Monday, May 21, 2012

One Week, Two Great Losses (R.I.P. Robin Gibb)

I've already paid fitting tribute to the late Donna Summer and Robin Gibb, who died on May 20 at age 62 in London after battling colon and liver cancer for much of the past year. So what can I say now that hasn't already been said, and that won't be said in the coming days and weeks and months of eulogies for the two disco-era icons?

Instead I'll leave you with what could possibly be the only existing film of Summer and Gibb together onstage (along with Gibb's brothers, Barry, the sole surviving Bee Gee, and the now-also-deceased Andy and Maurice, his twin). It's from a 1979 ABBA charity concert for UNICEF that I would much rather have had a ticket to than Lady Gaga's May 25 Bangkok show, but thanks to YouTube, I can enjoy bits and pieces of it from a prime seat in front of my laptop without a bunch of screaming fans blocking my view.

There was so much star power on that stage: Summer, the Brothers Gibb, Earth, Wind & Fire, Olivia Newton-John, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, Rod Stewart, John Denver (now also dearly departed) and, of course, ABBA. I consider myself lucky to be old enough to remember when it shined brightest. R.I.P. Donna and Robin.

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