| September 8th, 2004 12:36 PM |
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| Lambchop* |
I'd suggest anyone who can - should send a donation to Blues Heaven in his honor:
Rap star Twista hurt as van flips
Son of blues legend dies in accident
By Jon Yates and Kathryn Masterson
Tribune staff reporters
Published September 8, 2004
Chicago rapper Twista was injured and his bodyguard, Arthur "Butch" Dixon, was killed when their van flipped over on a Pennsylvania interstate early Monday as the two headed home after a canceled concert.
Twista, whose real name is Carl Mitchell, suffered a bruised rib, cuts, and two black eyes in the crash, said his manager, who goes by the name Rawle.
Dixon, 45, son of the late blues legend Willie Dixon, was alive at the scene but died after he was taken by helicopter to a local hospital, Erie County District Attorney Brad Foulk said. Five others in the van sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
"It's a miracle anybody survived," said Foulk, who arrived at the scene later Monday morning. "The top of the vehicle they were in was completely sheered off ... it rolled four, possibly five times."
Twista, 30, who grew up in Chicago, had a No. 1 hit earlier this year with his song "Slow Jamz." His album, "Kamikaze," released in January, has sold more than 1 million copies.
Dixon, an accomplished pianist who just months ago played with Chuck Berry at a Chicago concert, had served in recent years as a bodyguard for both Twista and R. Kelly, relatives said.
"He loved music," said blues singer Koko Taylor, who had known Dixon since he was a baby. "That's the reason he was in the [van]."
Police said the accident occurred around 4 a.m. Monday on Interstate Highway 90 about 5 miles west of the Ohio line. Band members were driving home after their show in Albany, N.Y., was canceled so fellow rapper LL Cool J could be with his wife, who had surgery last week, according to the Web site for Pepsi Arena.
Investigators on Tuesday were still trying to determine what caused the single-vehicle accident. All six passengers were ejected onto a grassy median in the middle of the interstate, Foulk said. Only the van's driver, Twista's cousin Otis Bankhead, was wearing a seat belt when the accident occurred, he said.
Rawle said Twista was "banged up pretty bad" in the accident but was more hurt emotionally by the death of Dixon.
Dixon's mother, Marie, said her son grew up on Chicago's South Side surrounded by blues legends. Taylor was a neighbor to the Dixon family home in the 7600 block of South Throop Street, and members of his father's band, the Chicago Blues All Stars, were constantly nearby.
Although named after one of Willie Dixon's brothers, Arthur Dixon was known by friends and family as "Butch" or, in some cases, "Big Butch"--a nickname given by saxophonist Harold Ashby.
"He was a happy-go-lucky kid," Taylor said. "He was always wanting to kid and play."
Marie Dixon said her son dreamed of being a football player, but her husband insisted all his children learn an instrument. Butch Dixon chose piano and was trained by pianist Lafayette Leake, then a member of Willie Dixon's band.
When he was old enough, Butch Dixon began touring with his father, hitting blues clubs throughout North America and Europe. He continued until 1990, when his father semi-retired from the business, Marie Dixon said.
"He enjoyed it," she said. "Once he traveled with his father and learned different cities and states that they went to, he seriously enjoyed being out there and playing the piano."
Billy Branch, who played the harmonica with Willie Dixon's band when Butch Dixon was just starting out, said he used to call Butch "Baby Boogie."
"I was `the Boogie Man.' He was kind of patterning himself after me," Branch said. "He said `you'll be "the Boogie Man," I'll be "Baby Boogie."' He had gotten to be quite a piano player."
Marie Dixon said her son worked briefly as a Cook County sheriff's deputy after Willie Dixon died in 1992. In the years since, Butch Dixon had continued playing the piano and occasionally the drums. As recently as June, he played with Berry at an Academy of Achievement Conference at the Field Museum, friends said.
In recent years, Dixon spent the bulk of his time helping his family's non-profit organization, the Blues Heaven Foundation, and working as a bodyguard for Twista and other artists.
Rawle said Dixon started working with Twista after the two talked earlier this year at a voter registration event in Chicago.
"He knew how to handle business and at the same time he was courteous, not just a bodyguard with a lot of muscle," Rawle said of Dixon. "In my eyes, security work was just a side thing to him, but he took it seriously."
