June 29, 2010: Lowell George Dies
Bermuda999
LOWELL GEORGE DIES AT 34
Found Dead In Hotel Room Report: JEFF HAYS
IT WAS cruelly ironic that Lowell George, former leader of Little
Feat, should die, aged 34, in the Twin Bridges Hotel, Marriott,
Arlington, Virginia, across the river from the only town in America
that embraced his talent.
The night before he died, George performed before a standing room only
crowd at the Lissner Auditorium in Washington. It was the first time
he'd been back there since Little Feat split up two months ago.
Observers said the performance was a great success, better in many
respects than the recent Little Feat shows.
George had grown extremely fat, partially as a result of the
debilitating hepatitis that laid him low for much of last year, he
probably weighed close to 300 lbs. The nights of the Lissner show he
wore his ubiquitous white overalls and one fan said that he seemed to
have a dangerous amount of energy for a man of his size and health
record, performing for ninety minutes and an unusually long encore.
George was officially pronounced dead on arrival at Arlington Park
Hospital at 1.10 p.m. Friday afternoon. The circumstances behind his
demise are coloured by inconsistencies. Marion Perkins, Warner
Brothers spokesperson, said that he died of a heart attack. A
spokesperson for Arlington County Police affirmed this but Arlington
County Hospital officials and at least one other police official said
the cause of death was not known.
The body was white-lipped and the bluishness around the eyes,
observers said, were consistent with post mortem symptoms of a drug
overdose.
One police official said that was why an autopsy was being ordered
while officer Mark Nell, the policeman who responded to the call, said
that the reason an autopsy was called was because of George's age.
Nell, the officer who filed the report on George's death, said that
the case was strictly routine. He continued. "I did not find any drugs
and there was no evidence that the room had been cleared of drugs
either." There was no sign of any blood or foul play he said in his
report.
A post mortem report later stated that heart failure was the cause of
death.
According to Perkins, George had complained of chest pains after
Thursday's show and again on Friday morning. "Around 10 am," she said,
"George's wife called road manager Gene Bano to their room after
George complained of breathing problems. When the singer/songwriter
said that he was feeling better his wife and Bano left the room to get
some breakfast.
Hotel officials said Mrs George returned from breakfast with her two
children some time after 11 am to find George lying unconscious on the
bed. She called the main desk saying that her husband was very sick. A
rescue squad of police were despatched and a Hotel Engineer, certified
in first aid, was sent to George's room to offer immediate assistance.
The engineer said that by the time he arrived George had stopped
breathing. He tried to administer mouth to mouth rescuscitation but
"it was no use he had been dead for a while."
Arlington County Rescue Squad's No.75 arrived shortly afterwards.
According to one of their officials they tried administering cardiac
respiration but it was futile. The Squad officer in charge said George
had been dead for at least 45 minutes and maybe two hours. This
contradicted Mrs George's report to the police that said he had been
dead for ten minutes before the squad arrived.
Bano was present in the room with Mrs George when the police arrived,
Nell said, along with the Rescue Squad and the Hotel Engineer. Nell
said that he did not ask many questions because Mrs George and Bano
looked "very distressed".
It is not clear what George did after the show. One hotel official
said that some members of the band were partying until seven the next
morning but a waiter who brought food up to George's room said there
was nothing peculiar happening there. "They didn't even order any
drinks; Mr George asked me where the game room was and that was it."
The next morning a maid accidentally walked into George's room around
lOam to clean the room. Her employers said she saw George's body
curled on the bed and was immediately told to leave by George's wife,
who said that her husband was sick.
The most baffling question is the presence of drugs on the morning of
George's death. Rescue Squad officials and police said that they found
no evidence of drugs but the engineer who was supposedly the first
person other than Mrs George and Bano to enter the room said that he
saw a "Large phial of white powder about one half the size of a tennis
ball cannister which was practically empty." He also said that there
were about four or five containers of prescription drugs, all of which
were out in the open but none of, which were present when police
arrived minutes later. The engineer said that he left the room once
before police arrived and another hotel employee said that in his
absence there was a flurry of activity in George's room prior to the
police's arrival with "Lots of people walking in and out of his room.
Band members, family and friends checked out of the Twin Bridges Hotel
at 6.30 p.m. Friday hopping on a bus that was headed back to LA -the
band's hometown.
Lowell George was cremated in Washington DC on 2nd July 1979. His
ashes were flown to Los Angeles and, in accordance with George's
wishes, his mother, wife and children will scatter them into the ocean
from a fishing boat.
Lowell George is succeeded by his wife Elizabeth, three sons, Jed,
Forrest and Luke, and a daughter, Inara.
A full obituary follows next week.
Bermuda999
The heading should of course end "1979"
rwalker
<bermu...@aol.com> wrote:
>> A full obituary follows next week.
>
>The heading should of course end "1979"
Hard to believe it's already been 31 years.
Matthew Kruk
news:b2jl26pmok0a312kc...@4ax.com...
No kidding. For me, it's hard to believe that Hendrix and Joplin have
been gone for almost 40.
BobF
Previously on alt.obituaries (Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:14:01 -0700 (PDT) to
be exact), Bermuda999 <bermu...@aol.com> wrote thusly:
>She called the main desk saying that her husband was very sick. A
>rescue squad of police were despatched and a Hotel Engineer, certified
>in first aid, was sent to George's room to offer immediate assistance.
>
>The engineer said that by the time he arrived George had stopped
>breathing. He tried to administer mouth to mouth rescuscitation but
>"it was no use he had been dead for a while."
Guess CPR wasn't part of the Hotel Engineers' first aid certification.
--
>>I don't believe it! Everybody knows how to do the Heimllich maneuver! Oh
>>wait ... it's a child molester ....
>
> You are not permitted to call it that any more. Heimlich has
> patented/copyrighted it.
Heimlich maneuver! Heimlich maneuver! Heimlich maneuver!
Heimlich maneuver! Heimlich maneuver! Heimlich maneuver!
Come and get me, coppers!
- From "The Sayings of Roy"