Canned Heat / Fabulous Thunderbirds keyboard player Gene Taylor froze to death in Austin

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

AWhitneyBrown @TheWhitneyBrown

Everyone I know now has friends or family that have been killed by Republican governance. Gene froze to death after 5 days without heat.

Pleasant Gehman @PleasantGehman1

RIP Gene Taylor 🖤
He was an incredible piano player; we met years ago through The Blasters; he also played with Canned Heat, The Fabulous Thunderbirds & many more.
He was talented, hilariously funny & kind.
Journey well, old friend 🖤

2:28 PM · Feb 21, 2021

Jesus Christ! Cross gently, Gene...

(although unverified, this is *the* A Whitney Brown from SNL and The Daily Show and an Austin resident)

[Laelth]

1. Sad. Very sad. n/t

-Laelth

[wcmagumba]

2. Man, what a loss...what a way to go...peace be with you in your travels beyond...

[marble falls]

3. Whoa ..

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Your Surmise Seems Right!

When he was doing standup comedy, one of his opening lines was "I'm A. Whitney Brown. Someday I hope to be THE Whitney Brown."
And the twitter handle in your link uses that line.

[Dennis Donovan]

5. For unverified accts, I look to see who follows them.

He's followed by a lot of famous verified accts.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Got It!

I'm not a twitter guy, so I wouldn't know to do that.
Good tip!

[Mike 03]

6. Oh no..

No words.



EDIT: Apparently he also played on the Blasters' album Hard Line. That's an amazing album. How could this happen?

[cayugafalls]

7. So, so sad...

RIP Gene.

[flying_wahini]

8. Oh NO! NO NO.

This breaks my heart.
Even more because it’s so unnecessary and cruel.

[Rustyeye77]

9. Sad

[jpak]

10. Terrible

[Hortensis]

11. Damn! But he was only 53. How did a 53-year-old freeze to death?

I don't see that he was ill. Whatever. So sad.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. He was 68. n/t

[Hortensis]

21. Oh, I must have had the wrong source. I'm 68. And now I'm

wondering how a 68-year-old froze to death. Whatever. Not bothering to keep vital services up is depraved, wicked, completely inexcusable, and his death is a dreadful tragedy.

[DENVERPOPS]

17. Hypothermia (or Hyperthermia for that matter)

Doesn't give a crap what age you are.......

[Ferrets are Cool]

31. This

[TexasBushwhacker]

35. Indeed, and you may think you're safe if you are in above freezing temps

But it's all about your body's core temperature, especially for an older person who don't maintain their body temp as well as younger folks. If your core temp drops below 95, you can be in trouble. The thing is, it can happen when the room temperature is 40 or higher. He probably just fell asleep and didn't wake up.

[liberalla]

19. He looks much older than 53, IMO... Maybe health problems that we

don't know about. However, I could see having something to warm you up on the inside before bed, and once you fall asleep, it's slow and gradual... you don't wake up.

Tragic. Definitely should never happen. I hope there will a price to pay for those who set the policy that allowed for this situation.

The people, the families, the public, have already suffered and paid too high a price.

Condolences to Gene Taylor, family and friends. RIP.

eta: Now I see he was 68...

[pnwmom]

34. A healthy 11 year old in TX froze to death. n/t

[BobTheSubgenius]

12. That's terrible!

RIP, Gene Taylor!


Good to know that A Whitney is still kicking around, though.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. That really sucks. Wake up TX. Please. Or y'all "Goin' Up the Country" the hard way. n/t

[calimary]

43. No kidding.

RIP Gene Taylor. And thanks for some really sweet music. The angels get a new band member.

[Evolve Dammit]

45. If there's a rock and roll heaven, they got a hell of a band.

[multigraincracker]

14. On the Road Again

for the last time. RIP

[ismnotwasm]

18. Saw Canned Heat years ago at the Winthrop Rhythm and Blues festival

Don’t know if he was playing with them then, but damn this is sad.

