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R.I.P. Rod Poole, LA-Based Guitar Improviser


Scott Fraser

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Tragic news for the small community of free improvisation aficionados in Los Angeles: a very dear friend & hugely talented improviser, Rod Poole, was stabbed to death in Hollywood last night, in front of his wife. Rod specialized in fingerpicking complex improvised structures on a Martin, custom fitted with a just intonated fretboard. We're just numb with shock & will miss him terribly. I'll try to post a proper obit when I compose myself.

 

Scott Fraser

Scott Fraser
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Sorry to hear about this, Scott. My condolenses, thoughts, and prayers are with you, his family, and all of his friends.

Avoid playing the amplifier at a volume setting high enough to produce a distorted sound through the speaker-Fender Guitar Course-1966

 

 

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I am really sorry Scott. Please let his wife and family know that we all feel for them and are deeply sorry to hear this.

 

I did not know of Rod to my knowledge, but I take it personally everytime a brother is a victim of assault.

 

I have Googled this but I am not seeing the story in print, nor had I seen it on the TV news.

 

Please let us know if you have a link to the story so we can be more informed.

 

Again, so sorry you lost a friend.

 

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I am really sorry Scott. Please let his wife and family know that we all feel for them and are deeply sorry to hear this.

I did not know of Rod to my knowledge, but I take it personally everytime a brother is a victim of assault.

I have Googled this but I am not seeing the story in print, nor had I seen it on the TV news.

Please let us know if you have a link to the story so we can be more informed.

Again, so sorry you lost a friend.

 

Here's the LA Times story:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hollywood15may15,0,4328940.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel

 

Aparently it was covered on tonight's 11:00 news as well.

 

Thank you to all who have expressed sympathy. It's been a very sad day.

 

Scott Fraser

Scott Fraser
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Wow. That's beyond stupid.

 

I wonder if they were high on coke or crack to be so on edge and decide to stab someone just b/c of a street argument.... or maybe they were high on a vanilla almond quadruple latte.

 

Incredibly sad. Bail seems fair, definitely people like that shouldn't be on the streets. They shouldn't be at all.

 

"Without music, life would be a mistake."

--from 'Beyond Good and Evil', by Friedrich Nietzsche

 

My MySpace Space

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Hollywood and West Hollywood have long had a history of problems. I started to write about some experiences and some thoughts as to how violent crime can be lessened, but this is not the time or place. Plus I am angered by this.

 

It is awful when anyone gets hurt or killed in any way but especially through violent crime. For me it is even 10X as bad when the person is a musician, because the person has spent most of a lifetime giving of his/her talent for other's enjoyment.

 

 

 

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Hi folks,

 

I knew Rod about 7-8 years, played on microtonal festivals with him, reviewed his music. I was searching on Google to see if http://biink.com/poole showed up yet. It's a tribute page for Rod. I should have contact information for the LA Country DA up in the morning so we can send them letters about Rod.

 

Hell, here it is:

 

District Attorney's Office

County of Los Angeles

210 West Temple Street, Suite 18000

Los Angeles, CA 90012-3210

Telephone (213) 974-3512

Fax (213) 974-1484

webmail@lacountyda.org

 

or use their email form:

http://da.co.la.ca.us/feedback.htm

 

Scott, send me any comments for the web site, if you want.

 

I'll check out the rest of these forums later, I'm not just dropping in for this.

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Hang in there, Scott. Something this horrible, AND senseless is hard to take.

 

Thank God you knew Rod, and that you had the opportunity to have helped bring his music to the masses. I'm sure he appreciated you. We can all tell how much you cared for him.

 

Sometimes the world just doesn't make sense. We just have to love more, and let it go........there is little else we can do.

 

A musician such as Rod, will live on, thru the influence he had on others, and thru his music.

 

I'll pray for his wife. This will be hardest on her.

Don

 

"There once was a note, Pure and Easy. Playing so free, like a breath rippling by."

 

 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=574296

 

http://www.myspace.com/imdrs

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  • 1 year later...

Mel's Slay Suspects Sentenced

by Steven Mikulan

October 7, 2008 1:21 PM

 

Capping a morning of impassioned defense pleas and emotional victim-impact statements, Judge Michael E. Pastor passed down sentences for second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, respectively, on Michael Sheridan and his wife, Angela, for the 2007 Mother's Day slaying of musician Rod Poole. Pool, 45, had confronted the pair after Angela Sheridan, then 24, bumped a busboy as she maneuvered her car in the Hollywood parking lot of Mels Diner. Within moments of exchanging words with Ms. Sheridan, Poole was on the ground while she kicked his head and her husband, then 25, stabbed him half a dozen times. (See June 14, 2007 L.A. Weekly feature.) Michaels mother and his two-year-old son remained in the car.

 

Pastor threw the proverbial book at Michael Sheridan, giving him an indeterminate sentence of 15 years to life in state prison, and for good measure tossed on three years for a probation violation; the sentences will run consecutively but will, said his attorney, Alba Marrero, be appealed. Angela received a mid-base term of three years; however, with 771 days of custody credits, she will be free in less than a year. She and her attorney, Jana Seng, seemed satisfied, although the prevailing mood in a courtroom filled with supporters of victims and perpetrators alike was gloom.

 

What sane person, Pooles widow, Lisa, asked the court, carries a knife in their car on Mothers Day, with their child and their mother in the car?

 

Judge Proctor had no answer, other than to say that Mr. Sheridans conduct is egregious beyond words. Its cowardly and presents a danger to society.

 

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/trials/mels-slay-suspects-sentenced/

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As a friend of Rod's & still feeling acutely the loss of such a unique individual & inspired musician, I can't say there is any pleasure to be derived from the stern sentence, though I am at least glad it's legally over & decided. That will be no comfort to Lisa, Rod's wife, but she can now know that the perpetrators are not going to be enjoying the benefits of free society for a long time.

I still carry Rod's phone number in my cell phone, as a reminder, & because I can't bear the thought that we all have to move on at some point & leave the departed behind.

 

Scott Fraser

Scott Fraser
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Somehow I missed this thread when it was originally here back in May '07.

 

Scott, David, Lisa- any and all of you who knew Rod- I am deeply sorry to learn of this having happened. I am especially sorry that it happened in front of Lisa, while it shouldn't have even happened at all. Words fall short here, far short.

 

Scott, I have a good idea what you mean about leaving your friend Rod's phone-number on your cell-phone; it was quite a while before I removed some of the things that a departed friend had left on my computer, for similar enough reasons.

 

I can't help but feel that the sentences weren't stiff enough, particularly that of the woman convicted of "involuntary manslaughter". I also can't help but wonder that the mother of the murderer wasn't charged with and convicted of being an accessory to murder and/or manslaughter.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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