Truly sad news. One of my favorites as well.

I’ve been fearing seeing the words “RIP Kate McGarrigle” for the last few years, since it became known that her cancer was probably terminal. I had the great pleasure of seeing Kate & Anna in concert a few times, and meeting both of them at one show. We won’t see her like again, and my deepest condolences go out to all of her family, and all of those who loved her.

Good night, sweet Kate.

Oh, god DAMN.

Love the McGarrigles (and the various Wainwrights). As if today couldn’t suck enough. I live in Massachusetts. Just returned from San Diego. And now Robert B. Parker has died.

I don’t think voting will make me feel any better, but I’m going to anyway.

If it is any consolation, Scott Stapp is still alive. No. No that probably isn’t any consolation.

Forget I metioned it.

Now who among us would have thought 20 years ago the Loudon would outlive Kate? Not me fasure.

Heart Like A Wheel.

The McGarrigle sisters were two of my favourites growing up.

If anyone’s looking for an album, Dancer with Bruised Knees is a great one.

(oops, just realized TBogg mentioned that one.)

If anyone can find the McGarrigle sisters performing the Swimming Song, please post.

Scott Stapp, Dick Cheney, Pauly Shore. . . the list never ends.

I voted. Turnout was good, but in the town I live in that’s not necessarily a good thing. We aren’t exactly Cambridge or Amherst.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but I thought the Chargers would beat the Jets.

I’m really poleaxed. I always thought of Kate & Anna as peers, and felt like I knew them. It’s too soon for either of them to go. I always loved their “French Record,” so maybe I’ll give Kate a sendoff with that tonight. very sad.

And Robert Parker?! I plucked his first hardcover, The Godwulf Manuscript, off the reject pile at a paperback house where I worked, read a little of it, and became a “who IS this guy, this is GREAT” kind of fan. His jacket photos always made him look like the rock of Gibraltar. Too soon, too soon.

For those of us of a certain age (motto: “I enjoyed the Sixties the first time, now I’m going to enjoy them again!” Addendum: “The music and sex are the same, but the drugs are different”) the loss of a McGarrigle is another nail in the coffin. I was singing “The Swimming Song” to my boys yesterday, floating in a pool in Florida escaping the northern cold (and wishing it were twenty degrees warmer). And Spenser’s dad, too? Shit.
Hang in there, Keith Richards, you’re my only hope.

My mom is the McGarrigle fan in the fam, but every time I hear the name, I remember this one song off of their first album which was in French, and I remember their beautiful, delicate harmonies.

Here’s a video from Christmas 2008 on Martha Stewart with Kate showing how to make gingerbread skis. The real treat is at about 8:30, when they bring up the extended family to sing a rather dark Christmas song (can’t really call it a carol) which will give you chill bumps.

This is one of my favorite songs of theirs
Complainte pour Ste. Catherine

So sad.

Let the sun set on the ocean
I will watch it from the shore
Let the sun rise over the redwoods
I’ll rise with it till I rise no more

From my favourite Kate song; Talk to me of Mendocino

A stunning loss – unlike the Chargers.
She and her family have done us a good by their singing and loving family values. Truly, a loss.