The big news last week was the death of Michael Jackson as well as Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon. I was saddened by these deaths and especially surprised by MJ’s death but none of them struck me the same way the news of Martin Streek’s passing hit me.
You might not know who Martin Streek was. He was a DJ at the renowned CFNY in Toronto. It’s not like I wasn’t a huge Martin Streek fan but his name is synonymous CFNY weekend broadcasts and the Toronto club scene. I don’t know how many nights I listened to his live broadcast from one club or another. To think that he took his own life is just so absurd, true but at that same time it’s hard to believe. Perhaps it is best paraphrase the Boomtown Rats: ”The silicon chip inside his head got switched to overload.”
I’m currently reading Pitchfork’s Top 500 Songs of the Last 30 Years. I find it coincidental that I’d be reliving the soundtrack of my youth via this book and hear about the loss of one of the narrators to that soundtrack. Maybe it is time to leave my youth behind and grow up? Or maybe death is just a sobering part of life that makes me appreciate all the wonderful people in my life.
We are not promised a tomorrow. Hug the ones you love today.
