
A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage - wallflower
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/01/19/singer-songwriter-apologized-closed-his-eyes-dropped-his-head-died-stage/
======
cyberferret
Condolences to his family and friends, but for an entertainer, I can think of
no better thing that you remember last in the world, and that is to be
entertaining people and to be in the middle of your craft when the reaper taps
you on the shoulder.

Somehow, me collapsing on my keyboard mid code doesn't seem all that great way
to go. I will have to get another passion that I am mid stream in and enjoying
life to the max before I have to cross the river Styx...

~~~
bmgxyz
I agree. If death is compulsory, why not have fun?

Some others in this thread have brought up the point that sudden death is more
difficult for those who live on. I agree with that, too, so I suppose I don't
know what I think about this.

Dying mid-code doesn't sound as great as dying after having just completed a
coding project or task. The feeling of frustration and confusion changing to
pride and accomplishment is a powerful one, at least for me.

~~~
mark-r
Dying mid-code doesn't sound like much fun at all. Although it would beat
dying mid-HN comment.

I think Tom Petty set a better example, dying a week after the end of his
farewell tour.

------
fernly
Dubious about the "heart attack" diagnosis, at least as the phrase is usually
understood. More likely "Sudden Cardiac Arrest"[1]: "In over half of the
cases, however, sudden cardiac arrest occurs without prior symptoms." Like,
the pump just stops. You'd feel faint and then be unconscious.

[1] [https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/sudden-cardiac-
dea...](https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/sudden-cardiac-death#1-3)

~~~
echelon
Does this happen in young, healthy individuals?

I was reading the Wikipedia article linked in another thread [1], and several
of the "sudden" deaths were people in their 40s that appear to have been
healthy.

Do you feel symptoms, eg. during exercise, that you should listen to so as to
inform you to stop whatever activity you're doing? Feeling light-headed, short
of breath, blurry vision, etc.?

I run and also perform in theater, so I'm a little anxious about this. (Not to
be a hypochondriac.)

FWIW, I'm going to do some research on my own, but I'm always impressed with
the well-informed audience on HN that spans many disciplines.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainers_who_died_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainers_who_died_during_a_performance#21st_century)

~~~
chispamed
Last year med student here, sudden cardiac arrest commonly occur in young
people. Apart from infectious myocarditis which you might notice as fatigue
and reduced performance after you’ve suffered a respiratory infection,
hypertrophic myocardiopathy and especially hypertrophic obstructive
cardiomyopathy is often hereditary and can be mortal without showing prior
symptoms. That’s why after a patient’s death you usually examine their broader
family if HOCM was the cause as it can be detected via ultrasound and treated
pharmacologically or interventionally (injecting alcohol in the obstructive
parts or implanting a defibrillator).

~~~
FeepingCreature
I'm adopted. Can I find out if I'm at risk from a DNA mapping service like
23andme?

~~~
chispamed
Prevalence is 200 per 100k so you’re almost certainly not affected. If you
want to be sure a routine ECG and a trans thoracic ultrasound usually is
sufficient to diagnose / exclude cardiac myopathy. 23andme doesn’t even look
at the whole genome, they just look for common disease associated
polymorphisms. No way of telling if you have a mutation that’s not in their
database and even if you have a mutation it could be deactivated
epigenetically or other factors could lead to you not suffering the disease.

------
monksy
A British comedian did this as well.. The audience thought it was apart of the
act and didn't respond for 5 minutes.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Cognito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Cognito)

Also apparently this is a thing that happens:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainers_who_died_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainers_who_died_during_a_performance#21st_century)

~~~
pansa
I was sure your link to a British comedian was going to be:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Cooper)

~~~
lttlrck
Me too, I saw it live on TV - along with millions of others... everyone was in
stitches because they thought it was part of the act.

~~~
selimthegrim
Redd Foxx as well

------
robbrown451
It does sound like a lovely and peaceful way to go. Although it was probably a
bit traumatic to the audience since it quickly switched from "oh he's closing
his eyes and taking a little moment" to suddenly they've laid him out on the
floor and trying to revive him.

This was an interview of him earlier the same day. Doesn't seem like he's
ready to die...very sad.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73VQVZpViA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73VQVZpViA)

------
neonate
[http://archive.md/3VkKU](http://archive.md/3VkKU)

------
c3534l
I've heard a few stories where a person seemed to suddenly acknowledge that
they were about to die. Granted, my grandmother repeatedly claimed she was
going to die that night and the one time it was true the family lore became
that she somehow knew. But to stop what you're doing like that, I wonder what
it is they're actually feeling in the moment. Did he know he was going to die?
Did he just feel dizzy? What do people feel in these moments just before
death?

