Is He Alive or Is He Dead?

I was driving to work today with my husband when Joe Walsh came on the radio singing “Life’s Been Good”. This sparked that age old game of “is he alive or dead”? We get this question a lot at the Reference Desk. Not just about Joe Walsh, but all sorts of celebrities. Of course, I had to check to see who was right when I got to work. He took the stance that Joe was alive, I was sure he died last year. There is actually a web site called Who’s alive and Who’s Dead. Oh no, it looks like hubby was right. Just to be positive I checked the Library’s Biography Resource Center (a very useful database for students working on papers at home). Darn it, I was still wrong. It was Warren Zevon I was thinking of. Sorry Joe.