My dad emails with bad news about a sudden death in my extended family:
This time there IS a death to report, I'm sorry to say. Fletcher died yesterday. I talked to him about two weeks ago and he said that he was improving. I assume you knew that he had an infection of the brain perhaps caused (according to Kim) by a botched root canal! I don't know anymore. I'll pass along whatever I hear.
I had not heard of hospitalization (I seem to be off the gossip news list), but root canals should not lead to death, even in America.
Fletcher Starbuck will be missed by many. He was a inspiration for a lot of my photography (though he no longer exhibited in galleries by the time I took up photography, I had several of his photos hanging up, and still have a book of a collection of his photographs, published by some Canadian governmental agency I think.)
Fletcher also was a great lover of film - I specifically remember having a long conversation about Werner Herzog's movie, Fitzcarraldo some time ago. Also remember seeing Apocalypse Now for the first time with Fletcher and my father, and Bladerunner too, now that I think about it.
Life's too short.
The cup on the left transported many many bottles of wine to my mouth over the years, until it finally cracked recently. Now relegated to paint brush duty. The vase on the right has held various items over the years, but currently is empty. I have other Fletcher Starbuck pottery pieces in Austin.
-- Update, another memorial here
