HIPPIE LEGEND ARTHUR LEE HAS DIED

Arthur Lee playing in Copenhagen in 2004.

(PHOTO: Torben Skott).

In August 3rd, while I was celebrating the music of San Jose local band Smash Mouth (and also the 26th Anniversary of my first radio show Reunión Acústica), one of the icons of the sixties psychedelic rock scene, Arthur Lee of Los Angeles band Love, passed away in Memphis, Tennessee. Diane, his wife, was by his side.

Lee was not just a singer and guitar player but a prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Siouxsie & the Banshees, and even Pink Floyd, cited Love as an influence. He was 61.

Thank you for all of the music and love you have left to us. Rest in peace.

Javier Lishner
San Jose, California
August 5, 2006