Moshkito
Hi,
 
I have my tears here and there, it's really as if some of these were your best friends ... and then you move on. A little piece of them is always with me anyway, or you would not remember them, see? Thus, I tend to raise the imaginary wine glass (with water) and toast ... love you my friend, and thanks ... and then go back to my own heaven and hell.
 
The rest is just sentimental bruhaha ... that does not help my creativity a single iota ... I can write about it all day, but there is better material out there when you are free of it!
 
Do I miss this or that person and musician? Heck yeah ... but in many ways, they had their chance and they stood up, and maybe it is my turn or yours ... to do so, and that is their message. 
 
Does it mean I do not miss a Richard Wright, or Lothar Meid, or this person or that person? NO. It means that they left a golden moment in my soul that inspires me endlessly ... and no words will ever replace those golden moments ... sorry Judy G.

I think we had so many great *golden moments* growing up (as a gen x'r) that it seems like we're suddenly losing too many folks, but like the man said in another post, the entire baby boom generation is gigantic, it's just the combination of media awareness (the information age) and the sheer numbers of *golden moments* we had.  Our parents generation had alot of celebrities as well, but no where near the number we have.  We've have had an assembly line of 15 minute fame-celebrities for quite awhile.  Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!

Mesh

Walter and Dexter ... two of my favorites
 

(Um, what or who was Dexter?)

As of a couple of minutes ago the number of deaths worldwide has been over 19.5 million people. None has been someone directly known by me, a few have been known to my few friends. So almost every death that I have become aware of was some sort of celebrity. Survival decreases with increasing age past a certain point, so if you are at least forty years old now you will have had a meaningful experience of many celebrities who are now in their sixties and older. If you hear about their death, it will have more impact on your consciousness of death than if you hear of a stranger's death. So the premise is an illusion created by your life experience. We all die at an inexorable rate, you just do not register that fact for all of us.  

slartabartfast
As of a couple of minutes ago the number of deaths worldwide has been over 19.5 million people. 

Over what time period?
 
'Cause I know the "real" number is much, much higher...  
 
Hmm... that would be an interesting brain game, guess how many "people" have actually died.  First you'd have to decide when, exactly, we became considered "people" then factor in the much smaller worldwide populations along with the average yearly death rates per some relevant time period...
 
According to my math, as of exactly 12:00 am (GMT) on April 29th, 2016 there have been 19,537,245,869,014 deaths of "people" (including conjoined twins that weren't recognized as such but only as an extra appendage here and there).
 
Go ahead, try and prove me wrong. 

I read recently that there are approx. 15-20 'ghosts' for everyone presently alive.

There's a season for everything under the sun... a time to be born and a time to die....
 
Solomon.

Guitarhacker
There's a season for everything under the sun... a time to be born and a time to die....
 
Solomon.

But is there a seasoning? 
 
(I'd choose becan of course).

eph221
...
I think we had so many great *golden moments* growing up (as a gen x'r) that it seems like we're suddenly losing too many folks, but like the man said in another post, the entire baby boom generation is gigantic, it's just the combination of media awareness (the information age) and the sheer numbers of *golden moments* we had.  Our parents generation had alot of celebrities as well, but no where near the number we have.  We've have had an assembly line of 15 minute fame-celebrities for quite awhile.  
...

I look at it as we went through a very important artistic period in the 60's and 70's, and a lot of it is still alive and being not only remembered but also copied and kept alive ... that is usually the mark of an artistic "scene" that went a long way, and other than electricity that made film possible, and the like, I am not sure there is another major "event" in the 20th century.
 
As for right now, I don't see anything for the 21st century ... other than folks just being afraid to try new things and experiment. I think the technical side of the instrumentation grew up so fast that it prevented the artistic side from developing more for a while ... but it should eventually come ... sooner or later.