​When Rockit to Russia's Bobby Ramone Reinhardt passed this October, his family wasn't able to afford a funeral. To help his family and celebrate the fastest bassist since Dee Dee Ramone, his bruddas are throwing a sendoff this Saturday at the Monterey Club. Near the end of his battle with diabetes, Reinhardt could barely afford all the treatment he needed. Stranded, without a car, and geographically isolated in Oldsmar, Florida, he struggled to get rides to dialysis. As a founding member of South Florida's premiere Ramones tribute band, he seemed to embody Joey Ramone's Too Tough to Die spirit.

His late younger brother, Mikey, also did his time in Rockit to Russia. "He played the Ramones stuff better than anyone -- he died of a pulmonary embolism in 2008," says longtime friend and Death Becomes You drummer Christopher Lee. Lee and his band of actual brothers shared a close and special bond with Bobby, Mikey, and the rest of the Rockit. It's appropriately heartwarming that Lee would pull his resources and set up a benefit show for Bobby's family.

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jacop.net

Ingrid Pastorius with Jaco Pastorius' four children -- John, Julius, Felix, and Mary -- in 1983.

​Ingrid Pastorius, who was married to virtuoso electric bassist Jaco Pastorius between 1979 and 1985, died on Monday from complications following an aortic aneurysm, according to a source close to the family. She was 61.

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Lotusflow3r, we hardly knew ye.

​Plenty of Prince albums will always sell at a decent clip -- Purple Rain and 1999 among them -- but it's a sign o' the times that the three-disc Lotusflow3r is getting pulled from shelves.

Two years and seven months after its physical release, available exclusively at Target stores, the backstock of piles and piles of unsold copies is finally exiting the music department, according to Kelvin Mitchell, who works at the store in Miami's Tropicaire Shopping Center.

Earlier today, Mitchell (who also plays bass for area darkwave outfit Möthersky) posted a photo of the boxes of unsold copies of Lotusflow3r set to make their journey out of Target stores as part of the store's quarterly inventory scan. "It's been a long-running joke with all of the employees here," he says. "There would always be new release inventory to send back, but the Prince album was always a mainstay. Today we scanned it, and finally it told us to send them all back."

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bertjansch.com

​Guitarist Bert Jansch, who passed away today at age 67 after an extended bout with cancer, wasn't a household name... not in this country anyway. But in his native U.K., he was considered one of the great founding fathers of the British folk music renaissance of the early '60s and one of those most responsible for transitioning traditional music into the modern era.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1943, he immersed himself in London's seminal folk scene in the early '60s and, with his early solo recordings, his unique, expressive, and articulate playing style became a profound influence on the likes of Paul Simon, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler, Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Donovan, Neil Young, and Devendra Banhart. A recipient of two Lifetime Achievement Awards at the BBC Folk Awards, he still ranks among the innovative players of his generation.More >>

​This morning, the news of DJ Mehdi's sudden death flooded the internet, shocking the music industry and electronic fans all around the globe. 

No official release from Ed Banger has been sent out. But several reports have confirmed the news of a freak roof accident that took Mehdi's life.

Mehdi Faveris-Essadi, better-known by his stage name DJ Mehdi, was French-born and of Tunisian descent. The 34-year-old producer began his musical journey in the hip-hop world and eventually gained world renown after singing with electro label Ed Banger Records. Throughout his career, he collaborated with an array of artists, including Chromeo, Busy P, Daft Punk, and Justice.

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Songwriting geniuses Jerry Leiber (left) and Nick Ashford.

​Both Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford were part of songwriting teams responsible for countless intricate pop hits across the second half of the 20th Century, and arguably anyone in the business of writing songs owes a great debt to them. Losing both on Monday --  Leiber, 78, died of cardiopulmonary failure in Los Angeles, and Ashford, 69, passed after complications from throat cancer in New York City -- was a catastrophic blow to any music fan from the baby boomer era on. For those of us born after the mid-'70s, these records were the ones that our parents held onto for us to hear.

Wordsmith Leiber and his melodic foil Mike Stoller were best-known as just Leiber & Stoller, whose songs defined the careers of Elvis Presley and the Coasters. Similarly, it's impossible to think of Ashford without his creative and life partner, Valerie Simpson, and the work they did as Ashford & Simpson, writing hits for Motown and later as a performing team. In either case, many of the songs that came out of these partnerships have become documents of America's rich cultural history and the jumping-off point for some personal anecdotes that follow.

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RIP, Mr. Lane.

​Not a lot known at this point, but ex-Warrant vocalist Jani Lane was found dead Thursday evening in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. He was 47.

Lane's body was found at a hotel in the Woodland Hills neighborhood. No official cause of death has been reported as this time.

Lane (real name: John Kennedy Oswald) wrote several hit hair-metal classic singles, including "Cherry Pie" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin," during his tenure as Warrant's lead singer, which was during several stints from the late '80s up until the present. Right now, though, one of the finest monster ballads of all time, "Heaven," is likely the song that we'll all remember him by.

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M.I.A. explores her darker side to pay tribute to Amy Winehouse.

​The music community's response to losing gifted British soul vocalist Amy Winehouse at the tender (and fateful) age of 27 has only just begun. Many will continue speaking eloquently about her voice -- notably actor friend Russell Brand has done so, and so has our colleague Maura Johnston -- and let's be clear that it's not just the wavering vibrato and cigarette-kissed cadences but her voice.

Winehouse started (and finished) conversations about her life with nearly every song she recorded. From party girl condemnations ("Fuck Me Pumps"), self-sabatoge ("You Know That I'm No Good"), and, natch, the song that'll forever be her calling card, "Rehab," there was rarely an artist so keenly aware of herself and honest about herself -- all while remaining an inscrutable figure that kept us (and the U.K. press corps, especially) guessing. Like fellow 27-year-olds Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Robert Johnson -- and Otis Redding and Buddy Holly and countless others who made an impact quickly, before vanishing -- Amy Winehouse's destiny will be a long tail of art remembering her.

A fitting entry to this conversation is M.I.A., who has released a pre-Vicki Leekx demo titled "27."

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​Early this morning, British singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her apartment at the age of 27. The troubled singer has been struggling with drug addiction for several years, but no details are available yet regarding cause of death.

A news release from the Metropolitan Police, which doesn't specifically name Winehouse, says:

"Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.

On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained."

Under Lemmy's wing.

​According to a post made on Lemmy's bass tech Tim Butcher's Facebook, ex-Motörhead güitarist Michael "Würzel" Burston has passed away, apparently of heart disease. He was 61 years old and played with the band for nine albums, between 1984 and 1995, holding the position of co-guitarist with current axman Phil Campbell for his tenure in the band. Campbell remains the only guitarist, as Würzel was never replaced. More >>