It's never easy to report or now write about illness or death. If I were still in sports broadcasting I would have been reporting on the death of Penn State's legendary coach Joe Paterno.But now with doing this blog about all things (or most) LGBT to do this posting is just as hard.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning I watched a two hour bio on the Biography Channel about the Bee Gees. Although aired in 2010 I'd not seen it before.
To say the Bee Gees have not been a part of my life would be to say I don't breathe air. The biggest part was in the 70's when the Bee Gees made a dramatic comeback with the music soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever and many of their songs on the album became the craze in disco clubs and gay bars.
Listening to those songs bring back many memories of that time for me, some sad but mostly it was a happy time. It was in fact a time when I was trying to decide "who I was" and how I fit into our Rainbow community.
Wednesday afternoon I decided to Google the Bee Gees and found the usual links to bios and videos then I switched the search to "news" and what I found was to say the least devastating as I had not heard and somehow missed the news which I now saw headlines for.
The Brothers Gibb have known their share of tragedy over the years what with losing younger brother Andy in 1988 at age 30 succumbing to his demons of addiction. Then in 2003 brother Maurice died unexpectedly after having a heart attack at age 53 while he awaited having emergency surgery for a strangulated intestine.
Now brother Robin is in the battle of his life against liver cancer which was first reported in November of 2011. He is currently undergoing intense and aggressive chemotherapy which caused him to miss a charity event on January 18, His old friend and spokesman Mick Garbutt told fans that he was in the best hands and said: 'He would have absolutely loved to be here in person, but unfortunately that simply hasn’t been possible with his health. That from an article in the newspaper The Daily Mail.
It is hoped Robin will attend the April 10 concert performance of a classical piece Robin collaborated with his son RJ to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic the BBC has reported.
Should you click on the links to articles be warned some of the photos of Robin today are very sad and difficult to look at as his cancer is taking a toll on his physical appearance. So damn sad this is. To think that the Bee Gees effectively ended with Maurice's death and now this which could very well leave Barry as the only surviving brother, he himself having his own health issues over the years. All too damn young to die from my perspective of age and touch with mortality back in August last year when I had a heart attack brought on by a blood clot.
It's said when it comes to film and recording artists we will always have them on film or their music, the sad fact is it isn't the same without them.
Robin Gibb "Feels Fantastic" Update Via Daily Mail 2/3/12
UPDATE - 4/14/2012 - Robin Gibb said to be gravely ill and in coma.
UPDATE - 4/21/12 - Robin Gibb comes out of coma.
5/20/12 - And Then There Was One - Robin Gibbs Passes
