My dear friend Dick Parry died this morning.
Since I was seventeen, I have played in bands with Dick on saxophone, including Pink Floyd.
His feel and tone make his saxophone playing unmistakable, a signature of enormous beauty that is known to millions and is such a big part of songs such as Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, Us and Them and Money.
He played in the last band I had that included Rick Wright for the On An Island Tour and at Live 8 with Pink Floyd.
Here are some pictures of him, including one of him and me playing for the ABC Minors at the Victoria Cinema in Cambridge in 1963.
Today outside the Armenian Catholic Church in Jerusalem:
"Tell me, why spit? Why did you spit on them? Why? Can you explain it to me?"
"The Christians need to be thrown out of here."
21 years ago today, System of a Down released Mezmerizeβa furious, fearless, and wildly experimental burst of political metal and theatrical chaos. It debuted at #1, won a Grammy for βB.Y.O.B.,β and proved that protest could still be platinum.