Plane crash rattles the rock world -- and beyond

Every music fan within reach of a computer in the last 72 hours no doubt has heard about the horrific plane crash that seriously injured Travis Barker (Blink-182, +44) and Adam Goldstein (DJAM). What feels like it's been missing from too much of the coverage, though, is the reality that four other people -- none of them famous, all of them with families and friends and loved ones of their own -- were killed in the same crash. One of them, it turns out, was from my neck of the woods. And so, while sending best wishes to Barker and Goldstein for a speedy recovery, let's also make sure to honor the memory of pilots Sarah Lemmon, 31, and James Bland, 52, as well as bodyguard Charles Still, 25 and Roseville, California native and personal assistant Chris Baker, 29. Losing first Richard Wright and then Norman Whitfield and now these good folks has made for a very rough week in the music world.

R.I.P. Norman Whitfield

"I Heard It Through The Grapevine"... "Papa Was A Rolling Stone"... "Just My Imagination"... "War"... and, yes, "Car Wash" -- they all came from the pen of the same man, one of the key architects of the Motown sound, Norman Whitfield, who died yesterday at 67. Whitfield, both within and outside of his longtime songwriting partnership with Barrett Strong, produced some of the most memorable and meaningful hits of the 60s and 70s, blending a superb ear for melody with a commitment to make music that mattered. Yes, you could sing along to all those hits, but the songs had a depth and soulfulness to them that made them much more than pop music. In his prime he worked with artists from James Brown to Gladys Knight & the Pips and was the producer and a featured songwriter on many of The Temptations' most successful albums. Norman Whitfield was a giant in his field and will be sorely missed.