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There's really no gentle way to say it. People were expecting Amy Winehouse to die young. Even her own parents were prepared for her death.
Celebrity deaths impact the public in varying ways, but there will always be a combination of trolls and mourners. Hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet helps mask who's who, but Memoriam at Bar Smith will change that starting August 30. In one room, the event gathers mourners of all kinds.
The ongoing event memorializing aging, but not quite dead artists will begin with a celebration for 64-year-old feminine geriatric David Bowie.
"I feel that we should appreciate these people while they're still alive and not store this appreciation within ourselves until they are gone," says event creator Monique Wallis in an e-mail. "So many people only express how much they love something after it's gone, I wanted to see people come together and show that same love, clad in black, and having a great time."
While Wallis wasn't ready to reveal the other artists that are set to be celebrated post Bowie, she said they were all in the same calibur. Perhaps that means we could expect Memoriams for Bob Dylan or Stevie Nicks, but definitely not Keith Richards. If he isn't dead yet, that dude just isn't going to die.
DJs will incorporate the night's featured walking dead rock star's songs into their sets for a solumn dance party. I imagine it will look something like
this episode of
South Park.
"We are celebrating rockstars that have been idols though every generation's life since they came on the scene -- Idols that are impossible to neglect and could never get enough gratitude," Wallis says. "We feel indebted to them."
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