Jimmy Carl Black, 1938-2008

It probably won't make the most e-mailed item list of the New York Times, so we thought we should mention that Jimmy Carl Black, the drummer for the original Mothers of Invention, has died of lung cancer at age 70.

In a band noted for its cultural parodies, Black was famous as "the Indian of the group," the type of designation that music magazines of the time might have employed had they paid any attention to the Mothers, who were anathema to the entertainment business with their self-styled "cruddy" music, which ranged from inaccessible to outlandish.

The original group was disbanded by Frank Zappa in the early 1970's. Mr. Black eventually relocated to Europe, where he found more work than in the U.S.

In September 2007, Mr. Black toured the U.S. with avant-garde musician Eugene Chadbourne, including a date at the Chapter House in Ithaca.

Stephen Burke
for Ithaca Blog