[HN Gopher] Jerry Lee Lewis has died
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       Jerry Lee Lewis has died
        
       Author : SirLJ
       Score  : 77 points
       Date   : 2022-10-28 17:26 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.rollingstone.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.rollingstone.com)
        
       | dpatrick86 wrote:
       | This is being reported as false https://ew.com/music/jerry-lee-
       | lewis-alive-after-erronerous-...
        
         | tomjakubowski wrote:
         | That was two days ago, this is today.
        
       | DennisP wrote:
       | I saw him at an outdoor concert about twenty years ago. He was
       | still going completely nuts on stage, playing keys with his feet,
       | belting out Great Balls of Fire and jumping around like a maniac.
       | Not bad for 67 or so at the time.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Also: https://variety.com/2022/music/news/jerry-lee-lewis-dead-
       | sin...
       | 
       | https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/28/arts/music/jerry-lee-lewi...
       | 
       | (We changed the URL above from variety.com to the article that
       | seems to have the most background)
        
         | SirLJ wrote:
         | Thank you Sir!
        
       | jboggan wrote:
       | No man more sinful has ever sung gospel more heavenly.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | It's like it's part of the family's DNA
        
         | bambax wrote:
         | The article ends with this memorable quote:
         | 
         | > _"I was raised a good Christian," he told Rolling Stone in
         | 1979. "But I couldn't make it. ... Too weak, I guess. I can't
         | picture Jesus Christ doin' a whole lotta shakin'."_
         | 
         | ;-)))
        
       | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
       | I saw him in 86 in Fairfax with Fats Domino. Amazing show. That
       | man could seriously play drunk.
        
         | BirAdam wrote:
         | That was probably an amazing time.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | austinprete wrote:
       | Highly recommend the episode about him from Mike Judge's Tales
       | from the Tour Bus. A lot of overlap with the Rolling Stone
       | article but a little more dynamic!
        
         | CharlesW wrote:
         | Wow -- great episode, and I had no idea this series was a
         | thing. Thanks for posting!
        
         | reidjs wrote:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOdc_DG5EcQ
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | i_am_proteus wrote:
       | Nick Tosches's biography of Lewis, _Hellfire_ , is a great read.
       | 
       | https://groveatlantic.com/book/hellfire/
        
         | mgkimsal wrote:
         | Agreed. Got it as a gift a couple years back. Ended up being a
         | pretty fast read as I was engrossed the whole time :)
        
       | kennywinker wrote:
       | Yikes. I knew about him "marrying" his 13yo cousin, but the
       | suspicious deaths of two of his later wives? Sometimes it's worth
       | it to separate the art from the artist... but in his case i have
       | a hard time seeing any reason to
        
         | dagurp wrote:
         | I highly recommend the "Tales from the Tour Bus" episode on him
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UogkCxWJWw
        
         | TremendousJudge wrote:
         | He was a pioneer in the field of being a rock and roll star
         | with a questionable moral record.
        
           | coldtea wrote:
           | rock n' roll was all about having a questionable moral
           | record...
           | 
           | it wasn't about people going to hear Mother Teresa singing
        
             | tomcam wrote:
             | That time she opened for the Von Trapps was amazeballs
             | though. And I do not believe the rumors about MT trashing
             | her room because they misplaced her rosary beads.
        
               | bitwize wrote:
               | It was right there in the contract... no brown rosary
               | beads!
        
               | tomcam wrote:
               | My setup was moderately good but your payoff was
               | infinitely better. O, that I had more than one upvote to
               | give
        
             | kennywinker wrote:
             | If by questionable you mean hedonism, hell yeah, I'm right
             | there with ya. If you mean "marrying" 13 year olds and
             | possibly murdering your wives... we've got beef.
        
               | swyx wrote:
               | was her side of the story recorded at the time? what did
               | her parents say? i am morbidly curious at this point how
               | it happened
        
               | croes wrote:
               | She co-wrote the book Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored
               | Story of Jerry Lee Lewis (1982).
        
               | mikeyouse wrote:
               | I mean, 13-year olds are actual children, so I don't know
               | what "her side of the story" at the time would be. 7th
               | graders don't typically have a great grasp on capturing
               | narrative, or you know, basic geometry.
        
               | Beltalowda wrote:
               | Didn't that use to be somewhat common, at least in some
               | parts of the US both to marry your cousin and the age?
               | 
               | Edgar Allen Poe married his 13-year old cousin when he
               | was in his mid-20s, and no one seemed to bat an eye. Of
               | course, that was in 1836 and not 1957.
               | 
               | Lewis' first marriage was when he was 16.
               | 
               | I guess he came from an old-fashioned background?
        
