In Memoriam|

Photo: Dick Meis | David Hall via Cricket on the Hill on Fb, 1/31/22: Uncle Dick was a huge inspiration for me to start learning country guitar and steel and I was lucky enough to have him in the studio for these two tracks on our (Honky Tonk Hangovers) first album. Those tracks are below. Back in the 90s the Denver Joe Show was the ONLY classic country going in Denver and I attended nearly every week. Made for a rough Tuesday morning but I was young. Dick and Lois were royalty to us. Rest In Peace Dick.

https://youtu.be/dq8OnyJLRtw

https://youtu.be/L8MkQ9QzWds

A musician’s musician and truly one of the greatest guys ever…I can only imagine his meet and greet line in heaven stretches into infinity…too many wonderful moments to count…love to Aunt Lois and their son Greg.

From Rob Biesk: Very Sad News Friends. Learned from Aunt Lois today that our Uncle Dick Meis passed away on 1/20/22. He was the guitar maestro as well as Denver Joe’s expert straight man. RIP He’ll be greatly missed and always remembered.

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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…

We are going to miss them so much. If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com

February 2021

2: Endo Anaconda, 66, Swiss singer-songwriter (Stiller Has) and writer.

1: Heo Cham, 72, South Korean radio and television presenter and singer; Hiroshima, Japanese drummer (G.I.S.M.) (death announced on this date); Glenn Wheatley, 74, Australian entertainment industry executive, talent manager (Little River Band, John Farnham) and musician (The Masters Apprentices), complications from COVID-19; Jon Zazula*, 69, American record label executive, founder of Megaforce Records.

* Jonathan Zazula (March 16, 1952 – February 1, 2022), also known as Jonny Z, was an American music industry executive who was the owner of New Jersey’s Rock’n Roll Heaven record store and founder of record label Megaforce Records. Zazula’s record store in East Brunswick, New Jersey made him a central figure of the East Coast metal scene, regularly playing demo tapes sent to him through his underground tape-trading network which included the likes of Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records, Ron Quintana (the editor of Metal Mania magazine), and producer Mark Whitaker. He was also somewhat of a mentor to Eddie Trunk.

His central role in the East Coast metal scene would later be an essential factor in launching the career of Metallica. Zazula offered the band their first opportunity to play in the New York area and organized their first tours with Raven, one of the leading metal bands from the UK at that time. After hearing the demo tape No Life ‘Til Leather, he founded the label Megaforce Records to release their work. Zazula released Metallica’s debut album Kill ‘Em All and set up an East Coast tour with private funding.

After the success of Kill ‘Em All, Zazula signed and worked with other artists including: Disco Biscuits, Warren Haynes, Testament, Tad, Overkill, Frehley’s Comet, King’s X, Fozzy, Ministry, and Anthrax.

In 2019, Zazula released an auto-biography titled Heavy Tales.

Zazula was Jewish. His second wife, Marsha Zazula (née Marsha Jean Rutenberg; 1952–2021), was his partner and co-founder at Megaforce Records. They were married from 1979 until Marsha’s death on January 10, 2021. Zazula had three daughters: one with his first wife and two with his second wife Marsha.

He died on February 1, 2022, at the age of 69, from complications of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and osteopenia. His death occurred nearly thirteen months after Marsha’s death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Zazula

January 2021
31: Alejandro Alonso, 69, Mexican singer and guitarist, cardiac arrest; Jimmy Johnson, 93, American blues guitarist and singer; Trey Johnson, 53, American singer and guitarist (Sorta).

30: Jon Appleton, 83, American composer and educator; Philip Paul, 96, American studio drummer, COVID-19; Hargus “Pig” Robbins, 84, American Hall of Fame country pianist; Norma Waterson, 82, English musician (The Watersons), pneumonia.

29: Howard Hesseman, 81, American actor (WKRP in Cincinnati, This Is Spinal Tap, Head of the Class), complications from colon surgery; Sam Lay, 86, American Hall of Fame drummer (Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield Blues Band).

27: Alain Bancquart, 87, French composer; Georg Christoph Biller, 66, German choral conductor, Thomaskantor (1992–2015); Mark Levine, 83, American jazz musician, author, and educator, pneumonia; Diego Verdaguer, 70, Argentine singer-songwriter, COVID-19.

26: Ludmila Ferber, 56, Brazilian Christian singer-songwriter and writer; Janet Mead, 83–84, Australian Roman Catholic nun and singer (“The Lord’s Prayer”), cancer; Kenneth Wannberg, 91, American composer (The Tender Warrior, The Great American Beauty Contest, The Four Deuces) and sound editor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2021

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