[ancianita]

20. A sad loss.

[Tikki]

22. He, also, played with The Blasters..

Dang, how is any of this fair. RIP Gene

Tikki

[Politicub]

23. Very sad. None of this had to happen. The people in Texas managing the powergrid,

and legislators that let it languish, should be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

I have a feeling the number of people who froze to death will rise, but the Texas GOP will try to cover it up.

[ananda]

38. I want to see Reeps pay for all of this.

This should not be happening!

[marble falls]

24. Still nothing in the Austin Chronicle, that's surprising.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. See this --

https://www.austin360.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/02/21/gene-taylor-austin-pianist-fabulous-thunderbirds-and-more-dies/4535083001/

[marble falls]

41. Pretty bad when the 360 section gets on it before the Austin Chronicle, but sad news.

[crickets]

48. Oh, how sad. Poor man.

It breaks my heart that this happened to Texas, that people died in their homes from lack of heat. It's awful.

[orangecrush]

25. Loved Canned Heat and the T-Birds

Damn, that sucks.

[yardwork]

26. Oh no! This is terrible.

[bdamomma]

27. Republicans

have so much blood on their hands. Because they are climate deniers and did not weatherize their grid. They do not how to govern, total incompetence, and it's all about money.

RIP Gene Taylor

[onethatcares]

29. be kind to your neighbors

you never know who they might be or have been.

You never know when you might need them.

[KatK]

30. My feelings are huge. So much sorrow for this tragedy. Quite a bit of shock and rage. n/t

[Evolve Dammit]

46. Sorrow, shock and rage. Yeah that pretty much sums up the last four years. Welcome to DU!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

32. Sue the bastards!!!

It's cruel and unusual given there were weather forecasts and warnings of polar vortex.

[Liberal In Texas]

33. RIP Mr. Taylor

I wonder how many more tragedies we're going to hear about as the dust clears.

[littlemissmartypants]

36. ...

[DFW]

37. Though 5000 miles away, this is hitting close to home, all the same

A musician, a Texan, and someone who played with Canned Heat.

My Canned Heat connection goes all the way back to 1967, well before Canned Heat ever had a keyboard player. My little progressive rock group in DC was invited to open for them at the Washington version of the Fillmore East, the Ambassador Theater. The Ambassador didn't survive even a year but they had such acts as a (then-still-unknown) Jimi Hendrix, the Youngbloods, the Hollies and others. We would hang around backstage in the small performers' area, and get tips from the pros. Since I was playing bass and keyboards, I would hang with Larry Taylor, their bassist. I think this was their original lineup, with Bob Hite and Henri Vestine. I was all of 15--heady stuff for me in those days!!

The toll in TX is already way too high, and news like this makes me sick. In Austin, yet! You can bet Gregg Abbott and Ken Paxton have no such worries.

[Demovictory9]

39. video..talented man

[Bluepinky]

40. He's a master on the keyboard.

How amazing!
So sorry he’s gone☹️

[dalton99a]

50. +1

[UpInArms]

42. 😢

[turbinetree]

44. I can still remember seeing Canned Heat when I was living in California, and hearing the

music while partying in the hills of Riverside on a Saturday night.......this is just so sad

Refried Boogie

10 minutes of boogie wonderfulness
Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals); Alan Wilson (guitar); Henry Vestine (guitar); Larry Taylor (bass guitar; Adolfo de la Parra (drums).

[Evolve Dammit]

47. That must have been amazing. I wanna go back, big time. Thanks for sharing that.

[turbinetree]

49. It was a time in my life were we were listening to Wolfman Jack

coming out of LA and his AM dial, and then when he was sending his tapes down into Mexico to be broadcast on the AM Dial, FM was just coming out. Or going and listening to concerts, working on the Air Force base packing groceries to buy my first car, it was amazing, it was literally American Graffiti...........your welcome

[Evolve Dammit]

51. the Wolfman! Now I really want to go back!

[PlanetBev]

52. Saw Canned Heat in 1971

There was a big lineup at the Hollywood Bowl on a Sunday afternoon. I just remember that everyone was smoking dope and the cops pretty much left us alone.

After Larry Taylor, not sure if anyone is left alive from Canned Heat.