Barry Dolins, coordinator of the Chicago Blues Festival, said he had seen Butch Dixon Thursday during a chance meeting in the Loop. He said he had tried to call him later but Dixon was already out of town.
"It's just an untimely death," Dolins said. "I think he had a lot of great ideas and plans still ahead of him."
Marie Dixon said her son was married and had three children. Funeral arrangements were pending.
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| September 8th, 2004 01:54 PM |
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| Joey |
Thanks Lambchop** |
| September 8th, 2004 02:50 PM |
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| Lambchop* |
quote:
Joey wrote:
Thanks Lambchop**
Health - Reuters
Suicide Around the World Every 40 Seconds-Experts
Wed Sep 8,10:50 AM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Robert Evans
GENEVA (Reuters) - A suicide takes place somewhere around the world every 40 seconds, or nearly one million a year, and the rate looks set to surge over the next two decades, international health experts said on Wednesday.
Although men in their sixties -- retirement age -- are by far most likely to die at their own hand, the numbers among younger men between 15 and 29 are rising, largely because of availability of guns, the experts told a news conference.
"Suicide is a major public health problem and accounts for 1.5 percent of the total cost of disease to world society," said Jose Bertolote, mental health specialist at the U.N.'s World Health Organization (news - web sites) (WHO).
"But it is largely preventable if the public is made more aware of the problem and governments show the political will to tackle it," said Lars Mehlum, President of the Paris-based International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP).
Mehlum, professor of psychology at Oslo University in Norway, said studies in many countries showed that restrictions on the accessability of firearms, especially to young people, brought reductions in the number of successful suicides.
"Guns are the most lethal instrument of suicide. Few people survive attempts to shoot themselves," he added. But there was resistance in some countries, especially the United States, to reduce the number in circulation.
The two were speaking in advance of the IASP'S World Suicide Prevention Day, to be marked globally on Friday with campaigning to raise awareness of the problem and how it can be tackled.
EX-COMMUNIST STATES HIT
Although up-to-date detailed national figures from all around the world were not available, according to WHO officials, former communist states -- Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Latvia and Hungary -- had the highest rates.
In largely Catholic and rural Lithuania, some 42 people in every 100,000 were estimated to have committed suicide in the year 2000, 40 per 100,000 in Estonia, and nearly 38 in Russia.
The next five were Sri Lanka, ex-Soviet Kazakhstan and Belarus, Slovenia and Finland, according to figures for the year 2000 issued by the Geneva-based Organization.
Mehlum said the high rates in the Baltic region and Russia could be partly explained by the social turmoil caused by the transition from state-run economies with job stability to open market systems, and partly by longer historical trends.
Alcoholism, a cause of the depression that leads to suicide, is traditionally strong in Russia and its Baltic neighbors, and restrictions on sale of strong drink -- as shown by a now-abandoned campaign in the last years of the old Soviet Union -- also help reduce the rates, Mehlum said.
In number terms, China -- where, in contrast to the rest of the world, there are more women suicides than men -- had most with 195,000, a rate of 16 for every 100,000 people. India came next with 87,000, a rate of 9.7, and then Russia with 52,500.
The United States was fourth with 31,000 in the year 2000. But its rate of nearly 12 in 100,000 put it at 38th in the overall league for completed, or successful, suicides per head of the population.
Mehlum said suicides among women in the Chinese countryside were very high. The most common means was drinking widely used and highly toxic pesticides, many of which are banned in richer countries, and more careful storage would cut the death rate.
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| September 8th, 2004 02:51 PM |
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| Joey |
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| September 8th, 2004 03:19 PM |
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| Lambchop* |
quote:
Joey wrote:
where the hell is Josh?
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| September 8th, 2004 04:21 PM |
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| glencar |
Trying to stay dry. |
| September 8th, 2004 04:33 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Trying to stay dry.
? |
| September 8th, 2004 04:39 PM |
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| glencar |
Lotta rain on the Eastern seaboard. We're all drowned rats & it ain't pretty. |
| September 8th, 2004 05:46 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Lotta rain on the Eastern seaboard. We're all drowned rats & it ain't pretty.
You have my deepest sympathies . |
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