OBIT: Zal Yanovsky

Subject: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 03:58 PM

The Toronto Star reports that Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin' Spoonful died yesterday of a massive heart attack.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: Genie
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 09:19 PM

Very sad news, indeed.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: Art Thieme
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 09:56 PM

When I met Carol 36 years ago, I was a total folkie. She was a kid who had come to Chicago from Ohio twice to see the Beatles. Eventually I got dragged by her to a concert by the Lovin' Spoonful at the Arie Crown Theater of the FIRST McCormack Place exposition hall---before it burnt down. I figured it couldn't be too bad if John Sebastian was in the group. Us folkies knew him as a harmonica player backing up Tom Rush and others on the early Electra recordings. I thoroughly enjoyed Zal and John & Joe Butler etc. They were a jugband sort of like Kweskin's band, but with electric instruments I thought back then. I've always wished they'd stayed together longer. They left some nice "tracks" on the sands of time.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: GUEST,Bman
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 10:33 PM

Came up on the Lovin' Spoonful. Not much else like it going on then in popular music. I still use "Jug Band Music" and "Nashville Cats" to while away the time on long car trips. Their music on disc still sounds as good today as it did back then - not many groups you can say that of. regards, Bman

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: Willie-O
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 10:43 AM

Yup, some of the best of the 60's. "Do you believe in magic" is always good for a smile.

Never met the guy, but I've been to his restaurant, Chez Piggy's, a down-home but trendy spot in Kingston Ontario, which he started many years ago with his wife. In fact, I had a steak tartare there without knowing that I was ordering raw hamburger. Once. Live and learn.

Found out in the Tor Star obit that his first wife was Jackie Burroughs, the actress who specializes in crusty-old-spinster parts in all Canadian TV series.

Zal had been out of the music biz for 25 years, but they dragged him to the Junos and gave him a lifetime achievement award anyway, in 1996 or 97.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: Wesley S
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 11:22 AM

What a shame. My first group back in Jr High had a playlist with 6 or 7 Spoonful tunes. They were one of my favorite bands.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: John Hardly
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 11:40 AM

One of my earliest musical memories was waking up one sunny morning to "Do You Believe In Magic" being played full blast on my brother's stereo.

Music's been that good since...
...but never any better.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: Willie-O
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 09:24 PM

Here's the beginning of a lengthy article about Zal Yanovsky in the Kingston Whig-Standard. Here's a link to the full article.

Local News - Don't skip a beat.
That's the advice Rose Richardson says she would give to people searching for an appropriate way to honour her late husband, Zal Yanovsky.
Just two days after the death of one of Kingston's most unassuming celebrities, Richardson says her husband would want people to listen to the music they love, travel to the places they hold dear in their hearts and, most of all, eat the food that makes their mouths water – especially if that means dropping by Chez Piggy and Pan Chancho.
"That's the important thing. This
isn't stopping. It would be a disaster and a terrible legacy," she said when asked if the restaurant and bakery will live on without Mr. Yanovsky.
"Let's not miss a beat for him. That's a good one, it's musical," she said.
If Mr. Yanovsky had a life motto, it might very well have been "don't skip a beat."
Mr. Yanovsky, who would have celebrated his 58th birthday on Thursday, died suddenly Saturday morning. The family would not discuss details of his death except to say that doctors are not ruling out that he died of a heart attack.
Those who knew Mr. Yanovsky well say he was one of those people who always lived life to its fullest – and he's got a jam-packed life to prove it.
Though he will always be remembered as one quarter of the 1960s super group, The Lovin' Spoonful, he was also much more.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: JedMarum
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 11:15 PM

Tom Rush told some great stories about Zal - one sticks in my mind, where he said he and Zal were on a flight, and Zal had dumped a can of soup into an air sick, made a big deal of pretend to puke into when the flight attendent was near then took out a spoon and began eating it when she asked to help him by removing it!

Loved his music too. Sad to see him go!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: GUEST,Richard Bridge (cookie and format C)
Date: 17 Dec 02 - 03:11 AM

remeber the sleeve credit? "yakkety throw-up guitar"?

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: GUEST,Bruce
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 02:58 PM

Was playing the Hums Of CD when I received a phone call that Zal had died on Friday. It was a Sunday. I always seem to play the Spoonful on a Sunday, even if it is only a few tracks. Very sad. What a great guitarist. I remember when I got the first single, I always played On The Road Again more than Do You Believe In Magic.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Zal Yanovsky
From: GUEST,A Koval
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 07:04 PM

Wow, the place is so empty without him and my mother told me that she heard on the radio that he died....I didn't believe it. I actually didn't believe her. He had so much....presence...and youthfulness...etc. It's almost a year after his death and I still don't believe it, although I know it's true. Ktown is very empty without him and he'll be missed forever..everyone loves him!