Arthur Lee Has Died
A few nights before Christmas in 2002 I had the great fortune to see Arthur Lee and his band Love perform at Brookyn’s Warsaw. They tore headlong through 21 songs, including the entirety of Love’s brilliant album Forever Changes. Arthur had recently been freed from a 6 year prison sentence due to an erroneous gun charge and the lost time seemed to have instilled a burning intensity within him. It seemed like he wanted to keep playing untill dawn. A couple years after that show he was diagnosed with leukaemia and it ended his life yesterday in Memphis. It was very sad hearing the news and I remembered seeing that battered legend blowing the place out on a cold Brooklyn night. Here’s an ancient clip of Love performing on Dick Clarke’s show.
RIP Arthur. Recent sketches above.