               | kennywinker wrote:
               | The fact that he was essentially "cancelled" by the
               | mainstream for doing it suggests it was not in fact
               | normal at the time.
               | 
               | In case anyone gets confused, his first marriage was not
               | to a 13 year old. His "marriage" to his 13 year old
               | cousin happened when he was 22.
        
               | Beltalowda wrote:
               | > The fact that he was essentially "cancelled" by the
               | mainstream for doing it suggests it was not in fact
               | normal at the time.
               | 
               | Good thing I never said anything of the sort.
        
               | Maursault wrote:
               | > no one seemed to bat an eye.
               | 
               | Predating eye bats is Marie of Brittany's late 14th
               | century marriage.[1] In 1937, Eunice Winstead (aged 9)
               | married Charlie Johns, but it was noticed. Life Magazine
               | did a story on it, "The Case of the Child Bride."[2] In
               | 1971, at least one of two Florida judges would grant a
               | marriage license for a pregnant 11yo bride and rape
               | victim (which goes without saying).[3]
               | 
               | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_of_Brittany,_Lady
               | _of_La_...
               | 
               | [2] https://yesterdaysprint.tumblr.com/post/143251401189/
               | life-ma...
               | 
               | [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Johnson
        
             | user_ wrote:
             | I know this is a derailment, but
             | 
             | > "[Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a
             | friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from
             | God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for
             | poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the
             | emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory
             | reproduction." -Christopher Hitchens [0]
             | 
             | > In 2013, in a comprehensive review[8] covering 96% of the
             | literature on Mother Teresa, a group of Universite de
             | Montreal academics reinforced [criticism of medical care],
             | detailing, among other issues, the missionary's practice of
             | "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead
             | of relieving it, ... her questionable political contacts,
             | her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she
             | received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in
             | particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce".
             | Questioning the Vatican's motivations for ignoring the mass
             | of criticism, the study concluded that Mother Teresa's
             | "hallowed image - which does not stand up to analysis of
             | the facts - was constructed, and that her beatification was
             | orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign"
             | engineered by BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who shared
             | her anti-abortion views. [1]
             | 
             | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa#Criticism
             | 
             | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_Teres
             | a#Qua...
        
               | rufus_foreman wrote:
               | I do miss Christopher Hitchens. He could have written a
               | hit piece on anyone in the world. He later did one on
               | Henry Kissinger, but not until he got Mother Teresa out
               | of the way first.
        
         | nsajko wrote:
         | Also Jimmy Swaggart's cousin and friend.
        
           | ubermonkey wrote:
           | You missed the third party in that triumverate: pop/country
           | artist and Houston saloonkeeper Mickey Gilley, who owned the
           | (eponymous) night club setting for the film Urban Cowboy in
           | Houston suburb Pasadena, Texas.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Gilley
           | 
           | This wasn't a "oh, and they are cousins" thing. They played
           | together as children.
           | 
           | Fun Fact: I took "Mickey Gilley Boulevard" as part of my
           | route to a motorcycle dealership last month.
        
         | SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
         | > Yikes. I knew about him "marrying" his 13yo cousin,
         | 
         | Much further down, the article clarifies that to "third
         | cousin": "reporters learned that Lewis had married his third
         | cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass player."
         | 
         | Third cousin marriage is a) legal and b) not genetically risky.
         | 
         | So the 13yo part is the dodgy part.
        
           | nsajko wrote:
           | 13-year-old cousin seems worse than 13-year-old nonrelative,
           | given no other information, because of possible undue
           | influence. I.e., Lewis could have had some power over his
           | future wife as her relative. Also as her father's employer I
           | assume? All in all, quite sketchy.
        
           | BirAdam wrote:
           | This was rural Eastern Louisiana, so I wonder how odd this
           | would have been to people at the time. Also, his own first
           | marriage was at the age of 16, and he had always spent a lot
           | of time with cousins apparently. To further develop the
           | image, his parents mortgaged their farm to buy his piano.
           | 
           | I get an immediate sense of place and culture that was more
           | similar to the victorian age than our modern world, or indeed
           | other parts of the country at that same time.
        
       | conductr wrote:
       | Just me or does anyone else think this guy was dead decades ago?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | jancsika wrote:
        
           | chewonbananas wrote:
           | The url is plainly visible.
        
