Faye Hunter, the founding bass player with ‘80s jangle-pop band Let’s Active, died Saturday night of an apparent suicide, according to various reports. She was 59.
A friend of Hunter’s told the News & Observer newspaper, "I'm not shocked, but I am surprised about the timing,” adding, "She'd been talking about this for quite some time. The past three or so years were really bad."
Jeebus, that was one great band.
To paraphrase Nick Tosches -- this wonderful woman and musician dies and yet Justin Bieber walks the streets a free man?
I don't get it.
12 comments:
Rest in peace
Very sad news. RIP
Sad indeed but If I do recall Faye never played in the Every Dog Has It's Day LA.
Pretty sure that is not Faye in that live video but John Heames.
Who's the blonde on the keyboards then?
Bummer. Method of suicide? Was caring for her mother that awful? Is her mom still alive? If she is, who's gonna care for her now?
Never knew much about her. Till now.
Let's Active needed a better lead singer. I know we're supposed to bow down because Mitch Easter's in the band. And the early stuff was alright. But it's kind of like letting Al Stewart front a power pop band. This latter day performance is only adequate. I don't think I could sit through a whole show of these guys.
And what the heck does Bieber have to do with any of this? Is this really the time for a cheap and easy shot? As if I care and feign outrage.
That Mindy McCready suicide was pretty fascinating though. Now that's going out like a rock star! It's Shakespeare set in Arkansas. Say what you will about her "art." She went out like a master.
Vickie Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1vxM5vwWIQ
IMHO, it's never inappropriate to take a cheap shot at Justin Bieber.
But that's just me, obviously.
:-)
And Vicki -- I know what you mean about suicide vis a vis the people you leave behind.
As a friend of mine once said, every act of suicide is ultimately an act of murder.
In any case, this is a very sad story.
I'm guessing that must have been Angie Carlson behind the keys with a dye job. I can't recheck since you've pulled it, but I thought Faye was in there too at the beginning.
But I'm no expert on the band. Last I heard Angie was a publicist.
Vickie Rock
I love this guy. Did a little pre-show inspiration with him locked in the Men's Room of The Mint in early 2007. It was a Sin City / Watusi Radio Show. David Raven, Dusty Wakeman, Eddie Perez, Dave Berzansky and a couple of guys from the Snakehandlers were in the impromptu band. They had no rehearsals or even a soundcheck. You'd never know it.
Lucinda was in the corner booth getting wine buzzed with that douche she ended up marrying. I wound up girl dancing with Pam Des Barres, who was sporting a wonderful backless dress to show off her still fair, soft skin.
When Jim broke into "I Met Jesus In a Bar," she danced with her back to him to display her awesome Jesus shoulder-blade tattoo. A great performance and a very memorable show.
Anyway, I love this guy. If George Jones merged with Mitch Ryder he'd sound like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETzAGEt0_CQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eQ5M4G5sic
And here's Mamashit herself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5U6T6tDimI
You get the idea of how small The Baked Potato is. A veritable closet, even.
Just sharing if you wanna take a peek.
I thought Mitch was the perfect voice for the band. Something about his... can't even describe his "singing voice"... really seemed to fit, especially the lyrics.
I saw them in 1984 opening for Echo & the Bunnymen. Had no idea who they were going in, but came out a rabid fan! (I remember Mitch's sequined coat.)
To the poster who said something regarding how bad it was taking care of her mother: You never know what is going through someone's head, and how bad things seem for them. And, if things SEEM bad to you, they ARE bad to you.
Marsupial:
With re: to Easter's singing: I was responding to the lengthy live post of a mediocre 1988 gig which was up earlier. Steve has replaced it with an early video. Mitch was fronting an entirely different band in 1988 than the one you saw in 1984.
Mitch wasn't much of a live presence on that video. And I was also referring to Al Stewart fronting a power pop band because of this bit of awfulness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZq7ZVcHGfM
This video seems to have been shot at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. And we all know what Alex Chilton did for me there.
Vickie Rock
"Afoot" was an album worth of good songs on an Ep. The records after I liked less.
Yeah that's Angie Carlson, AKA Mrs. Easter, on keys and second guitar. I don't think Mitch ever married Faye but they were an item. A few years later Mitch and Angie will split and he'll take up with Shalini Chatterjee, AKA Scott Miller's gal.
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