Lost and found
It's been a brutal week, and it's only Thursday. Today we learned that Rodriguez, the folk singer of "Sugar Man" fame, passed away on Tuesday at age 81.
His story was unbelievable, really, so compelling that the documentary about him, "Searching for Sugar Man," won the 2013 Oscar for best documentary. The guy was an international rock star and didn't even know it. For more than a decade. While his fans thought he was dead.
The Times obit writer, who usually finds a money quote to end his stories, landed a good one in this case:
“My story isn’t a rags to riches story,” he said. “It’s rags to rags, and I’m glad about that. Where other people live in an artificial world, I feel I live in the real world. And nothing beats reality.”
One of a kind. Farewell to a true original.
Rather interesting coda - near the conclusion of the documentary concerning Rodriguez' life the film maker interviews a black music executive. I believe that to have been Clarence Avant. The implication, as best I recall, is that Avant did not provide Rodriguez with monies he earned from his music. Rather Avant pocketed the dough while the artist lived a pretty hard existence.
ReplyDeleteI do not suggest that there be in karmic justice in the muder of Avant's wife Jacqueline in 2021.
https://www.pressenterprise.com/2023/08/14/clarence-avant-godfather-of-black-music-dies-at-his-home-in-los-angeles/
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