             | dexterdog wrote:
             | Some people just don't know how to roll
        
         | UncleOxidant wrote:
         | Not just you. I'm surprised he was still alive given he did a
         | lot of hard-living and had health problems going back to the
         | 1980s.
        
         | rsj_hn wrote:
         | I'm still shocked that Henry Kissinger is still alive. At this
         | point, it should be a hn story
         | 
         | ```Kissinger still alive``` (200 comments)
        
           | boringg wrote:
           | Wait he is? Amazing. Might be able to compete at the
           | Centurion Olympics
        
           | melling wrote:
           | Why are people shocked? Some people live well into their 90s.
           | 
           | Kissinger is 99. Jimmy Carter is 98. Charlie Munger is 98.
           | Warren Buffett is 92. Mel Brooks is 96. Roger Penrose is 91.
           | Willie Nelson is 90. Ed Thorp is 90.
           | 
           | Kissinger just published a book:
           | 
           | https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Six-Studies-World-
           | Strategy...
        
           | kylecazar wrote:
           | I was at a screening of a documentary in Rockefeller center
           | about the liberation of Ahlem. Henry Kissinger was giving
           | remarks afterward. Stopped speaking mid-sentence, and stared
           | directly at me, locking eyes, in the front row for at least
           | 10 seconds before resuming. Everyone around me was puzzled.
           | To this day we don't know why, and my brother likes to tell
           | people at parties that Henry Kissinger hates me.
        
           | dbg31415 wrote:
           | The good die young.
        
         | foobarian wrote:
         | For me, his name hashes to Jerry Lewis the comedian so I did do
         | a double-take at the article.
        
           | conductr wrote:
           | That could be it for me too. Weird collision.
        
           | asveikau wrote:
           | When Jerry Lewis died 5 years ago I read an HN comment saying
           | somebody thought it was Jerry Lee Lewis.
           | 
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15061018
           | 
           | I didn't remember that I made a bad joke replying to that. My
           | second born child was a handful of days old at the time, must
           | have been in that sleep deprived dad joke state.
        
       | tcbawo wrote:
       | I don't recall the podcast I was listening to, but several years
       | ago there was a discussion about Jerry Lee Lewis's album "Live At
       | the Star-Club" as one of the best live albums ever recorded. It's
       | a snapshot of a unique time and place in popular music and
       | highlights Jerry Lee Lewis's controversial, but unique talent.
       | The energy captured on the album (described by some as
       | amphetamine-fueled) is remarkable. I recommend giving it a
       | listen.
        
         | mgkimsal wrote:
         | Sounds pretty clear and clean to me. Shame we couldn't have
         | gotten as nice a recording of the Beatles at the Star Club just
         | bit earlier :)
         | 
         | FWIW, it's a nice live album, but doesn't strike me as one of
         | the great live albums of all times. Unless there's some other
         | bootleg with more. The only one I've found is... 8 songs. Tame
         | audience (or they just weren't recorded?)
        
           | psweber wrote:
           | There is some kind of legal issue with the recording. I
           | didn't look too deep. There were sixteen tracks recorded.
           | Thirteen were on the real album, and one that had a recording
           | fault was released later.
           | 
           | Here's the songs on the original release:
           | https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXRKTcRs-
           | Xs7RqWKl8hqt...
        
           | gumby wrote:
           | > Tame audience (or they just weren't recorded?)
           | 
           | If you can find a boot of Led Zeppelin's '69 recordings for
           | the BBC you'll have the same impression: after each song the
           | audience claps politely, as if they'd just heard some chamber
           | music. I had an image of them all in short hair, dressed up,
           | and sitting politely in wooden chairs or folding chairs.
           | 
           | Perhaps they new the recording was for BBC broadcast (was it
           | broadcast?) or perhaps that's just how things were in those
           | days. OTOH, I visited London as a small child in 67 or 68 and
           | my memories, even now, are of a pretty swinging place.
        
         | ZoomZoomZoom wrote:
         | > highlights Jerry Lee Lewis's controversial, but unique talent
         | 
         | His morals were controversial, but his talent was anything but.
        
       | mihaic wrote:
       | Actually surprised he was still alive!
       | 
       | The current decade is probably going to beat out all others in
       | the number of famous musicians dying.
        
         | anonymousiam wrote:
         | I came across this article just two days ago:
         | https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/jerry-lee-lewis-misreported-de...
         | 
         | I was glad that he was still with us. Today I mourn his
         | passing.
        
       | harveywi wrote:
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | nemo44x wrote:
        
       | ubermonkey wrote:
        
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