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Friday, August 19, 2005

RIP - Randy "Biscuit" Turner

Randy "Biscuit" Turner, vocalist for the legendary Big Boys, was found dead yesterday at age 56. From the frontpage of the Austin Chronicle, who were running a cover story on him:

In the worst form of serendipity imaginable, Randy "Biscuit" Turner was found dead in his home late Thursday afternoon. Close friends had not heard from the local musician/artist for several days when Chronicle staff writer Marc Savlov, author of this week's cover story on the ebullient Austin icon, stopped by Turner's house to ascertain his whereabouts. Sensing something wrong, Savlov called the police, who arrived and found Turner's body inside. As of 11:30am Friday morning, the medical examiner's initial autopsy report attributes cause of death to "gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to cirrhosis associated with chronic [alcohol] abuse." Although time/date of death has yet to be determined pending a final report from the medical examiner, it's believed that Turner, 56, had been dead for at least several days. Needless to say, the entire Chronicle family is shocked and terribly saddened by this news. Pedazo Chunk, 2009 S. First, where Turner's art installation "Mental Volcano" was to be displayed this weekend, will instead host an informal wake tonight, Friday, Aug. 19, beginning at 7pm.

Here's a more in depth article from the Austin American-Statesman

Wow - first John Loder, and now Biscuit. A sad week for underground music fans.