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With Ed McMahon’s passing, I thought it might be worthwhile for me to mention why I don’t feel compelled to write about every significant celebrity passing here.

First, I don’t want this to turn into a “guess who died?” blog. There are plenty of places which do that better. (Check out the Dead People Server, the best source on the Web.)

More important, though, is I don’t want to add to the noise.

I wasn’t a huge follower or fan of McMahon (or Harvey Korman, an earlier death that had someone asking if I would write something about). I don’t have much to add to the conversation. If you want to know anything, there are plenty of people who will expertly tell you things about him I never would have guessed.

There are times when I think people are underappreciated, and those are the times I’ll feel compelled to write something.

Fearing people would just remember Buck Owens as a “Hee Haw”-hosting bumpkin, I thought it was important to write a column about his work as a musician. Pink Floyd founded Syd Barrett died almost anonymously. To me, his death was something that needed a little more light.

And when it came to Johnny Cash, however much any group of people said about him wasn’t enough to summarize his significance.

So my silence about a McMahon or Korman shouldn’t be interpreted as indifference. You simply can’t have passion about all of it, and for me, most of the passion is poured into musical performers.