~~~
chrissnell
I can’t speak for others but I had appendicitis about 10 years ago and ended
up spending almost 8 hours in the ER waiting room suffering immensely. I
distinctly remember towards the latter half of my wait that I began to feel a
strange sensation of impending doom. I can’t describe it exactly but I feared
that I might actually die if I wasn’t called back soon. I later heard that
this sensation is supposedly one of the symptoms of appendicitis.

In case anybody was wondering, I was eventually taken into the ER. They
started me on morphine and was in surgery a few hours later.

~~~
narrator
Feelings of impending doom are also a symptom of adenosine injection. [1]
Interestingly, caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine#Side_effects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine#Side_effects)

~~~
kls
Had it done to me twice, 2 of the worst experiences in my life. They did the
first one and did not push enough. The doc said do you want the good news or
the bad news. I choose the good, apparently there is a significant portion of
people who's heart does not restart after adenosine, and they have to use the
paddles to get it started again. The good news was that mine restarted so it
will always restart when given the medicine. The bad news was they did not
push enough to stop the SVT so they had to do it again. That was bad news it's
a horrible experience. All of the symptoms of a heart attack with the
exception of the pain. Can't breath, tingling, darkening vision. You think you
are going to die when you feel you heart stop.

------
lykr0n
Died doing what he loved around people that loved him for what he did.

Good way to go.

~~~
undershirt
thank you for that. reminds me of the end of The Wrestler (2008):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Yn2xOGNhI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Yn2xOGNhI)

------
at_a_remove
Mark Sandman of Morphine also died on stage, as did the lead singer of The
Beat Farmers. William Bennett, lead oboist of the San Francisco Symphony, died
on stage and literally passed his instrument to another on his way down to the
ground.

------
astatine
My father passed away suddenly when I and my younger brother were still
studying, 29 years ago this week. It took us a decade to pick up the pieces
and I don't think we ever became whole again.

I think the question of suddenness vs a slower passing is very much to do with
general state of affairs. Are there people dependent? Are there a lot of open
threads which need some confusion? Is it below the average age (not that it
should matter)? Or are they enjoying their life, perhaps in comfortable
retirement?

The passing of a parent would be traumatic in nearly all cases? Can the pain
(of an extended illness) be reduced? Or the chaos of a sudden death?

------
tingletech
in case you are out of wapo reads for the month
[https://outline.com/tqJsCk](https://outline.com/tqJsCk)

------
glandium
Plenty of comments about how this is great for him and it might be, but I'm
not sure I'd like to be in a crowd witnessing a performer dying in front of my
eyes.

~~~
Jamwinner
Outside of suicide, nobody gets to choose. Death is, as natural and perhaps
even more expected than birth, yet we pretend otherwise to shelter our own
sense of mortality. Its an odd arrangement to be sure, but I perfer it to the
alternative.

------
clay_the_ripper
My grandfather loved golf. He played golf every day. And he died playing golf.
We all gotta go, I can’t think of a better way than while doing the thing you
love most. It does make it easier for your relatives (or at least it did for
me with my grandfather) knowing that he died doing what he loves.

~~~
usrusr
> It does make it easier for your relatives (or at least it did for me with my
> grandfather) knowing that he died doing what he loves.

That's a thing to strive for: make those who outlive you feel good about it. I
mean besides the inadvisable trivial solution of being a jerk who everybody
including their mom _wants_ gone.

------
adaisadais
Wow, what a way to go. His music reminds me of Blaze Foley’s sound. Deeply
American. And much like Blaze Foley I believe Olney will now find fame (as so
many artists do) in death. The irony is strong in art (would make a great
Latin phrase).

------
bryanrasmussen
If you don't want to go to washingtonpost (which I don't as I feel their GDPR
process is not worth it) and was wondering who the article was about the
singer was David Olney, age 71.

on edit: Guardian link [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/20/david-
olney-ac...](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/20/david-olney-
acclaimed-us-songwriter-dies-on-stage-after-apologising-mid-song)

------
0xcraft
I have been thinking a nice time to go would be at the finish of an evening of
tango. If my wife is still alive we share our final dance feeling the depth of
our connection. If she has gone on before me dancing with friends and a bunch
of lovely ladies 60 years younger works too. Assuming I make it to 90+ yo.

Though I would like to say a final good bye to my kids. Hm. They would
appreciate me making a tango exit from this life, too. So all good.

------
mister_hn
That happened years ago in Italy as well: Mango was his name

~~~
yoaviram
There's also the interesting case of Paramahansa Yogananda:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda#Death](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda#Death)

~~~
davebryand
Yes—Mahasamādhi has been practiced by yogis for millennia.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasam%C4%81dhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasam%C4%81dhi)

------
ivanhoe
I hope he still performed at his age because he enjoyed it, and not like late
Dick Dale, because he had to.

------
Merrill
Women 'Cross The River - Linda Ronstadt, song written by David Olney;
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XElGDuCUUd4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XElGDuCUUd4)

------
silly_rabbit
Personally it scares me that this can affect people so young. Heart problems
are no joke - if people just take care of themselves and remember to take
their pills a lot of lives could be saved.

