friend yesterday and they asked why yesterday's update had more on Marilyn Manson being injured than Tom Petty's sudden death. As I told them- I just didn't have it in me. I don't know that I do even now.

I mentioned in Monday's update (before there was actual verification of his passing) that Petty was part of the soundtrack of my life- releasing his first album in November of 1976, when I was all of eight years old. Much like Prince- whose debut came two years later- Petty's lyrics spoke to me, even if I might have been too young to initially understand the complexities that were cloaked by their simplicity.

Unlike some of the other performers we've lost in the past couple of years, it seems like Tom Petty might have been getting the short end of the stick as far as tributes go. It's not like his name and picture weren't all over the internet and airwaves Monday and Tuesday (though, admittedly, there was a slightly bigger story to report)- the news just seems kind of... I don't know... muted? I never met him, but I kind of think he really wouldn't mind.

Unlike David Bowie, or Prince (or George Michael, to a lesser degree), Petty wasn't flashy, flamboyant, or a fashion plate. As far as I know, he didn't have Glenn Frey's volatile personality (I can't recall ever reading about he and any of the rest of the Heartbreakers having knock-down, drag out fights and vowing to not play together again until "hell freezes over"), and he didn't cloak his lyrics in literary obscurity, a la Walter Becker (don't get me wrong, I love Steely Dan- and their lyrics- but, man, can they get dense).

No, Tom Petty didn't seem to be any of those things. What he was was a rock and roller, a damned fine guitar player (having seen him play live, I will attest to that), down to earth (at least, by appearances), and- very much like the other artists I mentioned- his songwriting was genius, tremendously meaningful, while being simple and relatable at the same time.

Petty had said that the tour that the band wrapped up last week- their 40th anniversary tour- would likely be the last "big" tour they'd do- owing to their collectively advancing ages. But he was also firm in his commitment to the Heartbreakers because it "keeps us young. I think it keeps me young."
In his final interview, Petty told Randy Lewis of the LA Times last week that the only way the band would call it quits was "If one of us went down or if one of us died -- God forbid -- or got sick … Then we’d stop. I think that would be the end of it, if someone couldn’t do it."

Little did he know that just five days later he'd be that someone.