Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown (2005)

Subject: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 11:24 AM

An email this morning from Gate's bandmate Joe Krown tells the expected but still sad news that Gate lost his long fight with cancer this morning. He lost his hours and everything in it to the hurricane and subsequent flooding, and IMO just gave up right there.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 11:31 AM

A sad loss. An unusual and oddball musician, such as Louisiana is so good at producing.
I recorded one of his songs, "A bad week for old fiddlers" and we'll do it at the next Boat Band gig. A good epitaph, the song is about the passing away of old musicians and the rise of the younger generation who will carry it all along. Which is what will happen, thank God.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 11:43 AM

I think this is sad. I would love to have had him be able to see New Orleans make it back, to the extent that it can.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 11:54 AM

Sad loss. There's a lovely bit in Lightning from a Bottle where he borrows Allison Kraus's fiddle.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 01:08 PM

A versatile and lively performer. RIP Mr. Brown

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 03:18 PM

I was fortunate enough to see him live maybe 20-25 years ago at the National Folk Festival(Wolf Trap Park in USA). What a performer!

RIP

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Peace
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 03:27 PM

Saw the man twice on stage. Sad loss for music. Rest well, Clarence.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: open mike
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 08:57 PM

no details yet here http://www.gatemouth.com/
but there is info about a disater fund to help
his family...

I recently got an album of his..on hightone records
http://www.hightone.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=143

perhaps the record label will donate some proceeds
from this disc??

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 12 Sep 05 - 08:29 AM

Nice obit here.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Mark Ross
Date: 12 Sep 05 - 10:49 AM

I remember sitting in a hotel room playing the blues with him & Carl Martin at the Philly Festival in '76. A great musician and an even greater human being.


Mark Ross

Subject: Obit: Clarence Gatemouth Brown
From: freda underhill
Date: 12 Sep 05 - 05:49 PM

Weakened by lung cancer and devastated by the destruction of his beloved New Orleans, guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown died in Texas on Saturday.

His longtime keyboard player, Joe Krown, said Brown had evacuated to his brother's home in Orange, Texas, just before Hurricane Katrina struck. Brown was diagnosed with cancer last year but news that Katrina had ruined New Orleans and destroyed his home in Slidell was the final blow, Krown said. "There was nothing to go back to. He lost the will to live."

Brown, born in 1924 in Vinton, Louisiana, but raised in Orange, came from a musical family and played guitar, fiddle, mandolin, viola, harmonica and drums. A teacher said his deep voice sounded like a swinging gate, which led to the nickname "Gatemouth".Most of Brown's career memorabilia was lost."The only thing they saved was his legendary Firebird guitar," said Krown.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: GUEST,Alex Reut-Hobbs, London
Date: 13 Sep 05 - 03:56 PM

Bloody amazing musician and his music was soooo good and original. Rest in peace Gatemouth

"Since you've been gone, I've had time to myself, I haven't even tried to find nobody else, When u told me you were leaving it almost came as good news, It may sound funny but it's true: I think I'm better off with the blues........"

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 13 Sep 05 - 06:58 PM

He had been ill for quite some time when the hurricane hit. After he and his family were evacuated he found out that his home and all that he knew in that city had been completely washed away by the storm. His agent said that he "died of a broken heart".

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: lesblank
Date: 14 Sep 05 - 08:41 AM

With the passing of both Allan Damron and Gatemouth Brown in the last month and the devastation caused by Katrina , the Gulf Coast has truly been put to the test. We'll survive , however, -- it's our nature.

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: GUEST,The BUrren Ranger (Ireland)
Date: 14 Sep 05 - 06:19 PM

'Okie Dokie Swamp' and 'Dirty Work At The Crossroads'... Duke Peacock cuts from the 450's and 50's'.... just 2 Gatemouth classics and Milestones on the road to rock.
Boogie on Gate!

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: Bobert
Date: 14 Sep 05 - 09:54 PM

Sniff... I hate loosin' an old bluesman.... Clarence was a great one...

Sniff...

Bobert

Subject: RE: Obit: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown RIP
From: GUEST,Cliff
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 09:31 AM

Thirty three bodies, including blues legend Gatemouth Brown, remain above ground at the Hollywood Cemetery in downtown Orange, six weeks after Hurricane Ike washed them out of their vaults. FEMA says they've done what they're required to do, the non-profit organization that runs the cemetery says they don't have any money, and the city and county says it's not their responsibility. So what happens now?


http://www.kogt.com/Ike-Hollywood.htm

Subject: Obit: Gatemouth Brown, remain's above ground
From: GUEST,Cliff
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 10:13 AM

Posted from a news artical.

Thirty three bodies, including blues legend Gatemouth Brown, remain above ground at the Hollywood Cemetery in downtown Orange (Texas), six weeks after Hurricane Ike washed them out of their vaults. FEMA says they've done what they're required to do, the non-profit organization that runs the cemetery says they don't have any money, and the city and county says it's not their responsibility. So what happens now?

It's not necessarily their job but Justice of the Peace Joe Parkhurst and Sparrow Funeral Home Director Wayne Sparrow have led the charge of finding a solution to the problem. "The cemetery doesn't make any money," said Sparrow. "People pay $125 to be buried there and that money covers putting the casket in the ground." Joe Burke, who passed away this past year, gave the organization $100,000 but there are stipulations that say they can only use the interest made off of the money to keep the cemetery clean. The land was originally given to a church to provide a burial ground for poor black families.

After Ike stormed through the area on Sept. 13, caskets either floated out of their vaults or the entire vault came out of the ground. Some were found several streets away. None of them opened so all of the bodies remained in their respective caskets. A D-MORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) group got help from the Sparrow family with the identification of several of the caskets while others were taken to a lab in Louisiana. Those that were identified using x-rays and dental records, were also put in new caskets courtesy of FEMA. They were brought back to Orange in 18-wheelers and join those that have not been able to be identified in three trucks that are still blocking Curtis Ave. FEMA is still paying for the three drivers of those trucks to stay and sleep in them yet they feel bringing the bodies back to the cemetery is the end of their financial responsibility.

Orange Mayor Brown Claybar says legally the city cannot use tax dollars on private property. The city also turned down Sparrow's request to store the caskets in the old downtown fire station so Curtis Ave. could be reopened. Parkhurst says the cemetery is a historical landmark and that the Texas Historical Commission hasn't said yet whether they have funds to help with the reburial. State Representative Joe Deshotel is also on his contact list.

Sparrow estimates it could take $30,000 to put the cemetery back to what it was before Sept. 13. He also said it's not as easy as taking a backhoe and digging holes. "Many of these vaults are old and delicate and many of the locations in the cemetery are hard to get to and will require a boom truck or a larger crane. So it will take someone who has experience."

Five of the bodies were reinterred Monday after gravediggers performing a funeral spent time putting caskets or vaults back in place that were close or still halfway in their original locations.

Besides the money needed, the other problem is identifying the other bodies. Finding family with poorly kept records and then asking them about their family members and possible identifying marks will be a large task. Another question not answered is how long FEMA will pay to keep the trucks and drivers in Orange? Until then 33 await their return to their final resting place.

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Threads combined. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Obit: Gatemouth Brown, remain's above ground
From: open mike
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 12:10 PM

this is horrible.
i hope they find a solution..