~~~
steve1977
71 is not so young... it's about 10 years below average for men.

~~~
silly_rabbit
Oh i guess i meant to respond to the general statement in the thread that
heart attack can strike at any age. Try as hard as you can to do your best
every day because no one knows how long they have. And stay in touch with
family!

------
pfarrell
I had never heard this of this guy before, but looks like I’ll be digging into
his catalog. Some really incredible stuff. I read Townes Van Zandt (a great
songwriter, himself) considered Mr. Olney among the greatest music writers
who’ve ever lived [0]. On the level of Bob Dylan. Some high praise, indeed.

His passing reminds me of Dick Shawn [1] who, similarly, died on stage.
Because he was a comedian known for outrageous irony and meta jokes, people
actually thought it was part of his act. You may remember him as Lorenzo Saint
DuBois (aka LSD, or Hitler) in Mel Brook’s original The Producers.

[0] [https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/legendary-songwriter-
davi...](https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/legendary-songwriter-david-olney-
dies-while-performing-onstage/)

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Shawn](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Shawn)

------
peg_leg
All due respect and condolences but THAT is the way to go out.

------
irrational
I hope I can go that peacefully some day.

------
lqs469
What the way to leave if you know it will happen soon?

------
thought_alarm
That's how any sane person would want to go.

It's funny[.] how much time and money and effort goes in to keeping aged
people alive in conditions that are terrible.

Do what you love, and go out on top.

[.]appalling

~~~
xvector
I cannot wait until we cure aging so we can die on our own terms. The right to
death should be as inalienable as the right to life, and nothing short of the
heat death should be allowed to make this decision for a sentient being.

~~~
codetrotter
A couple of thoughts:

1\. If everyone lives until the end of the universe, what does that mean for
the prospect of having children? I would think it would mean that we would
need to stop having children at some point, or else we would overcrowd
whatever portion of space that we are occupying at some point. Not being
allowed to have children would be sad. I don’t have any children yet, but I
want to have children in the future. It is an amazing thing.

2\. Neuroplasticity decreases as we grow older. If we live forever, could we
end up being stuck forever in our old ways?

3\. Evolution could change us in very interesting ways. But only if new humans
are born and old ones die.

4\. What’s the point of living until the end of the universe anyway? I mean, I
agree that life is too short and it would be cool to witness what the world
was like in the future. But to live until the end of the universe.. I would
not enjoy that.

5\. Tbh I’d rather die of natural causes than have to kill myself. As long as
my life is not ended too soon I will be content for having been alive and
having had all of the good and some of the bad experiences that I have had.
(Most of the bad ones I would rather have done without, but some of the bad
ones were useful, and we don’t get to choose these things anyway.)

~~~
maxwin
I don't understand why whenever there is a discussion about aging research,
people always bring out the problem of us living forever or till the end of
the universe. I mean how about just double or triple our lifespan which is
nothing wrong and we still have no idea how to do that. I think maybe the
reason why so many people is against it is because of religion.

~~~
redleader55
There's a very famous series of books by Isaac Asimov that deals with this
problem - The Robots. Basically once humans are able to increase their life
span, they become reluctant to take any risks and the become stuck in their
own "immortality". It's no different than what the GP says. Weather it's until
the end of the universe or just a few hundred years, we still become more risk
adverse and less capable of change.

~~~
FeepingCreature
Gonna be honest - once we have backups, I'm totally intending to go into
seriously risky behaviors. So this is 100% the opposite of how I intend to
live my life.

~~~
ta999999171
So you'll kill yourself doing risky things... and then a clone of your mind
will continue your life?

Seems...shortsighted.

~~~
FeepingCreature
Patternism is the only theory of self consistent with materialist
reductionism.

------
rdiddly
Jeez. That's dedication. "Sorry, I must apologize for interrupting the
performance."

------
elfexec
Strange to see so many comments praising the way this guy died. Do people
really want to die suddenly in front of strangers without any time to prepare
and get your house in order?

So many here say that's the way they want to go, but that's hard to believe.
Personally, I'd rather be given a few months or years notice so that I can
prepare.

~~~
vidarh
I'd say that if there are things you need to prepare, then do it now. If there
are things you want to do so badly that you'd drop everything to do them if
you suddenly knew you were going to die, then do them now.

With that in mind, I'd prefer no warning, because I wouldn't want to spend my
last time alive thinking about running out of time.

------
idclip
“Dropped dead” is, if you ask me, a disrespectful term To dying or passing
away.

Im not sure why i have a problem with it, but i do.

~~~
exo-pla-net
"dropped his head" != "dropped dead"

~~~
idclip
Oh my brain skipped that!

------
Myrmornis
This doesn't seem appropriate content for HN.

