| One of the most successful and loved bands in rock history, ZZ Top, lost bass player, Dusty Hill, on 27 July. Dusty died suddenly at home accompanied by his wife of 19 years, Charlene NcCrory, after suffering poor health for some time. With unique Texas blues-rock guitar driving their sound with an inherent low-grade humor and an unchanged line-up since 1969, ZZ Top's combination of Billy F. Gibbons on lead guitar, Dusty Hill on bass and Frank Beard on drums delighted audiences for well over 50 years while selling more than 50 million records. Their promo videos always told a "story" with the band as onlookers and the magic keys to the ZZ Mobile were all original touches that made this band so interesting, entertaining backed by what can only be described as an original image. And, believe me, this was no marketing hype; these guys could really play as can be seen in the accompanying video. We'll have to see what Billy and Frank decide to do now that Dusty has passed on - but hey, guys, you made millions of people happy!! Notes by Arturo Rosales |